When world-renowned German organist Anna uncovers her Latvian husband's involvement in a sprawling corruption scandal, her meticulously curated life alongside their prosperous family starts to unravel. The deepening contrast in their perspectives on corruption, shaped by their Western and Eastern backgrounds, intensifies, jeopardising the core of Anna and Andris' relationship. Will she be able to live with this new image of her husband?
“Has culture grown too much together with business? Is there such a thing as financially innocent culture? Is there such a thing as regional discrimination in Europe? Do the people and politicians in some countries believe they are a bit better than those from the post-Soviet world? Is there a chance at all to change this, or is this just how it’s going to be? Is it in human blood to segregate a group of people, because there is the need to distinguish the barbarians from blue blood? The main task of this film is to study the moment when the main heroine’s life starts to stutter and to observe how relationships change between her husband and her closest family. At the moment that the corruption scandal breaks, Anna is in denial and shock. Then shock is replaced by questions about the likelihood that her husband Andris may have acted in this manner”, Juris Kursietis told FNE.
The international cast includes Johanna Wokalek (Germany), Juris Žagars (Latvia), Judith Hofmann (Germany), Hanna Hilsdorf (Germany), Yorgos Pirpassopoulos (Greece) and Pekka Strang (Finland).
“I see Blue Blood as the mother film of the two previous films I made. Modris and Oleg were exploring the subjects where one has suffered a certain kind of injustice due to his social and ethnic background”, Kursietis also added.
Blue Blood is produced by Alise Ģelze of Latvian White Picture and coproduced by Evelin Penttila of Estonian Stellar Film and Vicky Miha of Greek asterisk.
The project is co-financed by Creative Europe MEDIA, the National Film Centre of Latvia, the State Culture Fund of Latvia, the Estonian Film Institute, the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Greek Film Centre.
The total budget is 1,164,397 EUR.
Blue Blood was entirely shot in Latvia by Polish cinematographer Bogumil Godfrejów during the autumn of 2023.
Its completion date is due for the spring of 2024.
Modris (2015) was produced by Latvia’s Red Dot Media in coproduction with Greece’s Boo Productions and Germany’s Sutor Kolonko, while Oleg (2019) was produced by Tasse Film and coproduced by lota Productions (Belgium), In Script, (Lithuania) and Arizona Production (France).
Production Information:
Producer:
White Picture (Latvia)
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Coproducers:
Stellar Film (Estonia)
asterisk (Greece)
Credits:
Director: Juris Kursietis
Writers: Juris Kursietis, Līga Celma-Kursiete
Cinematography: Bogumil Godfrejów
Editing: Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Production designer: Laura Dišlere
Costume designer: Jaanus Vahtra
Cast: Johanna Wokalek, Juris Žagars, Judith Hofmann, Hanna Hilsdorf, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Pekka Strang
