The premiere of the opera film “Banuta” is expected at the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF) on October 15.
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As “Delfi” informs the film’s producer Monta Kontiņa, its authors are the Berlin musical theater group “Hauen und Stechn” and Latvian artists – composer Jēkabs Nīmanis, musical theater playwright Evarts Melnalksnis, Latvian actors and soloists Laura Grecka, Armands Siliņš and Sniedze Hemp.
“Opera, the conditionality of the performing arts, contemporary performativity, humor and paradoxes converge in the genre of opera, becoming one hundred years after the premiere of Alfreds Kalnins’ first Latvian opera” Banut “in 1920. Such an unusual and innovative approach is something new in Latvian theater and cinema.” writes Kontiņa.
The opera tells the story of rescuing the new partisan Bauta from the carazona and getting into a foreign country, where instead of her happy marriage she is entangled in a chain of political intrigue and revenge. The message reflects both the Baltic mythical antiquity and the history of the Eastern European region in the 20th century. According to the representative of the filmmakers, the image of Baņuta, which is portrayed in the film by three actresses – is attractive and unusual: “Despite the tragic course of events, she is full of passion, love and longing for life. Baņuta fights against suffering and her impasse.”
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The experience of the heroic war is of great importance in the action, which determines the mutual, violent relations between the traumatized characters. In this interpretation, Baņuta herself has also participated in guerrilla struggles and brings with her the experience of women who took part in the war in Eastern Europe in the 20th century. In addition, the opera was censored during the regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, forbidding the mention of Lithuania in the text of the 1937 production, while in 1941 the Soviet occupation government ordered the authors to write a happy ending to the opera. These motifs have been used in the interpretation of the opera, creating three operas.
The Hauen und Stechen musical theater ensemble has been active in independent theaters in Berlin for almost a decade, as well as performing at the Hamburg State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and elsewhere. The ensemble is engaged in a radical reproduction of the opera’s golden repertoire. This includes free interpretation of plots, improvisation, creative performativity, the involvement of not only singers but also performers and all creators in stage performance, the use of different languages and forms of play, the introduction of paradox and humor fused with the tragic.
The producers of the opera are Sanssouci and Story Hub. After the premiere of the film, it is planned to show it in special screenings with the participation of the authors in Rēzekne, Liepāja, Madona and elsewhere, as well as outside Latvia.
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