"Pilsēta pie upes" (The Sign Painter)

×

Expand

Image courtesy of Filmoteca de Catalunya

Directed by Viesturs Kairish, Pilsēta pie upes (The Sign Painter, Latvia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, 2020) follows Ansis the sign painter, a seemingly innocent trade, but very necessary for any authoritarian regime of the 1930s. Ansis is forced to cooperate: he paints the signs of his town first in green, then in red upon arrival of the communists, and in the black when the Nazis arrive. Meanwhile he is trapped in a love triangle. In love with the Jewess Zisla—whom he cannot marry for religious and social reasons, he meets a Latvian woman who steals his heart. Historical events transform everything: Zisla becomes a class enemy and Ansis’s relationship with the two women becomes explosive when Zisla is hunted by the Nazis.

For more events check our online events calendar.