Juris Podnieks (December 5, 1950,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

– June 23, 1992,

Kuldīga district Kuldīga () () is a town in the Courland region of Latvia, in the western part of the country. It is the center of Kuldīga Municipality with a population of approximately 13,500. Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic L ...

) was a Soviet/

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and producer.

Early life and education

Podnieks was born in the family of an announcer and a dental technician. He started his career in film in 1967, becoming an assistant cameraman. He graduated from the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, officially the S. A. Gerasimov All-Russian University of Cinematography (, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov''), a.k.a. VGIK, is a film school in Moscow, ...

film school in 1975 after which he started working at the

Riga Film Studio Riga Film Studio (, ) is a Latvian film production company based in Riga and founded in 1940 on the basis of the earlier private film companies. In 1948, the Riga Documentary Film Studio was founded. In 1970–80, the company produced 10-15 fil ...

. He became a director in 1979.

Career

Podnieks' first film ''Cradle'' won an award at the

Dok Leipzig DOK Leipzig is a documentary film festival that takes place every October in Leipzig, Germany. It is an international film festival for documentary and animated film founded in 1955 under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural an ...

festival. In 1981, his film ''The Brothers Kokari'' (, which followed Latvian composers-twins

Imants Imants is a Latvian masculine given name, from the Livonian language: ''im'' meaning "miracle" added to ''and'' meaning "gift". The name is borne by more than 6,250 men in Latvia. Its nameday is celebrated on 1 July. The name is one of the rela ...

and Gido Kokars) took the first prize at the

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Youth Festival. In the same year, his film ''Constellation of Riflemen'' () won honours in the 17th All State Festival in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and the Latvian

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

prize. This film gave Podnieks wide recognition within the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Podnieks gained international recognition with his movie '' 'Is It Easy to Be Young?''. The film with dialogue in both Latvian and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

was an exploration of Soviet youth, in which Podnieks talked to Latvian youngsters, many of which were seen as outliers and/or rebels at the time. The movie broke box-office records in the Soviet Union - something that rarely happened to documentaries. 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 ''Soviets'' or ''Hello, do you hear us?'' (title in the UK, ''Mēs?'' in Latvian). It showed civil unrest in

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

, survivors of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, striking workers in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

, environmental protests in

Kirishi Kirishi (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Kirishsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volkhov River, southeast of St. Petersburg. Population: It was previously known as ''Soltsy'' (unti ...

, former residents returning to

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

etc. The first film in the series, ''Red Hot'', was awarded the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international television, radio-broadcasting and web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with th ...

and the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

. Later, Podnieks filmed movies that focused on the rise of

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

in Latvia,

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. His ''Homeland'' (''Krustceļš'', 1992) was an account of

folk festivals A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicra ...

in these countries when national songs which had been banned by the

Soviet regime The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a federal single-party soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only party permitted by the C ...

for 50 years, were sung by massed choirs. While filming a follow-up in January 1991, Podnieks and his crew came under sniper fire during the attempted coup by Soviet forces in

. Podnieks was beaten up, his cameraman and long-time friend

Andris Slapiņš Andris is a Latvian language, Latvian masculine given name, a cognate of Andrew (name), Andrew, and may refer to: *Andris Ambainis (born 1975), Latvian computer scientist *Andris Ameriks (born 1961) Latvian politician and economist *Andris Andrei ...

was killed and Gvido Zvaigzne, another collaborator and friend of Podnieks, died of injuries. This was captured on video and shown as an addition to ''Homeland'' and later as an introduction for the revised version of this film. Four of his films received the

Lielais Kristaps ''Lielais Kristaps'' is the highest award given in Latvian cinema. Established in 1977, it is given out at the ''Latvian National Film Festival''. Due to different reasons, the festival has not been held in 1992, 1994 to 1995, 1997 and 1999 ...

prize as the best documentary of the year. Juris Podnieks drowned on 23 June 1992 (during

Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The d ...

) while scuba-diving in Zvirgzdu Lake near

Alsunga Alsunga (also Alšvanga, ) is a village in Alsunga Parish, Kuldīga Municipality in the Courland region of Latvia. Alsunga is the center of the Suiti, a small Catholic community in the Lutheran western part of Latvia. There are approximately 13 ...

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

. Various conspiracy theories have been put forward ever since about the circumstances of his death.

Legacy

In 2010, Podnieks was posthumously awarded the Latvian

Order of Viesturs The Order of Viesturs () is a Latvian state order (honour), order founded in 1938, which was temporarily discontinued in 1940 by the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, Soviet occupation of Latvia, but was re-established in 2004. The order is nam ...

, 1st Class for his contribution to the restoration of the independence of Latvia. The award was given to his relatives in a ceremony by Latvian president

Valdis Zatlers Valdis Zatlers (; born 22 March 1955) is a Latvian politician and former physician who served as the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011. He won the Latvian presidential election of 31 May 2007. He became President of Latvia on 8 July ...

. He had also received the Soviet

medal "For Distinguished Labour" The Medal "For Distinguished Labour" () was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour high performances in labour or contributions in the fields of science, culture or the manuf ...

and the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

References

External links

*
Entry on Filmas.lv — Latvian Film Database (in Latvian)
4 July 1992

4 July 1992 * ttp://www.latfilma.lv/cm/podnieks/index.html Profile on Latfilma website {{DEFAULTSORT:Podnieks, Juris 1950 births 1992 deaths Accidental deaths in Latvia Latvian film directors Soviet film directors Deaths by drowning Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni Lielais Kristaps Award winners Film people from Riga Soviet documentary film directors