Jānis Putniņš

Directing

Jānis Putniņš

Studied at the German Language Department of the University of Latvia, Faculty of Foreign Languages. Holds a Bachelor's degree in Film Directing from the Massachusetts College of Art, a Master's degree in Media Studies / English from the State University of New York. He has been director of several Latvian film studios and Latvian National Opera. He was the creative director of ADELL Saatchi & Sa…

Known For

Zeno's ParadoxZeno's Paradox · 2022
Zeno's Paradox
2022
Movie
Alex is a perfectly ordinary young man whose life changes radically after receiving a strange message and meeting several strange characters who seem to have stepped out of the world of cinema. Under the influence of Zenon's paradox, Alex begins to see the world differently and discovers unusual abilities.
Eliyahu Rips: The BurningEliyahu Rips: The Burning · 2016
Eliyahu Rips: The Burning
2016
MovieDocumentary
In April 1969 Ilya (Eliyahu) Rips, then a young student of mathematics, tried to burn himself in a public square in Riga, Latvia protesting against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was stopped and eventually sent to a psychiatric hospital for two years. Thanks to international pressure from the mathematical community in 1972 he was allowed to emigrate to Israel. Now he is considered one of the most brilliant mathematicians in the world. At the same time, for most people familiar with his name, Rips is first of all associated with the development of the so called Bible Code – a mathematical program allegedly helping to decipher hidden messages encoded in Torah – the Five Books of Moses. He is attacked by both the scientific and religious community, yet his research continues.
Hide-and-seekHide-and-seek · 2001
Hide-and-seek
4.02001
MovieCrime
A young woman, Regina, has been killed in her apartment. Investigator Anderson holds Regina’s husband as a suspect for a murder because he is unable to remember his location at the time of the fateful event. Gradually, Anderson is convinced that Oto has not only killed his wife, but he also tries to hide his true identity – notorious criminal Schmit.
TempestTempest · 2021
Tempest
10.02021
MovieMysteryFantasy
In spite of bad omen about the upcoming storm, the fisherman sets out to the sea and doesn’t return. The wife of the fisherman embarks on a journey to find the storm whisperer who could calm down the sea and return the fisherman home.
Touch of DzenisTouch of Dzenis · 2017
Touch of Dzenis
2017
Movie
A female ninja tries to break ties with her spiritual teacher. The seemingly unexpected and humiliating death of her teacher is only the beginning of this process; it is a decisive step in her life. The action takes place in a specific environment, and the characters, references, symbols, and movements are directly related to the history of cinema, more specifically, to Japanese ninja films made in the 1930s–1960s.
VogelfreiVogelfrei · 2007
Vogelfrei
10.02007
MovieDrama
Four directors capture simple, yet quintessential experiences of a single individual in different periods of his life - childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
Adoptee '88Adoptee '88 · 2019
Adoptee '88
2019
MovieDocumentary
Born in 1988, Kristaps finally wants to find out who is his real father. Family women do not tell if it is Guntis or Gvido. Kristaps goes to search for his father, acting as the boom operator of the documentary.
The Year Before the WarThe Year Before the War · 2021
The Year Before the War
5.02021
MovieThriller
Stylized as silent cinema, the film connects political and philosophical extremes of 1913 in a story of a young man participating at the creation of a new world. This mysterious adventurer, who was known as Peter the Lett, gets involved in a tragicomic and surreal race from a routine clerk job and a romantic passion in Riga to preparation of the world revolution in Vienna, psychoanalysis at Freud’s salon and seduction of Mata Hari in Paris.

Filmography

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Eliyahu Rips: The BurningEliyahu Rips: The Burning · 2016
Eliyahu Rips: The Burning
2016
MovieDocumentary
In April 1969 Ilya (Eliyahu) Rips, then a young student of mathematics, tried to burn himself in a public square in Riga, Latvia protesting against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was stopped and eventually sent to a psychiatric hospital for two years. Thanks to international pressure from the mathematical community in 1972 he was allowed to emigrate to Israel. Now he is considered one of the most brilliant mathematicians in the world. At the same time, for most people familiar with his name, Rips is first of all associated with the development of the so called Bible Code – a mathematical program allegedly helping to decipher hidden messages encoded in Torah – the Five Books of Moses. He is attacked by both the scientific and religious community, yet his research continues.

Director