From June 21, viewers will have access to a new documentary “Witch”, which can be watched on the entertainment platform “Tet +”. Its director is the young and talented Jāzeps Podnieks.
The list of staff visited is quite impressive: Anna of the Curse witch Anna from Vireši, the speaker and herbal wife Līga Reitere, the witch of Love Inga, the mighty witch Simona, Parafeja Anitra, also the evangelist Eva Ālere and others. The producer of the film is Biruta Elīza Kirmuška. Familiar surnames? “Some say it is, others say it is not. I don’t know myself, “asked about the possible relationship with the legendary director Juris Podnieks, the second-year student of the National Film School of the Academy of Culture, a member of the group” Rahu The Fool “and the author of several videos Jāzeps Podnieks. In turn, everything is clear about Biruta Elīze – she is the daughter of Laila and Jānis Kirmuškis.
Conversation with Jāzeps Podnieks.
This is your debut work in the field of feature film directing. How did you come up with such an idea, how did you come up with it on television?
There are an insane number of thoughts and ideas in my head, and this is one of the ideas that lived there for a long time and manifested itself as a result of work and conditions. I am interested in various topics. On the other hand, everything was very simple with television, I sent an e-mail to “Tet”: “Hello, I have an idea”. And they responded, after a few meetings we signed the contract and snapped up!
It seems to me that this “squeezing up” may not be so easy. When consulting people who focus on witches, they say that witches are not so responsive to publicity… How many of them “ordered” you?
There weren’t that many, only three or four were “ordered”. But I try to go through everything with a grim duck, and this inner vigor when making a project or a movie is usually big enough for something to come together. There was some inexplicable force, almost magic, in the whole process. I feel that by devoting enough time and work to each idea, it develops a kind of consciousness, before which it is wisest to give in and serve this idea. It is important to listen to this consciousness and find its way through the endless labyrinths of the mind.
How did you choose the heroines of your documentary story? Why aren’t some very well-known healers and / or nouns like Veronica Eleja?
I somehow allowed myself [sajūtām]. I am looking quite carefully for suitable people in advertisements and various internet forums – it turns out that we have a whole subculture with people who deal with energy attraction cases, curse removal, we even offer to block debt collectors, etc. People are divided on the fronts, arguing with each other about who got a certificate, whose certificate is forged, who fortunes correctly or incorrectly, and so on. You can find this useful there. In these forums, specific witches are also recommended to each other, so we also found them, addressed them and, who said “yes”, we also went to them. I still keep in touch with one of the witches, I will definitely visit another.
What do you mean by the word “witch”?
The term is extremely abstract and misunderstood, throughout history and to the present day. In my view, a witch can be anyone, because we each have some ability, but they cannot be explained by something supernatural, but by psychology. However, absolutely anyone was recognized as a witch at that time – if a woman does not obey, she is a witch, if she is too beautiful – a witch, if her nose is hooked – a witch. No one could prove anything, but there were authoritative forces from the church and an absurd patriarchal society that supported it all. So it has moved to the present day. Interestingly, fairies and fairies have remained fairy tales, but witches have survived to this day. A witch is an inaccurate term for something that man is still unable to understand. A very folklorized and mythological sign to put as a warmth.
Much is said about good and bad energies, about various curses, and so on. tml. Didn’t the subconscious itself worry that you would not say something to a witch and wake up in the morning with horns and a tail?
I believe that we manifest different energies, different thoughts in our own minds. We create a field of energy around us. I also do not believe in curses – a person can only impose a curse on himself. If a witch says something and a person believes it, he has cursed it himself. And vice versa. Yes, I was scared, yes, I had my doubts, but I went to them with an open heart. And if you are open and give in, all the bad, if any, would come, go away or bounce back like a mirror. But there must be honest and humble, leaving your ego aside.
To sum up – what can you say about being all these witches?
I see it as a subculture. I totally believe it all, but there is nothing supernatural about it. There is energy, there is physics, chemistry, biology, psychology – even if the soothing mint tea among a lot of other herbs, it all works, but it’s not magic. But if we assume that it is, then everything around and the inexplicable is inexplicable – look and wonder. Each of the witches has its own line: one works more with mental abilities, energy fields, power of thought, another focuses more on healing herbs and cleansing sauna rituals, and so on. And it all definitely works. But all this works as much as a person implements it to himself and to what extent and in what quality it is cultivated.
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