Mistrus Media
Mind-breakers
Game-changers
Cinema-lovers
MISTRUS MEDIA, established in 2000, is one of the mostexperienced Latvian film production companies, working on internationalco-productions of feature films and documentaries (producing withGermany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, CzechRepublic, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Croatia, Russia, Portugal, Serbia),TV projects and film production and location services for foreignproductions in the Baltic countries. The productions of MISTRUS MEDIAhave received several national and international festival awards and theyhave been broadcast on TV stations worldwide.
Our Productions
Feature fiction films
The Mover
(2018)
Directed by Dāvis Sīmanis
This award-winning film is dedicated to Žanis Lipke who risked everything to rescue over 50 people during World War II.
Chronicles of Melanie
(2016)
Directed by Viesturs Kairišs
Based on the true story of Melanija Vanaga, this film is a brutally realistic and terrifying account of the mass deportation of residents of Soviet-occupied Latvia that took place in June 1941.
The Shift
(2020)
Directed by Reinis Kalniņš
During the course of one night a young driver navigates the complicated taxi turf wars in a desperate attempt to come up with the money he owes his increasingly impatient boss.
January
(in pre-production)
Directed by Viesturs Kairišs
It is the winter of 1991 in Riga and 18-year old Jazis’ life is fraught with complications. Even though Latvian national independence has been restored, the Soviet Army is still very much present in the country. Never being one for politics, Jazis would much rather focus on his love life.
Pig'nPah
(in pre-production)
Directed by Aik Karapetian
Lost in the backwoods of Latvia, on the edgesof a mythical forest, Sam is a long way from his Belgian home. He is searching for runaway, Lagzdin, but instead finds a pig-farmer’s daughter, Kirke. Her kind hospitality turns out to be an opportunistic trick to secure him as a farm slave. Alone, unable to speak the language and chained up 24/7 with the pigs, he learns to adapt. However, being worked into the ground is not his only threat. In particular, Kirke’s jealous suitor would rather see Sam dead so he can marry her and inherit the farm. Fortunately, a talking piglet gains Sam’s confidence and shows him the way to freedom, true love and a macabre happy ever after.
TV Series
Emily. Queen of Press
(in pre-production)
Directed by Andis Mizišs, Kristīne Želve, Dāvis Sīmanis.
Written by Ivo Briedis, Baņuta Rubess, Aiva Birbele
The true story of Emīlija Benjamiņa (Emily Benjamin) – a woman who was in turns exalted, envied, hated and adored. A strong woman who builds a press and fashion kingdom, but ultimately even her wealth and influence cannot save her from betrayal.
In the Dusk
(2020)
Directed by Šarūnas Bartas
A historical drama set in Lithuania in 1948, focuses on Ounté, a 19-year old boy who experiences passion and violence after joining a group of partisans resisting the Soviet occupation.
Natural Light
(in post-production)
Directed by Dénes Nagy
Natural Light is set during World War II when more than 100,000 Hungarian soldiers served in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union. Their main task was to eliminate illegal partisan groups. In the first years of the war, they received the order to burn the villages where partisans were active to the ground.
Tsoi
(awaiting release in 2020)
Directed by Alexei Uchitel
The road of love, hate, jealousy and greed. August 15, 1990. Viktor Tsoi, the Soviet Union’s most famous rock star and a symbol of freedom and change, dies in an accident on a Latvian highway. The bus driver involved in the tragic accident has to bring the body back to Leningrad. The party of mourners consists of Tsoi’s wife and her new boyfriend, his mistress, his producer, his young son and an obsessed photographer. This is going to be a long trip providing the perfect backdrop for the agonising unravelling of love, jealousy, ambition, and greed.
Documentaries
My Father the Spy
(2019)
Directed by Jaak Kilmi and Gints Grūbe
As a young Soviet student in 1978, Ieva could not have predicted that a holiday visit to her father, Imants Lešinskis, then working in the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, would irreversibly split her life in two. Entangled in a dark spy game, Ieva was forced to leave her former life behind, never to see her mother or her homeland of Latvia again. Pulling back the curtain on the shady behind-the-scenes world of the Cold War, this film tells a daughter’s dramatic story of her double-agent father, exploring their relationship against the backdrop of events which have their roots over four decades ago.
To be Continued
(2018)
Directed by Ivars Seleckis
The To Be Continued documentary follows lives of five children throughout their first school year. Kārlis’s family is firmly rooted in the Latvian countryside. Gleb’s grandparents came to Latvia only in the Soviet period. Zane’s family are first-generation urban-dwellers. Anastasija’s family moved from the city to the countryside. Anete’s mum lives and works in the UK. The film explores how these choices made by adults are reflected in a child’s thinking.
The Birth of the Leopard
(2019)
Directed by Luigi Falorni
The island of Lampedusa has become the symbol for the large refugee movements of our time. Lampedusa, however, is also the name of an old noble family from Sicily – the family of writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. His only novel, Il Gattopardo published in 1958 one year after its author’s death, became a worldwide success. Luchino Visconti’s film adaptation received a Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1963 but what is the story behind this great novel? Solving this mystery leads you on a journey into the life of Tomasi and his German-Baltic wife Alexandra von Wolff-Stomersee... and with that to an incredible European love story.
Lustrum
(2018)
Directed by Gints Grūbe
“Lustrum” was one of the state administration principles of the Roman Empire – a five-year period after which public administrators underwent a purification and repentance process that was usually accompanied by a sacrifice. During this time, the representatives of the previous administration confessed all their sins, repented and genuinely swore allegiance to the new administration. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia has made a decision to open the KGB archives in May 2018. The film is an endeavour to answer the question of whether the lustration that never took place in the 1990s may turn out to be dangerous for the future existence of statehood.
Master Plan
(2016)
Directed by Juris Pakalniņš
This investigative documentary film explores the methods through which Russia influences the domestic policy of the Baltic States – by dividing the local community, promoting nostalgia for the Soviet Union and dismissing the recovered independence of the Baltic States.
My Father the Banker
(2015)
Directed by Ieva Ozoliņa
Self-made banker Boriss Osipovs achieves quick success immediately after the collapse of the USSR, but flees Latvia to avoid arrest for illegal operations. Fifteen years later, his family receives a photograph from Interpol of an elderly gentleman with the same name who resides in a Malaysian mental asylum. Could it be him? Despite the reservations of her family, his daughter, documentary director Ieva Ozolina starts an investigation to find out the truth about the man in the photograph. My Father the Banker is an emotional story about a man who loses himself in times of change... and the daughter who hopes to find him.
The Sixth Day
(2019)
Directed by Brigita Eglīte
“Lustrum” was one of the state administration principles of the Roman Empire – a five-year period after which public administrators underwent a purification and repentance process that was usually accompanied by a sacrifice. During this time, the representatives of the previous administration confessed all their sins, repented and genuinely swore allegiance to the new administration. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia has made a decision to open the KGB archives in May 2018. The film is an endeavour to answer the question of whether the lustration that never took place in the 1990s may turn out to be dangerous for the future existence of statehood.
Brussles
(2019)
Directed by Inese Kļava
In the minds of people, Brussels is no longer a geographical location; it is now a myth-surrounded centre, where decisions are made regarding future life in Europe. The most brilliant minds from the European countries have convened in Brussels: former state leaders, highly-placed officials, advisors, translators and interpreters, as well as family members of all these people. Together, they comprise a sort of separate planet ruled by special laws and using new methods of communication; it is a place of a high concentration of power and all sorts of creature comforts. The anxiety following the 2016 attacks on Brussels has taken everyone by surprise, and the question whether to stay on Planet Brussels now comes up increasingly often. The Brexit news gave completely different kind of concussion to the commonly established center of Europe.
Escaping Riga
(2014)
Directed by Dāvis Sīmanis
The film is a story based on historical events about two outstanding personalities of the 20th century, Sergei Eisenstein and Isaiah Berlin, both of whom were born and spent their childhood in Riga but soon left the city. Following the course of the lives of both protagonists against the background of the dramatic events of the first half of the 20th century, the film shows how one of them became the most brilliant film director of his generation in the totalitarian USSR and the other the most brilliant thinker of his generation in liberal UK.
Our Team
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Gints Grube
Producer, CEO
Member of EAVE, Producers on the Move 2017 (Cannes), Member of Latvian Producers Association, European Producers Club, European Film Academy
+371 29 455 252
Inese Boka-Grūbe
Producer
Member of EAVE, Producers on the Move 2019 (Cannes), Member of the Latvian Producers Association, Member of the European Film Academy.
+371 29 25 95 80
Elīna Gediņa-Ducena
Producer
Anete Ruperte
Assistant Producer