LTV documentary about the legendary actor Gunārs Cilinski / Article will premiere

The film uses rich film material, Latvian Television archives, photographs, Latvian Radio phonograms and press materials. “It’s not easy with monolithic characters like Gunārs Cilinskis. You can’t invent and put Gunārs Cilinski in your bed, he’s the director himself, he’s left the bed himself – and it’s melodramatic,” admits Guntis Sprendanis, the film’s director.

Gunārs Cilinskis was an actor in the world of cinema and theater who had an amazingly captivating appearance and talent. “He conformed to the stereotypes of European and Hollywood cinema in the sixties – a beautiful, strong, masculine image. In several films – a middle-aged man dressed in an elegant suit with a slight sense of self-irony,” said film scientist Dita Rietuma in an interview with the film.

Nine films by director Gunārs Cilinskas are a vision of his life and sense of the world. His first film “Sonata of the Lake” (1976) is gaining enormous recognition and popularity. Cilinski did not shy away from emotionality and sentiment, because it was in him. Gunārs Cilinski loved the cinema – dozens of roles in various Soviet-era film studios, including internationally – in an Italian-Russian co-production with Italian film star Sophia Loren in “Sunflowers” (1970), directed by Vittorio de Sica ).

Cilinskis has not left many interviews in television and film reels, while in the press the actor and director have talked more only about his creative activity. Radio interviews have survived, especially during Cilinsky’s sixtieth birthday, which are embedded in the documentary as emotional bridges in conversations with the director’s and actor’s contemporaries, who will share their experiences on the set, personal details in the work process and their own observations.

Interviews in the film are given by Varis Brasla, Jānis Streičs, Olga Dreģe, Mudīte Šneidere, Lia Guļevska, Baiba Indriksone, Rita Melnace, Edmunds Freibergs, Zane Jančevska, Gundars Āboliņš, Katrīne Pasternaka, Ingrīda Burāne, Juta Brauna, Juta Brauna , Dita Rietuma, Ināra Slucka, Miks Zvirbulis, Valdis Eglītis.

The film team consists of director Guntis Sprendanis, screenwriter and journalist Ilze Strenga, cinematographers Normunds Čirkste, Normunds Pavlovskis.

The documentary “Through the Lens Eye. Gunārs Cilinskis” will be shown on Thursday, November 25, at 9.10 pm on LTV1 and Replay.lv.

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