Ivo Briežis’ film about the Soviet man “Homo Sovieticus” will be premiered / Article

The international premiere of the documentary film “Homo Sovieticus” co-produced by Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic will be held at the International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival “One World” in the Czech Republic, the filmmakers informed. The festival will take place in Prague until June 6.

One World is the largest human rights film festival in the world. It is a large-scale cultural event in the Czech Republic, which attracts more than 120,000 spectators every year and takes place in more than 30 cities. Each year, the festival displays about 100 documentaries from around the world on social, political, environmental, media and human rights issues.

The documentary “Homo Sovieticus”, co-produced by Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, is a story about a Soviet man or Homo Sovieticus thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Film director Ivo Briedis and journalist Rita Ruduša study in the film,

“whether the slavery and habit of obedience acquired as a result of Soviet upbringing contributes to post-Soviet nostalgia and opposition to totalitarianism.”

The filmmakers ask several questions: “Or Homo Sovieticus is the phenomenon unique to the former Soviet territories and its spheres of influence? Are there people who voted for Donald Trump or sympathized with right-wing movements? Homo Sovieticus?”

Ivo Briedis Homo Sovieticus describes himself as a man who is so well adapted to totalitarianism that he cannot exist in another political system:

“These people feel most at ease in captivity. At first they were a product of social engineering, later they became cunning slaves who avoid any responsibility.”

The filmmakers met their peers in Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Armenia and the Czech Republic, who, in the wake of the Soviet Union, were invited to the central television of 1991 to discuss whether or not to be in the Soviet Union under Vladimir Pozner. They met people who long for life in the Soviet Union and experts Anna Aplbaum and Lev Gudkov, who have studied Homo Sovieticus phenomenon.

The director of the film is Ivo Briedis, the author of the screenplay is Rita Ruduša. The film “Homo Sovieticus” is a joint production of the Latvian film studio “Mistrus Media” (producers Gints Grūbe, Elīna Gediņa-Ducena), the Lithuanian film studio “Monoklis” (producer Jurga Gluskiniene) and the Czech film studio “Frame Films” (producer Jitka Kotrlova) . The main cameraman is Mārtiņš Jurevics, editing directors – Tomašs Elšīks (Czech Republic) and Toms Krauklis, music author – composer Martins Bjalobžeskis (Lithuania).

The film has been supported by the Latvian National Film Center, the Lithuanian Film Center, the Czech Film Foundation, the European Union Creative Europe Program, Latvian Television, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.

The screening of the film to a wider audience in Latvia is planned for August 2021. It is planned that the filmmakers will be able to meet at the conversation festival “Lamp” to discuss the issues raised in the film.

The film will be shown by Latvian Television. It is planned that outside Latvia it will be seen on the channels “Current Time TV” and “Deutsche Welle”.

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