“The Chronicles of Melanie” at the European Parliament

With a special screening at the European Parliament on June 28, due to parliament deputee Sandra Kalniete’s initiative, “The Chronicles of Melanie” (Melānijas hronika) directed by Viestur Kairish will have its Belgian premiere.

“An entire generation has grown since the fall of communism in Europe, and to them, the black pages of the 20th century are facts in history books. Works of art like The Chronicles of Melanie are a necessity because they emotionally affect the soul while providing hostorical information on a personal level. Artistically bringing to light the scale of pain and suffering created by Stalin’s regime, The Chronicles of Melanie has invested a great amount to unify Europe’s varied history by deepening understanding and perspective of the iron curtain,” said Sandra Kalniete before the screening of The Chronicles of Melanie in Brussels.

The screening of The Chronicles of Melanie is scheduled for June 28 at 18:00, in the European Parliament building, A3E2. Registration for the screening is available until June 22 at European parliament deputee Sandra Kalniete’s home page. After the screening, those interested will have the opportunity to meet the film’s director Viestur Kairish and film studio Mistrus Media’s producer, Gints Grūbe.

Viestur Kairish’film The Chronicles of Melanie is not only important to Latvian history and Latvian autobiographical literature, but also to the Latvian film industry, for creating international interest in a little-known piece of European history – stalinist repression and Baltic mass deportations. The Chronicles of Melanie had its international premiere at the Black Nights Film Festval (POFF) in Tallinn, where it won the bronze wolf statue award for best cinematography. The Austrian company, East-West Distribution is in charge of the film’s international distribution and the film will be featured in many other festivals in Poland, Germany, and Norway. So far, over 80 000 people have seen the film.

Due to high demand for the film in Latvia, it continues to be screened by Kinopunkts film society, and can be viewed with English subtitles at the Kino Bize cinema on weekends.

Translated by Mārtiņš Petrovskis