Latvian Independence Day Church services and “Valiant” film showing
Valsts svētku dievkalpojums
Svētdien 20. novembrī plkst. 10:30
Sietlas latviešu namā
Visi laipni aicināti!
Pēc dievkalpojuma, plkst. 12:00, rādīs filmu “Valiant” nama lielajā zālē.
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Latvian Independence Day church services
Sunday November 20, 10:30AM
at the Seattle Latvian Community Center
All are welcome!
Following the church services, at 12:00 noon, will be a showing of the movie “Valiant” in the main hall.
The movie is in Latvian with English subtitles.
VALIANT! BRAUCIENS UZ BRĪVU LATVIJU
Filma ir latviešu valodā ar subtitriem angļu valodā.
Dokumentālā filma par trimdas latviešu politiskajām demonstrācijām
Aukstā kara noslēguma fāzē 20. gs. 80. gados Ziemeļamerikas latviešu jauniešu politiskās demonstrācijas piesaistīja preses uzmanību Baltijas valstu okupācijas jautājumam. Tas bija laiks, kad tikai retais amerikānis prata atrast Latvijas vārdu uz pasaules kartes. Filma ir stāsts par šo laiku – par trimdas latviešu jauniešu izdomu, trakulīgumu, drosmi un nacionālpatriotisko stāju, kas tiek atklāts, izmantojot vienas ļoti īpašas automašīnas dzīvesstāstu. Filmā paralēli bagātīgiem arhīvu materiāliem ir iekļautas intervijas ar Latvijai nozīmīgiem sabiedriskajiem darbiniekiem, atklājot viņu jaunības gaitas, kurās cīņa par Latvijas neatkarības atjaunošanu bija pašsaprotama.
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Valiant! A Car, a Cause, and the Cold War
Juris and his mates paint an old Plymouth Valiant “Slant Six” with anti-Soviet slogans like “Nyet, nyet Soviet!” and “Go(rbachev) to hell!”. Day to day, while driving around his home state of New Jersey, Juris uses the car to further the seemingly hopeless task – to free illegally occupied Latvia. During the last years of the Cold War, the political antics of American Latvian youth managed to draw attention to the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States – generating headlines when few could even find Latvia on a map.
Meeting Latvian organizers today, Valiant! reveals unorthodox strategies behind their newsworthy protests. Now, at a time when Russia threatens Ukraine and Putin laments the break-up of the Soviet Union, it begs the question whether Latvian freedom efforts against Russian aggression are in fact “just history”?
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The “Latvians Abroad – museum and research centre” is an NGO, founded in 2007, with an office, collection and staff in Rīga, Latvia and active board members from Latvia and the US. The museum’s collection (17,000 items) is on long-term loan to the National Library of Latvia and is stored in the new building of the National Library in the heart of Rīga. Over the years the museum has created a number of exhibitions, education projects, films and publications, including the book “Nyet Nyet Soviet: tales of Latvian political demonstrations in exile” (published in Latvian) in 2018. For more information see the museum’s webpage www.lapamuzejs.lv or Facebook page @Latvians Abroad.
Māra Pelēce, director of “Valiant!” lives and works in Minneapolis, USA. Māra has worked as a documentary film director for 20 years, creating documentaries about the theme of exiled Latvians: “Between Latvias”, “Let’s Meet in Gaŗezers!”, the series of short films “Trimda Dimd”. Māras contribution to the fight against Soviet occupation began in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a teenager Māra, the same as many other US Latvian teenagers, cruised around their American schools wearing anti-soviet slogans and collecting signatures against soviet occupation from her American school mates.
Marianna Auliciems – producer and co-scriptwriter for the documentary “Valiant!” is director of the “Latvians Abroad – museum and research centre”. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia, she participated in a number of anti-soviet demonstrations, including the time her entire class of the Latvian Summer High School attended a German beer festival near Adelaide dressed in “Nyet Nyet Soviet” t-shirts.