Dāvis Sīmanis Jr.: Death of Death

I take the opportunity to copy paste – again – a text from FilmNewEurope of yesterday, written by Alexander Gabelia about a Latvian director, whose documentary carreer I have been following for decades: Dāvis Sīmanis. here iot goes:

RIGA: The acclaimed Latvian director Dāvis Sīmanis is currently in post production with the Latvian/Czech documentary Death of Death. Balancing an existential road film with a humorous science fiction, the doc is expected to be released in the autumn of 2024.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the gradual alienation from fellow human beings and the growing fear of his own death make the author go on a research trip to see if there is an opportunity to prolong his life scientifically. This is the starting point of an existential yet hysterical journey to uncover the business of eternal life in the world of today. While meeting characters who range from crazy futurologists to crafty “death” businessmen, the director realises that his role as an investigator becomes a personal obsession.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that most people feel a physiological fear of ageing, disease and death. A special interest attracts scientists and more or less sane enthusiasts to distance or even cancel the inevitable end of our physical existence. Our film will examine these natural yet unrealistic human thrives. We can definitely say that a film about the search for the transfer of consciousness and immortality will attract a lot of interest from the audience”, producer Guntis Trekteris told FNE.

He is producing through Latvian Ego Media in coproduction with Radim Prochazka through the Czech company Kuli Film, with a total budget of 261,426 EUR.

The project was co-financed by the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Czech Film Fund.

Death of Death was shot in 2022/2023 in several countries including Latvia, Russia, the USA, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Austria and the UK.

In February 2024, Maria’s Silence / Marijas klusums by Dāvis Sīmanis, which had its world premiere in the Forum section, received the Ecumenical Jury Award at the 74th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was produced by Mistrus Media and coproduced by Lithuania’s Broom Films.

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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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