Dainis Klava: Aigi (Time)

Trying to understand what is going on in the world takes a lot of time. These banal but wise words come from the old reindeer herder, who is the character of this visually strong reflection on time in an isolated area in the North where the Samis live. You never see him talk to the camera, the narrative construction is built like one long monologue of the reindeer herder accompanied by stunning scenes of the landscapes and from the life of the reindeers. Winter, spring, summer, autumn. Snow melting for the spring when the calves are born. Snowmobiles. Reparing the houses in summer time. Fishing. Training with the family in lasso’ing. Visit from researchers in culture and climate. And the continous return of the missile question, those being fired from the land areas of the reindeer and their herders. If they are dangerous or not, the Sami protagonist does not conclude, it seems like he has decided that this is how it is, we can live with that, and we may even re-use some of the remaining rests from the missiles when they land on our fields. There will always be reinder raising.

Good for your soul to watch a film like this. Reflective, beautiful to build a story like this far away from urban structures. Refraining from any romanticising of Sami life or making it an exotic tourist tour.

Latvia/Estonia, 2008, 52/26 mins. (I saw the 52 mins. Version)

www.vfs.lv

Share your love
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.

Articles: 3910