ANSIS EPNERS’ FILM “ALIVE”: FROM DOCUMENTARY TO FICTION

Abstract

The first short documentary “Alive” (Dzīvs, 1970) is an important signifier of Latvian director Ansis Epners’ (1937–2003) oeuvre both in terms of his approach to documentary film practice, and growing interest in fiction filmmaking. The film “Alive” and later idea to develop a full-length fiction film based on its main character demonstrate Epners’ unconventional expression of both kinds of filmmaking, which was received with a mixed response at the time. Epners used performative elements in the documentary, and included real-life character playing himself in the planned fiction film, challenging the assumptions and conventions of filmmaking practices in Latvia at that time. In this article I will analyse Epners’ formal and stylistic choices in the film “Alive” and its reception in the early 1970s, and the script for the fiction film based on the main character of the film “Alive” Arnolds Cīrulis. The reception of “Alive” shows the contradictions between the dominant views on the documentary film form and Epners’ work. The fiction film script, which was not turned into film, remains as an example of versatility of Epners’ ideas on the potentials of fiction filmmaking.