Publishing house “Mansards” in their “Cinema Scripture Library” series has released the book “First Latvian Films”, a collection of historical documents that form a commemorative album of the origins of Latvia’s National Cinema.
Film historian Inga Pērkone has created a unique, culturally and historically significant, richly illustrated book in both Latvian and English, revealing a period in Latvian film history, which to this point has been studied by few. Unique is the fact that of the first five films described in the book, none have survived to present day, however the level of detail to the information provides a near-complete picture of what these films were like.
The edition’s creators stress that Latvian national film, through involvement in the establishment of the state, is closely tied to national culture. Inga Pērkone writes in the book’s introduction: “In 1920 on the 9th of November, the film Es karā aiziedams / When I Went Away to War premiered. Encouraged by the success of the film, 1921 saw a like-minded group of people establish company “Latvju Filma”, which in addition to newsreel and advertising films produced four staged films: Laiku viesulī / Times of Turmoil (1921), Fricītis jūrmalā / Little Fricis at the Seaside (1921), Psihe / Psyche (1922), Vilkiem mests laupījums / Pray for Wolves (1922). These were the first five Latvian films, but they were not preserved.
Through thorough research, all attainable information on these films was collected and documented in one place, together with as many illustrations as possible (photos, movie posters, newspaper advertisements, etc.), thus creating the first and likely only available picture book recording the first of Latvia’s films. Theatre historian Ieva Struka about the book wrote: “Inga Pērkone’s work, figuratively speaking, is a dive through hundreds and thousands (depending on geographical scale) of films and returning with the small pearls of Latvian cinema’s inception. But in the daylight, these pearls promote not only cinema but art and it’s whole perception – both then and now”.
Album editor is film journalist and film history researcher Kristīne Matīsa, and designer is Tom Mrazauskas (Germany), who since 2010 has received several international awards for best book design.
The book is published with the support of the State Culture Capital Fund and the Latvian Academy of Culture. The published materials featured in the album were sourced from the Latvian Academy of Culture Eduarda Smiļģa Theatre Museum, the Latvian Academy of Culture Riga Film Museum, the Latvian National Library, the Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents, Latvian State Historical Archives fund as well as the Museum of Literature and Music and literature, theatre and music collection storage.
Inga Pērkone is a film historian, Latvian Academy of Culture, Theatre and Audiovisual Department director, a Scientific Research Centre senior researcher, author of the books Film in Latvia. 1920-1940 (2007), I Can Only Love… The Image of Woman in Latvian Film (2008), You, the Great Evening Sun! Essays about Modernism in Latvian Cinematography (2013), the study History of Latvian Fiction Films (2011), author and compiler of Latvian Academy of Culture scientific collections Te-Ki-La (2010-2013), editorial board member and author of numerous publications in periodical Kino Raksti, compiler and co-author of the international electronic collection of articles “KinoKultura. Latvian Issue” (2012) . She has worked repeatedly on the National Film Festival “Lielais Kristaps” jury, shaped more than ten exhibitions on cinema, is one of the co-founders of the Riga Film Museum and has spent ten years in its management.
The album was released by publisher “Mansards” in its “Cinema Scripture Library” series, from which four books have been published previously: film critic Dmitry Rancev’s bilingual edition of his book Kinotacijas (2009), author collective headed by Inga Pērkone’s History of Latvian Fiction Films (2011), Herz Frank’s book On the Threshold, Look Back (2011) and collection of articles Fedja. Teodors. Tulio (2013) on the Latvian-born Finnish film classic Teuvo Tulio.
Buy the book online: http://www.apgadsmansards.lv/lv/book/460/latvijas-pirmas-filmas.-first-latvian-films/
Information
Arvis Ostrovskis
Publishing House “Mansards”
arvis@apgadmansards.lv