LATVIAN AMATEUR DOCUMENTARY FILM, 1970s–1980s: FAMILY, COMMUNITY, TRAVEL, AND POLITICS IN THE FILMS OF ULDIS LAPIŅŠ, INGVARS LEITIS, AND ZIGURDS VIDIŅŠ

Abstract

In the 1950s, amateur filmmaking had become a well-established feature of everyday life in the Soviets Union. However, in contrast to the state film industry, no centralized governmental body existed to control amateur filmmakers. As a result, state ideology was not always the primary motivation for making amateur films. The works that dared to experiment invariably emerged from the periphery, and the Latvian SSR became one of the citadels of the Soviet amateur film movement. Drawing upon the amateur film collection held at the Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents, this paper will identify and analyse the various functions that amateur documentary filmmaking performed beyond its ostensible mission of transmitting Soviet ideology, and examine its role in creating alternative political, social, and cultural meanings, and prospects for national identity development and heritage preservation. It will primarily focus on the documentaries by Uldis Lapiņš, Zigurds Vidiņš, and Ingvars Leitis made in the 1970 and the 1980s, and look at how they used everyday matters – such as family, community, and travel – to express artistically as well as to address broader social and political issues of life in the post-war Soviet society.