'Ulya' has closed sales to a North America and France, while now the second most-watched film in Latvian history, notes director Viesturs Kairiš International distributors continue to fall for “Ulya.” The Latvian Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film has closed North America (New Mountain Films), France (Destiny), Italy (Invisible Carpet), Slovakia (ASFK), former Yugoslavia (Five Star Distribution), Estonia (Hea Film), Lithuania (GPI), MENA (Teleview), Finland (Cinema Orion), Poland (1989) and Brazil (Belas Arte). The black-and-white film, directed by Viesturs Kairišs, will open the 30th edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. It premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.
Produced by Ego Media (LV), Allfilm (EE), Staroń Film (PL) and Tremora (LT), it’s sold by B-Rated International. Inspired by the life of legendary basketball player Ulyana Semjonova, born in 1952, “Ulya” is not a typical biopic. My interest lies in arthouse films.
I wasn’t really thinking about sports either. I wanted to tell a Werner Herzog-esque story about a giant girl living in the countryside,” Kairišs told Variety. Semjonova was known for her size; she stood at seven feet tall.
But it also made her a bit of a recluse. I wanted it to be very, very subjective. To stick to her point of view, we used what we called ‘crazy cameras’ and slightly out-of-focus shots.
Finding the landscape of her inner soul was a very concrete task.” It was not Kairišs who came up with the idea of making a film about Semjonova. It was the long-held dream of his lead, Kārlis Arnolds Avots. During our first meeting, when I asked him to join our ensemble, he said: ‘You know, I would like to play Ulyana Semjonova.’ Then I forgot all about it,” recalled Kairišs.
It goes back to Shakespearean times. A few years later, he played in my film ‘January’. At one point, while I was resting, I heard Kārlis talking to our DP, explaining this idea to him again.
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