Juris Podnieks

Who was Juris Podnieks?

Juris Podnieks was a Latvian film director and producer.

He graduated from the Soviet VGIK film school in 1975 after which he started working at the Riga Film Studio. He became a director in 1979.

Podnieks' first film Cradle won an award at the Dok Leipzig festival. In 1981, his film The Brothers Kokar took the first prize at the Kiev Youth Festival. In the same year, his film Constellation of Riflemen won honours in the 17th All State Festival in Leningrad and the Latvian Komsomol prize. This film gave Podnieks wide recognition within the Soviet Union.

Podnieks gained international recognition with his movie 'Is It Easy to Be Young?. The film with dialogue in both Latvian and Russian was an exploration of Soviet youth, in which Podnieks talked to youngsters later convicted for criminal actions. The movie broke box-office records in the Soviet Union.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, Podnieks cooperated with British television to give a first-hand insight on the events in the Soviet Union. Over three years, Podnieks filmed a five-part documentary titled Hello, do you hear us?. It showed civil unrest in Uzbekistan, survivors of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia, striking workers in Yaroslavl and former residents returning to Chernobyl. The first film in the series was awarded the Prix Italia.