FATHERS OVER THERE

A Documentary Film by Dzintra Geka

The documentary film deals with the stories of Latvians who spent many years in different prisons. They had all a common story tell: The reason for why they were imprisoned by the Russian occupants of Latvia. Some of them spent even 25 years in a prison because they disliked the Russian occupation of Latvia. They were not criminals. Agris Sefers is the first person who is presented in the film. He lives in an unfinished little house in Latvia, and he makes a statement: “…everything for Latvia down to the drop of sweat and blood, everything for Latvia…”. Agris Sefers had spent about 10 years in prison. In 1954 in, Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan , a riot took place. For about 40days the riot lasted. More than 1000 prisoners were killed by the Russian soldiers.  Searching for graves of relatives who had died in the camps is important for many families. The film is a dramatic story of the ruthless methods of the KGB.  The deportation of people from Latvia after the end of the Second World War was a tragic story. About 45,000 people were deported to different prisons where the work was hard. Latvian poets, school children, partisan groups, dissidents and freedom fighters were sent to concentration camps to work as slaves. Consultant for the film is Dr. Hist. Ainars Bambals who works as an archival expert of State archives of Latvia and the National archives of Latvia. I bought the film at the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia on June 18, 2019. The film was released in 2016.