From 8 January, the historic drama Blizzard of Souls is being screened in more than 15 virtual cinemas in the USA and Canada, while continuing the run for the Academy Awards as Latvia’s submission in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. So far, the Latvian film has been praised by many foreign film critics, including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Guardian.
Alissa Simon, reviewer of the film industry publication Variety, writes about the Latvian film, “With its muscular direction by former documentarian Dzintars Dreibergs, atmospheric cinematography and careful attention to period detail, this account of a troop of Latvian Riflemen fighting first for the Russian Imperial Army against invading German forces and then for an independent Latvia should appeal to WWI buffs and fans of Sam Mendes’ 1917. (…) The convincing tech package could stand its own against Hollywood productions, while the symphonic score by composer Lolita Ritmanis (an Emmy winner for “Batman Beyond”) anchors cinematographer Valdis Celmins’ epic sweep. Period photographs under the end credits prove the filmmakers’ care for historical detail.”
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times reviewer, points out, “The approach Dreibergs and cinematographer Valdis Celmiņš take to combat scenes is to treat them like first-person bedlam, simultaneously frenzied and onerous as a daily battle against cold-ravaged terrain, nerves, whizzing death and the enemy. The movie is less interested in the sweep and swoop of a war yarn than the accumulating, on-the-ground details that keep things disorienting and horrible: bleeding ears after a nearby blast; losing your sense of direction; a tangle of sleeping soldiers moaning and shaking through night terrors; needing to halt momentum at the barricade so you can bayonet ice to create footholds; even the hospital humor of flirting with a kindly nurse (Greta Trusina) by blowing cigarette smoke through a bullet hole in the neck. (…) It may not be the easiest watching at a time when our own country [USA] is grappling with the toxic form of patriotism. But Latvia’s struggle has inspired a solidly realistic entry in the war film canon.”
Glenn Kenny, New York Times reviewer, highlights the quality of the film and appreciates the creative effort, “Blizzard [of Souls] is almost immaculately shot and edited, but its good-taste approach to warfare, along with its treacly music score by Lolita Ritmanis, underscores what seems its main reason for being: a relentless “Go, Latvia!””
Director Dzintars Dreibergs admits, “It is gratifying to know that the largest film editions in the world write about our film, moreover, the media representatives have been looking for information about Latvia after watching it. I’m glad that the story of the film has really moved them and made them think about the fate of our nation. As a director, of course, I would have loved to be in Los Angeles now and experience the Oscar race. Instead, I spend late night after hours at the computer. But we are ready to do our best to offer the film created by so many people to the widest audience.”
The film’s marketing and public relations campaign in the run for the Academy Awards is supported by the National Film Centre of Latvia. The film’s creative team is currently actively seeking additional support from both the private and public sectors to get their work noticed among a hundred other candidates and watched by voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and to tell the story of the emergence of the Latvian state and riflemen to millions of cinema lovers around the world to expand the opportunities to attract new investments to Latvia in the long run.
The film Blizzard of Souls received most of the funding from the state, and the rest was provided by the film’s general sponsor – one of the Latvian-born brands, warehouse store DEPO – as well as by the sponsor Latvijas Mobilais Telefons. The film was supported by AS Cēsu alus, UPB, Jūrmala City Council, Carnikava County Council, newspaper Latvijas Avīze, the official insurer of the film and its crew is AAS BALTA.
More about Blizzard of Souls:
www.dveseluputenis.lv,
www.facebook.com/DveseluPutenis,
www.instagram.com/dveseluputenisfilma