Private Project

UPURGA

Andrejs is an adventure guide who is afraid of real adventures. But that’s what he gets when his sister, an influencer, goes missing in the valley of a wild river, together with a vegan sausage advertising crew. Facing ancient forces of nature, Andrejs’ deepest anxieties awaken as he engages in a futile search that pushes his body and mind to the extreme. During his journey, the young man will meet locals such as a silent cabbage fermenter and a weird brotherhood of hunters who speak a language totally of their own. They are the protectors of a wondrous natural phenomena, haunting and beautiful at the same time. Andrejs doesn’t know that every path in this strange forest leads exactly to the thing you are looking for - but to find it, you must first get lost.

  • Uģis Olte
    Director
    Liberation Day
  • Uģis Olte
    Writer
    Liberation Day
  • Bojana Babič
    Writer
  • Lucas Abrahão
    Writer
  • Uldis Cekulis
    Producer
    The Rossellinis, The Jump, Bridges of Time, Wonderful Losers, Liberation Day,
  • Raitis Ābele
    Producer
    Troubled Minds
  • Igors Šelegovskis
    Key Cast
    "Andrejs"
    Homo Novus
  • Inga Tropa-Fišere
    Key Cast
    "Eva"
  • Rihards Sniegs
    Key Cast
    "Matiass"
  • Elvita Ragovska
    Key Cast
    "Māra"
  • Reinis Boters
    Key Cast
    "Oskars"
  • Morten Traavik
    Key Cast
    "Inspector Saliņš"
    Okkupert
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    thriller, magical realism, drama, adventure
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    125,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Latvia
  • Country of Filming:
    Latvia
  • Language:
    Latvian
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2,39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Black Nights Film Festival
    Tallinn
    Estonia
    November 21, 2021
    world premiere
    Baltic competition
Distribution Information
  • SPEKTRS
    Distributor
    Country: Latvia
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Uģis Olte

Uģis Olte = drummer → journalist → editor → director → writer = creative docs + music video + shorts + auteur TV formats + fiction

Uģis Olte is a Latvian director / editor who enjoys staying playful when dealing with serious subjects. Equipped with senses of a musician and convinced that dreams, myths and fairy-tales can be useful tools for telling any story. He has created numerous original TV documentary formats, filmed bunch of weird music videos and also 3 short fiction films (“The Red Spot”, “KK2678” and “King Of The Wild Things”). His efforts in documentary genre have resulted in three feature length films - “Stuck in Stikine” (2007), “Double Aliens” (2015) and “Liberation Day” (2016, co-directed with Morten Traavik).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I grew up in Latvian countryside. This fact comes with serious side effects. I have been desperately lost in a forest that I know by heart and begged a gang of wild boars to leave me alone when I accidentally stepped into their lair. And once I almost drowned twice in the same day in a creek that is only a foot deep. Right now, I am in the middle of translating my personal sense of Latvian forests, rivers and small villages into the magical realist thriller “Upurga”, which tells a story of a young man’s initiation facing the ancient forces of Nature. It's a story dealing with elements I know by heart. The viewer gets seated on the shoulder of our main protagonist Andrejs and follows his wandering viewpoint as he delves deeper and deeper into a mystery that is much bigger than himself. The film's tone attempts to forge opposing elements into one amalgam as it meanders from menacing dread to quirky humour and from believable realism to mythological dreamscapes.