07/03/2011

Latvian director of Armenian origin Aik Karapetian is putting the final touches on two feature-length films: the social drama People Out There and the horror film Stress (working title “Louis XVI’s Demons”), both produced by Guntars Laucis and Roberts Vinovskis for Locomotive Productions.

Karapetian studied film at the Latvian Academy of Culture in Riga and at the ESEC film school in Paris. He won several awards for his short films Lost, 30X7 and Riebum.

People Out There will be the first Latvian film shot in the Russian language since the country’s regained independence in 1991. The story of a young delinquent’s attempt to change his life received half of its €500,000 budget from the Latvian Film Centre while the rest came from private money.

“Times are tough in Latvia, but you can survive by renting shooting equipment, which is what we do at Locomotive”, said Laucis, who splits his time between Riga and Tallinn.

Comparing Karapetian to UK filmmaker Guy Ritchie, Laucis says the young director filmed People Out There back to back with the low-budget horror film Stress. Also in post-production, latter centres on a young man who spends a weekend in a luxurious villa that, unexpectedly, is already inhabited by people who are menacingly familiar to him. Laucis said he is looking for post-production partners and sales representatives for both projects and is hoping to bring People Out There to Cannes.

Laucis is also associate producer on Death to You, the new film by Juris Poskus (Monotony) produced by Riga-based FA Filma. In the film, a couple has differing views on their upcoming wedding. The groom’s brother arrival from Africa further causes a series of incidents that jeopardizes the couple’s wedding plans. Iveta Pole, who won a Best Actress Latvian Film Prize for Monotony, stars. The €450,000 drama produced by Madara Melberga and Poskus for Fa Filma will open this month in Latvia.