Modris, a “tough coming of age story”, went into pre-production in 2012 and was shot in Riga from February to March in 2013. The script of the film was also developed at a training session in Poland's Ekran in 2012. The feature, both written and directed by Kursietis, a graduate of the Northern Media School in the UK, tells the story of a 17 year old teenager, Modris, who is addicted to playing slot machines. This addiction pushes him into an intense conflict with his mother as well as with the law.

The title role is played by Kristers Piksa, who was selected from a public casting call which attracted some 1,200 young hopefuls. The cast also includes professional Latvian actors Rezija Kalnina and Baiba Broka. The cinematographer is Polish-born, Oscar nominated Bogumil Godfrejów whose works include A Man Thing (2001) as well as the European Film Awards nominated Distant Lights (2003).

Kursietis previously worked as an assistant director for Juris Poskus on the drama Kolka Cool as well as the acclaimed Janis Nord's first film Amateur. Kursietis has also directed the feature-length documentary Escape From Cuba and two medium length documentaries Hackers and January 13th.

The film is funded by the Latvian Film Centre as well as the Culture Capital Foundation. Kursietis' feature was also supported by Media and Eurimages as well as Germany’s NRW Film Financing Fund and the Greek Film Centre. The total budget of the film is approximately 350,000 EUR.

Modris is produced by Red Dot Media, a local broadcast production company, whose team also includes Kursietis. The Greek producers are Boo Company, whose film credits include the Oscar nominated drama Dogtooth and the German side is represented by Sutor Kolonko, a young director and writer oriented company.

Websites: http://modrisfilm.com/