Pēteris Krilovs’s Film *The Red Barn* | Portrait of Artist Raimonds Staprāns

On a poetic canvas of history and the present, film and theatre director Krilovs brings the personal and the political together. By staging history and creating a portrait of artist Raimonds Staprāns, the film asks: what is an artist’s responsibility before the curtain of history? A small red barn stands on the shore of the Baltic Sea. It is a metaphor for Raimonds Staprāns, the Latvian émigré artist described as an expressionist realist. The barn takes on tangible form, becoming a historical laboratory not only for events in Latvian and European history, but also a point of reference for the life of a vivid, resilient and unconventional artist. The colours of San Francisco, the palette of Latvia, past and present, narrative cinema and documentary textures intertwine. Krilovs is a master of staged documentary cinema, whose landmark works include “Klucis. Nepareizais latvietis” (2008) and “Uz spēles Latvija” (2014). The concept of personal responsibility and people whose life stories sharpen questions about their era have always been at the heart of the filmmaker’s interests. The protagonist of his latest documentary is Staprāns, who fled his homeland for the United States at the beginning of the Soviet occupation, became a respected artist and wrote plays about Latvian history. Krilovs and Staprāns share an interest in historical figures, and so it is only natural that these figures—portrayed in the film by actors Imants Strads, Kaspars Zvīgulis and others—come to life and pose questions to their author. The film reveals Staprāns not only as a thinker and painter, but also as a playwright: someone with a keen, philosophical interest in Latvia while living across the ocean. Several events exploring his work, personality and life are taking place in the centenary year of Staprāns (1926–2026). The book “46 epizodes ar un bez ironijas” has recently been published, and the exhibition “Raimonds Staprāns. Klusuma arhitektūra” is on view at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga.

Tickets: 4 EUR, available at BIĻEŠU PARADĪZE ticket offices: https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/lv/event/180528

*By attending the event, you agree to photography and video recording and to their use for the publicity purposes of Tukuma pilsētas Kultūras nams. You have the right to object to being photographed or filmed, or to your child being photographed or filmed, by notifying the organisers while photography or filming is taking place.