The film, set on the Latvian/Russian border, follows Aigar, a man in his 30s facing a personal crisis as he struggles to earn a living. He lives in a small village, has no education and no prospects for a decent job. Smuggling immigrants across the border became a source of profit for him. The other protagonist of the film is Aigar's girlfriend, Lolita. She is 20 years older and works as a librarian. The film follows their relationship as well as Aigar’s work as a smuggler during its three-year observational documentary shoot which began in March 2016.

Marta Bite produced through the production company Documentarist. The project was selected for the Ex Oriente Film workshop in 2016 and the Baltic Sea Docs (2-10 September 2017), where it looked for coproducers and distribution agreements. The film won the Between the Seas competition at the recent Ji.hlava IDFF.

The budget was 85,900 EUR, Marta Bite told FNE. The National Film Center of Latvia and the Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia supported it. The film was acquired by Taskovski Films.

Ivars Zviedris has won several national film awards in Latvia and his documentary Documentarian / Dokumentalista (2012) had a wide international release. He was one of the first documentary directors to begin work on a COVID-19 lockdown film.

Production Information:

Documentarist
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Credits:
Director: Ivars Zviedris
DoP: Ivars Zviedris, Haralds Ozols