Today is not the way it was yesterday. Conversation with Movies My 80 Spring Director Agnes Laizani / Day

From Friday, April 4, cinemas will be screened by director Agnes Laizane’s documentary Me 80 spring, who has won the National Film Prize Great Kristaps In the category Best debut movie. This is the director’s first full -length cinema. Have previously made short feature films Mirror mirror and Grandfather, as well as documentary short film Detective Martin For the LTV cycle Latvian code.

Film Me 80 spring Tells age, life force and generations, revealing three inspirational senior stories that get in a united message and address viewers in different age groups. In his ninety -seven, she is still working on his sculptures, Alfon is an active party visitor at eighty -six, while his peers Ludgarde and Gunar celebrate his 65th wedding anniversary. Although they do not feel old, the aging of the body occasionally reminds themselves of themselves.

Sense of liability

Me 80 spring Looking for the answer to the question: Is it easy to be old and aware of the closing step of the time. « At first, it seemed to me that making this film would be an opportunity to reflect on death as well: as is it when you are so close to it. What do people think about and dream of life? But at one point, I realized that on the contrary, it is the story of love for life, its fulfillment in different ways. She has chosen heroes whose year does not go with their sharpness, energy and life vigor. It is a message about movement not only in the physical, but also on the spiritual plate, how curious and open the world can be human.

The main characters are people who still want, try and do. As Alfon says, you have to be happy for every day lived, even if life is neither easy or simple. « The older generation of people is characterized by authenticity and truth. They have no desire to be comfortable or pretend to be something they are not. They have a huge sense of responsibility towards the things they get involved, for example, people in my age go through life with more lightness and also with more irresponsibility and sometimes even indifference. Her chosen heroes continue to guide life forward as they want, and without any reservations – what I no longer.

As Alfon says, you have to rejoice for every day lived, even if life is neither easy or simple

River

Unfortunately, one of the characters in the film – the prominent sculptor Eve Upeniece – did not experience My 80 spring entering cinemas. « We managed to capture the last, powerful phase of her life. Many things that are visible on the screen have changed today, or even more. It’s a story about the inexperience of time flow, so it is important to catch and enjoy moments while you can catch them. Laizane. She compares this interaction between generations with the river: if it is blocked, the flow disappears – it is replaced by an overgrown pond.

The film is captured by the last, powerful stage of the long life of sculptor Eve Upeniece

The director himself has grown without grandparents and has slightly compensated for this missing experience in his life with the creation of this documentary, which has lasted a total of four years. Agnese Laizane continues to maintain relationships with Alfon and a pair of Medni (Ludgarde and Gunar). « We call Alfon, ‘Hi! How do you go? « We talk about life and charge each other’s energy, of course, without exaggeration, because everyone has their own family, friends and acquaintances who people devote time. I do not look for my grandparents and do not put my life situation on them, but I try not to lose these contacts, » explains Agnese Laizane.

The director of Ludgarde and Gunar has recently visited their new residence in Riga – she has gone to them with the National Film Prize Great Kristaps Statuettes in your hands: Re where you! « It’s not just my merit. It’s our merit. I wanted them to feel that what they have done is important and meaningful, because they always had a question that they can just show. Living and living. I wouldn’t call it a simple life because there is a lot to see and learn a lot in any life. » The most important about life and living.

Personal letters

Together with the operator Tom Skele, the director is following his heroes, returning to them again and again. It has been a systematic filming of their daily routine. « In this cyclicality of repetition, you see the changes most. Today is not the way it was yesterday. We went to fashion yesterday, today I go alone. We wanted to record this change in half, » says Agnese Laizane. The biggest challenge in the film’s assembly process was to find a balance – not to lose everyday and at the same time do not fuck didactic that you need to live, because you didn’t want to shake your finger from the screen, even if the authors of the movie have managed to capture a lot of smart knowledge of their heroes.

In my 80 spring There is little staging – postponing heroes’ work on filming time (« Wait, slow down! ») or rare external impulses for further heroes. « Ludgarde and Gunar had been actively corresponding before cohabitation and for some time in marriage when both lived in different places due to work and study. It was a huge folder of letters they entrusted to me. I selected personal letters they could read in front of the camera, but this staging ended when they started to remember the youth from today.

Ludgarde and Gunar Medni celebrate the 65 -year wedding anniversary and remember youth from today’s point of view

The director has tried to show living with physical aging and accepting it (« I grinded this sculpture for a whole month, I used to do it much faster, » says Evī Upeniece in the movie), but not to highlight the helplessness of the heroes. « I become older and slower, » says Alfon, who has the sparkling attitude towards things like the rest of the heroes and allows this cinema to climb over the physical restrictions that come with age. « I didn’t want to highlight the helpless because it is there and you feel it. It was important for me to keep respect for the heroes and do not show them in the hardest moments. I have the question: how will it be? » Agnese Laizane admits and adds that any documentary requires to break into another person’s private space, but it must be discreetly and gentle and should be assessed by this trust.

The director believes the movie Me 80 spring It could be interesting for several generations for a variety of reasons. For the younger generation, it could make you think about what you would like to be in old age, as it will be too late to ask this question. « The realization that every time is limited is also important at the age of twenty, thirty, and forty. The way you spend and survive it is mostly your choice and responsibility: what you do, how you treat yourself – your body and spirit – and others to feel your ninety.