Watch! The first Latvian western ‘Wild East has been released. Where will the road ‘trailer lead

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The film takes place in the second half of the 19th century, when the future bride disappears from the manor of the Baltic German baron shortly before the wedding. Eva is an aristocrat, a young woman who grew up under the auspices of a Baltic German baron. Shortly before her planned marriage to a peculiar Count of Vienna, Eva and her governess Magda decide to resist the baron’s intentions and implement an escape plan. However, the Latvian farmer Mikus, who is now suspected of kidnapping the young lady, is unexpectedly involved. The baron’s henchmen, the state criminal investigator, the Hungarian cowboy and other heroes go on their way to find the missing young people, because Eva, as it turns out, is the heir to great wealth.

The 25-year-old director calls the film “Wild East. Where will the road lead” the first full-length western in Latvia.

“” Wild East. Where the Road Leads “is not a historical cinema. It is a very colorful adventure film full of colorful images about the fate of young people in very difficult times. Although we work in the western genre, we transform it into our own, including elements from detective and comedy. “Of course, there is also a healthy dose of irony about the western genre and what it means to move the wild west to a part of the world with which the concept has nothing to do at all,” explains Matisa Kaža, who emphasizes that the story is about growth in we cannot be sure of our future. Also about the fight against injustice, including the division of society, colonialism, intolerance, passion for power. And although the action takes place in a century and a half ago, the most observant viewers in the film will see parallels with the modern world.

The main role is played by the daughter of actors Kaspars Zvīgulis and Sandra Kļaviņa Žanete Zvīgule, and the new Daile Theater actor Toms Veličko will play alongside her. Kaspars Znotins, Vilis Dodiņš, Egons Dombrovskis, Andris Keišs, Niklāvs Kurpnieks, Agnese Budovska (Cīrule), Inese Kučinska, Jānis Skutelis and other actors also play a colorful role in the film.

“The director offered various challenges, such as riding a horse on a slope with a seven-year-old child, wading through the snow of the Alpine mountains at a height of several thousand meters. “I am looking forward to the continuation of this role.

The film was shot in Latvia, Italy and Sweden. In Italy, in the South Tyrol region, important scenes for the film’s prologue and various episodes with horses have been shot. Western is an important genre in the history of Italian cinema – the so-called “spaghetti westerns” were created there, which in the 1960s offered a different view of the American cinema genre.

The film production companies are “Fenixfilm” and “Deep Sea Studios”, the main creative team consists of director, producer and screenwriter Matīss Kaža, cameraman Aleksandrs Grebņevs, artist Jurģis Krāsons, costume designer Līga Krāsone, make-up artist Dzintra Bijuden, montage director director Aleksandrs Vaicahovskis, composers Mikēlis Putniņš and Simon Gamper (Italy), screenwriter Ilze Akmentiņa, producers Una Celma and Dace Siatkovska.

Director Matiss was educated in Goat Film at the University of Tisha School of Art in New York, and studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Already during his studies, he made his first full-length documentary film “One Ticket, Please!” (2017), which has won recognition at several international film festivals. In 2020, Matīsa Kaža’s documentary “Wanderers” and the film “Cinema and We” with Jānis Skutelis, Andris Keišs and Egons Dombrovskis premiered.

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