Cold Bodies Pile High

It’s 1919. The war is raging in Latvia and bodies pile high. A young rifleman’s (Thomas, 30) cold body is placed on a floor inside a mysterious sculptors' studio. Thomas wakes up with his head locked inside a cast and tries to find a way out from the dark room, but soon enough realizes that he is not the only one, who has woken up. The Ghost mother, a pagan goddess of death, tries to pull the young man into the afterlife. Meanwhile, the sculptor places Thomas’s death mask next to the others.

  • Reinis Ubelis
    Director
  • Reinis Ubelis
    Writer
  • Reinis Ubelis
    Producer
  • Madlena Valdberga
    Producer
  • Jury Djakonov
    Key Cast
    "Man in Mask"
  • Dzintars Krumins
    Key Cast
    "Sculptor"
  • Zane Bierande
    Key Cast
    "Ghost mother"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Horror, Fantasy
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 29, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    3,500 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Latvia
  • Country of Filming:
    Latvia
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Latvian Academy of Culture
  • URUVATTI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
    SANTHI COLONY, SALIGRAMAM, TAMIL NADU
    India
    November 9, 2021
    Asia Premiere
    Best Horror Short Film
  • Valencia Indie Film Festival • VALÈIFF
    Valencia
    Spain
    November 18, 2021
    Europe Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Moscow Indie Film Festival
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    January 28, 2022
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Reinis Ubelis

Reinis Ubelis (born October 16th, 1991, Bauska, Latvia) finds his roots in youth theatre and making short films with his friends during his early teens. In high school Reinis joined Riga Film School, where he attended classes in script writing, directing and film history. In 2014 Reinis debuted in documentary genre and has made two full length documentaries. In 2017 he made his first animation short (“The Esperance of Will”), but in 2018 directed his first episodes for tv series. Since 2020 Reinis has been attending directing courses in Latvian Academy of Culture. As a director he aims to work in horror and fantasy genres.

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Director Statement

I chose to tell this story because of two reasons. One, creating death masks for fallen soldiers right after their death was an actual practise in my country during The Latvian War of Independence as it was the only chance for them to be memorised in this chaos of a time. Two, I personally find Latvian cultural inheritance to be rich with myths, pagan deities and traditions which have been buried and sometimes forgotten after Christianity started it’s rule. To mix these two sides of our history for me felt like the real identity of my place of origin and I believe that this inheritance is a rich soil for horror genre films which can cross borders and be relatable.