Dream Land
2004 · 36 min · ★ 7.0 · Documentary
There are places that we don’t want to know anything about, places that we would rather pretend don’t exist at all. One such place is a dumpsite. From the humans’ point of view, it is a ghastly place, a stinking desert of trash. But it’s a desert that is teaming with life.
Directed by Laila Pakalnina · Written by Māris Maskalāns
Your Rating
Where to Watch
Make it a double feature
2h 4m togetherBoth from Laila Pakalnina.
More from Laila PakalninaSee all →
The Python · 2003The Python
★ 10.02003
MovieDrama
An absurdist farce centering around a school in post-Soviet Latvia. After a rather disgusting prank (someone defecates in the school attic), the tyrannical headmistress deems that no one can leave until the culprit is caught. When the photographer's pet python escapes, havok breaks loose.
Annas Ziemassvētki · 1992Annas Ziemassvētki
★ 10.01992
Movie
Little Anna is waiting for her first Christmas.
Bus · 2004Bus
★ 9.02004
MovieDocumentary
This documentary follows a bustrip from Tallinn to Kaliningrad. A route that was so common in the Soviet times now passes through 4 different countries and crosses 3 different borders.
Church · 1993Church
★ 9.01993
MovieDocumentary
The Stoļarova congregation is building its own church.
Hello, Horse! · 2017Hello, Horse!
★ 8.02017
MovieDocumentary
A film about everything changing while remaining the same. Or rather – everything remaining the same while changing. We observed this (and wanted to share) while standing (standing regularly and for a long time) on a road rather close to the Eastern border of Latvia, because we followed the suggestion of the locals who asked to shoot “that horrible road”.
Martin · 2002Martin
★ 8.02002
MovieDocumentary
A film about the daily life of Martin, a handicapped child who will always be dependent on his parents. Ever since he was very small, Martin has had to get around in a wheelchair and has needed the constant help of an adult. Martin’s parents, Inga and Andris Skesteri, tell about their life, about their son’s character and about their hopes for the future.
Dawn · 2015Dawn
★ 7.52015
MovieDrama
Based on a Soviet propaganda story about Young Pioneer (the Soviet equivalent of a Boy Scout) Morozov, who denounced his father to Stalin’s secret police and was in turn killed by his family. His life exemplified the duty of all good Soviet citizens to become informers, at any expense. In our film, 75 years later, we call him little Janis. He is a Pioneer who lives on the Soviet collective farm “Dawn”. His father is an enemy of the farm (and the Soviet system) and plots against it. Little Janis betrays his father; his father takes revenge upon his son. Who then in this old Soviet tale is good and who is bad? This film reveals that a distorted brain is always dangerous. Even today.
Papa Gena · 2001Papa Gena
★ 7.02001
MovieDocumentary
It is what it is. One needs a reason to get a passer-by to stop in their tracks and stand in front of the camera for a while. In this case the reason was - Mozart.
The Ferry · 1994The Ferry
★ 6.61994
MovieDocumentary
The ferry crosses the river, transporting people from one shore to the other, from one country to another. It runs year round, never stopping. The footage was filmed on the Latvian-Belarussian border in the early 1990s - a time when the Soviet Union began to crumble and Latvia regained its independence.
The Mail · 1995The Mail
★ 6.01995
MovieDocumentary
The morning begins when the mail is delivered - this has been a tradition for almost an eternity. This film looks at daily things, daily movements, daily life and the daily routines of the postman, which are nevertheless meaningful to those who await and receive newspapers and letters.
Visions of Europe · 2004Visions of Europe
★ 5.12004
MovieDocumentaryComedy
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
The Shoe · 1998The Shoe
★ 5.11998
MovieComedyDrama
The late 1950s. Every night, Soviet tractors comb the coast of Latvia looking for signs of anyone who could have infiltrated the Soviet border from the sea. One morning, three Soviet patrolmen discover a woman’s shoe in the sand and footsteps leading to the quaint little village of Liepaja.
Three Men and a Fish Pond · 2008Three Men and a Fish Pond
★ 5.02008
MovieDocumentary
Three elderly country bachelors idle away their time amidst semi-wild nature, closer to birds and pond fish than to humans.
Forty Two · 2013Forty Two
2013
MovieDocumentary
As soon as I finished my first marathon, I wanted to become a tripod in order to make a film about it. That is because words are certainly not the right instruments to tell us what it’s like to run a marathon. I think we can try to show it through the characters, noises, texts, lights, the absolute physical understanding of shadows and of the sun, the water, the motions and the serenity. For those who do not practice running in marathons because they don’t want to or because they can’t, I wish to bring something from inside the marathon, out; for example, for my Mum, whose legs ache. I am acting like a spy sent into the marathon.
The Chimney · 2013The Chimney
2013
MovieDocumentary
Once upon a time there was a chimney. By the chimney - there were three houses. In the houses there were seven girls. All of them - blondes.
Spoon · 2019Spoon
2019
MovieDocumentary
A film about a plastic spoon and a society that has reached a high level of development – oil is being retrieved from subterranean depths, transported to processing plants, turned into plastic, transported to another plant, where it acquires the shape of a spoon, transported to convenience stores, where we buy it, and is then soon tossed into the trash. In other words, this is a film about the efforts put into making a spoon that can be thrown away so effortlessly.
More Like This
What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? · 2004What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?
★ 5.32004
MovieDocumentaryComedy
Amanda is a divorced woman who makes a living as a photographer. During the Fall of the year Amanda begins to see the world in new and different ways when she begins to question her role in life, her relationships with her career and men and what it all means. As the layers to her everyday experiences fall away insertions in the story with scientists, and philosophers and religious leaders impart information directly to an off-screen interviewer about academic issues, and Amanda begins to understand the basis to the quantum world beneath. During her epiphany as she considers the Great Questions raised by the host of inserted thinkers, she slowly comprehends the various inspirations and begins to see the world in a new way.
American Teen · 2008American Teen
★ 6.42008
MovieDocumentary
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
