Soviet Jeans (Padomju džinsi)

Origin and Year: Latvia, 2024	Director: Juris Kursietis, Staņislavs Tokalovs
Section: Primetime Killer	Runnning time: 2 x 60 min
25.09.2024 at 20.30	Screening place: Goose on the String Theatre Zelný trh 9

Renars is an anti-hero who was raised by the communist regime in Latvia in the last century. He is in his early twenties, loves Western culture, has charisma almost as big as Mick Jagger, and the secret police are interested in him for petty dealings. The unusually colourful, energetic and optimistic Latvian comedy drama set in the 1970s recalls the atmosphere in much of the former “Eastern Bloc”, where the pressure to conform, obey and serve one’s country could only be endured with a high degree of free-spiritedness and a determination not to lose one’s self. The series about how a bunch of unlikely tailors from a psychiatric hospital flooded the black market with tailored jeans recalls the subversive power of iconic objects of Western culture in the dark days of Eastern Europe, the vitality and conviction that even in the worst of times it is possible to distinguish between truth and imposed reality and to know how to have fun. Winner of the Audience Award and the Best Actor Award at the Series Mania Festival.

Q&A after the screening.