In the poetic tapestry of history and the present day, film and theatre director Krilovs blends the personal and the political. As he dramatises history and portrays the artist Raimonds Staprāns, he asks: what’s the responsibility of an artist before the curtain of history?

On the shore of the Baltic Sea stands a small, red barn. It is a metaphor for the Latvian émigré artist Raimonds Staprāns, known as a realist expressionist. The barn takes on real form – becoming a historical laboratory not only for events in Latvian and European history, but also a reference point for the life story of a vivid, tenacious and untamed artist. The colours of San Francisco intermingle with the Latvian palette, past with present, feature film with documentary texture.

Krilovs is a master of dramatised documentary film, having made such landmark pieces as Klucis: The Deconstruction of an Artist (2008) and Obliging Collaborators (2014). He has always been keen to explore the notion of personal responsibility, and people whose life stories raise questions about their era. The protagonist of his latest documentary is Staprāns, who fled his homeland at the start of the Soviet occupation and went to the USA, where he became a celebrated artist and wrote plays about Latvian history. Both Krilovs and Staprāns share an interest in historical figures, so in the film these characters – played by actors Imants Strads, Kaspars Zvīgulis and others – come to life and pose questions to their author. The film sheds light on Staprāns not only as a thinker and painter, but also as a playwright with a sharp-eyed and philosophical interest in Latvia whilst living on the other side of the Atlantic.

The centenary year of Staprāns (1926–2026) features several events highlighting his work, personality and life. His memoir “46 Episodes With and Without Irony” was recently published, and the exhibition “Raimonds Staprāns: An Architecture of Silence” is on show at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Riga.