DIRECTOR & SCRIPTWRITER LAILA PAKALNIŅA
CAMERA WOJCIECH STAROŃ
DESIGN JURĢIS KRĀSONS
MUSIC VESTARDS ŠIMKUS
CAST: ANTONS GEORGS GRAUDS, VILIS DAUDZINS, WIKTOR ZBOROWSKI, ANDRIS KEISS, LIENA SMUKSTE, GIRTS KRUMINS, RUDOLFS PLEPIS, IVARS BRAKOVSKIS
PRODUCERS LAILA PAKALNIŅA, KASPAR KALLAS, MALGORZATA STAROŃ
PRODUCTION HARGLA COMPANY, MIRACLE WORKER, STARON FILM, DIGITAALNE SPUTNIK
WORLD SALES
HARGLA COMPANY
LAILA.PAKALNINA@INBOX.LV
The film heralds a morally confused world in the recent past – the Soviet era, when adults and children alike lost their bearings in the name of so-called ideals. Unfortunately “Dawn” is not only about the past, as the desire of totalitarian regimes to turn people into dull cogs-in-machines seems eternal – limited neither by time nor space. Based on a Soviet propaganda story (most likely none too accurate) about Young Pioneer Morozov, who denounced his father to Stalin’s secret police and was in turn killed by his own family. His life exemplified the moral duty of all fine Soviet citizens. A few decades later we call him Little Janis, and he’s a pioneer who lives on the Soviet collective farm Dawn. His father is an enemy of the farm (and the Soviet system). Little Janis betrays his fatherland and the father takes revenge on his son. Who, in this old Soviet fairytale, is good, and who is evil?
LAILA PAKALNINA
Born in Liepaja, Latvia. Graduated from VGIK, department of film direction. Director and scriptwriter of 27 documentaries, 6 shorts, 5 fiction features. Participant in and winner of many international film festivals. Her director’s filmography includes full-length features ßêîðü“The Shoe” (1998), “The Hostage” (2006), “The Python” (2003), “Pizzas” (2012).
