Doms
Laila Pakalniņa
Latvia | 1991 | 19 min
Language : Latvian
Subtitle : English
1991. The Soviet government could not accept the independence movement of the Baltic countries. In Vilnius, Lithuania, tanks attacked the crowd that had been peacefully demonstrating, and the same thing soon happened in the other capitals. The cathedral in the heart of Riga opened its doors to take in the demonstrators and became an infirmary as well as a public kitchen, for the first time in its history.
The Soviet government reacted violently to the independent movements of the Baltic countries in January 1991. Soviet tanks attacked the crowd that had been demonstrating in Lithuania and, shortly afterwards, the same thing happened in Riga. The cathedral in the heart of the city opened its doors to the demonstrators and became a shelter, an infirmary and a public kitchen. “I have always been thinking about making documentary films without voice over, even without interviews. About making ‘real films’ where it is possible to express all that you want to say through the atmosphere. That was my, a film school student’s, understanding and serious intention, that was not tried out in praxis yet at that moment of time. But suddenly it happened – people were on the streets ready to die for freedom of their country and there was no need to ask anything, because everything was understandable and defined by the atmosphere.” Laila Pakalnina
