A significant event in Latvian cinema life. The small hall of the only municipal cinema in Riga, Splendid Palace, has opened after more than six months of reconstruction. And it is now named Straume, in honor of the eponymous animated film "Stream", which received the first coveted Latvian "Oscar" this past year.
Awards found the heroes
By the way, the authors of the film - Oscar winners Gints Zilbalodis and Matis Kaza - were present at the opening ceremony. And separately, under the watch of a guard, the awards were displayed - the "Oscar", the "Golden Globe", and the European Film Academy's "Felix" award.
By the way, the creators of the film have a phenomenal number of awards - about one hundred, so it is unknown where the authors keep their priceless prizes? It seems that it is time to create a separate museum for them!
At the entrance to the cinema, there is the very cat, the hero of our award-winning film, which moved from the Freedom Monument. And past which the guests walked, including a charming little dog, which, as it turned out, became one of the prototypes of "Stream".
First of all, the dog and the gathered people heard a speech from the Minister of Culture of Latvia, Agnesa Lāce. Of course, she expressed her delight at the countless awards, as well as the fact that millions of viewers around the world have watched Latvian cinema. "Your success has breathed new life into the development of Latvian animation and, of course, your success has resonated both in Europe and around the world. Therefore, it is so symbolic that here, in one of the oldest cinemas in Europe, there is a hall named after the film," the minister stated.
We are not slaves
By the way, producer Matis Kaza was asked if he knows of any other cinema in the world named after a film? After some thought, the "Oscar-winning" film figure recalled that yes, there is such a cinema called "Casablanca", named after the Hollywood romantic film drama of 1942 (which also won an Oscar, but in the category of "Best Film").
Continuing the analogy, one could assume that the cinema hall "Spartak", built in the late 1960s as an extension to the main building of the "Riga" cinema (which was then called Splendid Palace), was named after the eponymous feature film by Stanley Kubrick, based on the eponymous novel by Howard Fast in 1960, which won as many as five Oscars. But it is simpler – in Soviet times, Spartak was better known for the eponymous novel by Giovannioli, which celebrated the liberation movement of slaves in the Roman Empire.
Under two flags
The main building of the cinema is already 102 years old. Inside, the premises are decorated with stucco (the decorative structures of the Great Hall by sculptors Richard Maurs and Jakabs Legzdins), luxurious paintings on the walls and ceiling (artist Hermanis Grinbergs), and crystal chandeliers. In the halls on two floors, there is antique furniture in the Rococo style. The project was designed over a hundred years ago by architect Friedrich Skuinsh, who built the Cabinet of Ministers and the Palace of Justice in the 1930s, which is literally opposite.
The first screening in December 1923 was Tod Browning's film "Under Two Flags". In October 1929, the first sound film in the Baltics - "The Singing Fool" - was shown in this cinema. In 1940, at the premiere of the first full-length Latvian film "The Son of the Fisherman", the audience broke down the doors.
Unfortunately, the fate of the founder of the cinema, Russian merchant Vasily Emelyanov, is sad. He had a successful film business in St. Petersburg during the Tsar, but after the Bolshevik revolution, he was forced to flee Russia with his family. In the Latvian capital, he continued to engage in film distribution, and besides Riga, he built cinemas in Tallinn and then the capital of Lithuania, Kaunas. In the 1920s and 1930s, Emelyanov placed a large film storage facility under the cinema. But soon after the Soviet troops entered in 1941, Emelyanov was arrested, sentenced to execution, but the sentence was commuted to ten years in camps.
The merchant served eight years and died in northern Russia in 1949. And in 1952, Splendid Palace was renamed the "Riga" cinema.
Stream of Time: Left with Ilyich, Came with a Capybara
In 1969, "Spartak" was built next to "Riga", which opened, of course, with the "correct" program, a trilogy about Lenin - "We Walked with Ilyich". The new building blocked the historical facade of "Riga". About twenty years ago, there was an idea to demolish this building, but everything remained in place.
Since 1978, Spartak specialized in re-showing films. In 1981, it was converted into a cinema for showing stereofilms - for this, special glasses were handed out at the entrance.
In the new times, when there was no time for cinema, a gambling club and a cafe were placed in the glass foyer-gallery, while the cinema hall continued to function. And to its right side, if you remember, before the reconstruction, there was a luxurious bas-relief depicting Spartacus!
But there is no need to worry - the bas-relief has been preserved, it has just been arranged in the corridor at the exit from the hall. And now the walls of the renovated cinema are decorated with characters from the famous animated film - a cat, a dog, a lemur, a capybara, and others.
In addition, new seats, modern projectors, and heated floors have been installed here. However, Mr. Kaza lamented that while heated floors are, of course, very good, he would like the sound system in the hall to be changed as well. "Because this is exactly what we want from modern cinemas, and we hope that in three years there will already be an atmospheric sound system here," he said.
In the Animal World
The usually silent director Gints Zilbalodis was brief, wishing everyone a good evening and a pleasant viewing. And on the screen, "Stream" flowed again. But besides that, in honor of the opening of the hall after the reconstruction, at the suggestion of the creators of the "Oscar-winning" animated film, it was announced that in honor of the opening of the hall Straume, they agreed with the cinema management to create a selection of films about cats, where cats are not always the main characters but are important elements of the film.
In particular, on December 12, the film "Atalanta" from 1934 (directed by Jean Vigo) was presented here, and on December 19, those interested will be able to watch the film "Inside Llewyn Davis" by directors Joel and Ethan Coen.
On December 26, the animated film "Whisper of the Heart" by director Yoshifumi Kondō will be shown, and on January 2, viewers will be offered the film "The Ghost Cat Anzu" by directors Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita. Happy New Year - with a stream of good cinema!
