Riga – and Gustavs Klucis

The premiere was in 2008, in Riga, the film about Klucis, ”The Deconstruction of an Artist”. Directed by Peteris Krilovs. And here I stand in front of the Arsenals Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art, where there is an exhibition of the artist (runs until October 26), a very good one and for one who knows his work from the film it is a pleasure to walk around and see all the posters and collages from the film, here hanging with no movements, in the film set in motion in an intelligent presentation and with a superb flown and rythm in the montage.

This is a quote from one of many texts, that has appeared on filmkommentaren.dk about the film:

”Latvian director Peteris Krilovs’ documentary about legendary artist Gustav Klucis took several prizes at the National award ceremony in Riga a week ago: best director, best editor (Danish Julie Vinten), best script (Pauls Bankovskis) and best sound mix (Andris Barons). A big triumph for the company Vides Film Studio and its energetic leader Uldis Cekulis.

So well deserved. The same team has just completed a film from Krilovs. ”Obliging Collaborators”. Here is a promotion text from the internet:

With this full-length documentary, director Pēteris Krilovs delves into an

intricate and intriguing period in modern Latvian history, his father’s death at the hands of the KGB intertwined with the underhanded game played by Soviet Latvian KGB agents against Swedish-English-American intelligence services. In the 1960s, a book was released and a feature film made, later, a pseudo-documentary TV series produced propagandising how Soviet agents fooled their Western counterparts. This “game” and its players and pawns are the focus of Krilovs’ documentary “Uz spēles Latvija”. The compelling personal history, the protagonists, the editing of archival materials, distinct and at times ironic, as well as the powerful visuals will help the viewer to navigate these little-known historical events.

I have seen the film in a Latvian version and yesterday in an English. Unfortunately the screening room for the latter had a bad sound transmission so I did not get the personal commentary from Krilovs. Will get back later with a review.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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