On December 5, the legendary documentary filmmaker Juris Podnieks would turn 70. However, in the summer of 1992, he disappeared while fishing underwater in Lake Zvirgzdu. The director’s body was found only after eight days. It has been officially confirmed that the cause of Podnieks’ death was an accident – a coincidence of circumstances, when the tired, constantly stressed director dived from work with a damaged scuba. However, not everyone has believed this. Journalist Tatjana Fasta has just finished her second book about Juris Podnieks and is ready to share her thoughts and memories.
There was no risk in Juris Podnieks’ life: his films were banned, he was followed by special services, there were rumors that a prize of one million rubles was announced for his head, bullets were sent to his film crew, but cameraman Andris Slapiņš literally died in his hands … When Podnieks was still teenager, his mother died. At that time, the parents had long been divorced – the son lived with his father Boris Podnieks, a popular narrator in Latvia.
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