The Skylark Shoots First

Valdemārs 'Voldis' Viters is released after seven years in prison. He is 46 years old and has no family or job. Some of his old friends have abandoned the life of crime, and policeman Leo Aleksandrs, as well as the beautiful taxi driver Irēna, try to persuade Voldis to forget the past and move on. But when the crime boss Teksis proposes a plan to rob a jewelry store, Voldis agrees, thinking this will be his last crime before starting a new life.

Based on a story by Janis Lapsa, written by Janis Lapsa and Andris Kolbergs, film is a singular work, filled with human warmth. It is a story about a talented surgeon Markalns, who after a serious personal crisis, returns to his native town in order to start his life anew. The attention is concentrated on the inner world of Markalns, his feelings in this so important period of his life, when to endure and to proceed means to regain the lost sense of life and himself. His character and emotional world opens in a wide scale: in collisions with colleagues, patients, friends, himself. He is contradictory, but even in moments of low spirits, virile. A real warmth and balance of mind is brought in the life of the outwardly robust and clumsy surgeon by a shy small-town girl Irita, called Doggie.

Latvia in the late 19th century. Edgars, the coachman of Alaine manor, loves Kristine, the washerwoman's daughter, although he is too hot-headed for Kristine's mother to consider him a good suitor for his daughter. Servant Viskrelis and stable boy Sutka try to tempt Edgars to a life of drinking and a relationship with the barmaid Matilde. Meanwhile, Kristine is courted by a rich landowner, Akmentins.

Latvia. The end of the 19th century. In a corner of a parish on the shore of a lake, two families live side by side. The Dievlodziņi and the Vilkači. With a long-standing hatred in their relations. True, the manifestations of hatred are felt only in the Dievlodziņi homes. How could it not! They are increasingly unlucky, diseases and livestock diseases strike, and the crops do not yield. In contrast, in the Vilkači, everything grows in a whirlwind, and diseases also continue to take a detour. This leads us to think that the Vilkači family achieves its prosperity by pestering and practicing witchcraft. Over time, they have also managed to turn the other people of the parish against them. However, the essence is completely different. The Vilkači people, being Christians, have not forgotten the ancient traditions and customs of the Latvian people, which are rooted in human life, not separating themselves from nature.

After losing his job, Kārlis is forced into grueling work at a remote peat quarry—only to find himself caught between the Communist underground and the Latvian counterintelligence service, where every choice carries a moral cost.

The last summer of World War II in a Latvian fishing village. Ten-year-old Rita risks her life to care for and provide everything necessary for four prisoners of war rescued by fishermen—a Frenchman, a Russian, and two Latvians—who are hidden in the attic of a school converted into a warehouse by the German army.

The great actress Julia Lambert suddenly realizes that she is, alas, getting old. What can help a woman who has absolutely everything? Only new love. And Julia falls in love with the first person she meets: an ambitious young man who has not a penny behind his soul. So begins a new life - a new romance and new tears. How else could it be?

A group of men go under-ice fishing, but find themselves trapped on a piece of ice, that has broken off. As they are drifting through the sea, the tension between them rises.

A man returns to his village after many years away with his new wife in tow.

Oskars lives in a typical sea-side village, but wants to break free of his father’s rule and the old ways – he dreams of new, large nets, an ice-cellar, and the fishermen’s independence from the fish wholesaler. At first, no one wants to believe in Oskars’ plans, except for happy-go-lucky Fredis. With the help of Fredis, Oskars builds a new fish trap, gaining admiration from even the old fishermen.

Valdis Nulle is a young and ambitious captain of fishing ship 'Dzintars'. He has his views on fishing methods but the sea makes its own rules. Kolkhoz authorities are forced to include dubious characters in his crew, for example, former captain Bauze and silent alcoholic Juhans. The young captain lacks experience in working with so many fishermen on board. Unexpectedly, pretty engineer Sabīne is ordered to test a new construction fishing net on Nulle's ship and 'production conflict' between her and the captain arises...

The wounded Russian soldier Fyodor, risking his life, was sheltered on a Latvian farm by his grandfather and granddaughter. Ilga fell in love with him, but the war separated them. Fedor went to the partisans, and Ilga is killed by the Nazis. Only many years later Fedor came again. Here he meets a young woman very similar to Ilga.

A political film based in Latvian countryside in 1947.

After becoming a teacher, Janis Lazdan returns to his native village in Latgale. In Novie Gudani, he sees black cassocks everywhere. Nuns sit at the bedside of his sick mother. The girl he loves, Lienite, is dressed in the black habit of a novice. Anton, Janis' childhood friend, has become a priest. A struggle begins between Janis and Anton, a subtle psychologist, over Andris, a sickly boy who is extremely impressionable and gifted. Janis understands that the power of the church lies in the indifference of non-believers. He believes in his own strength and love for his loved ones.

Human relationships are like fishing nets, they can be either filled or nodular.

UN's The Committee of 19 sends six scientists to investigate a biological outbreak in Africa.

Summer, sea, holiday home. Lena meets Arthur. The days fly by instantly, and now weekdays are coming. However, the "holiday romance", as Arthur considered his acquaintance with Lina, was not over. Chance forced me to find Lina in the city. Upon learning that the girl is ill, amazed by her courageous restraint, Arthur finds a real sense of love for the first time.

A young boy finds a watch with an engraving in Spanish saying that the watch belongs to Captain Enrico, and adventures begin...

Tom Thumb's evil stepmother exploits him amd makes his life very hard, so the little shepherd boy decides to leave home and seek happiness in the world outside. There Tom Thumb meets the Wind Mother, Forest Mother and a little old man on his way. Each of them gives him a chore to do that earns him a gift with magical power, which comes in handy when he has to defeat Scrooges, Lop-Eared Man and the Devil himself. While traveling in the world and looking for happiness, he realises he misses his grandmother and little sister...

The year is 1940 and Nazi Germany is at the height of its military prowess, having captured most of Europe and eyeing the Soviet Union to the East. The Russian military command suspects hostile intent from Germany and so arranges for its spies to infiltrate ranks of the German military and the SS. Alexander Belov is a Russian spy, who travels from Soviet-held Latvia to Nazi Germany under an alias of Johann Weiss. His mastery of the German language, steel nerves and an ability to manipulate others help him to use his connections in the SS to ascend the ladder of the German intelligence. He uses his position to identify sympathetic Germans, who help him to procure vital intelligence, and to help local resistance movements in their collective fight against Nazism.

A strong-willed, energetic woman who has earned the deepest respect and authority through her work, but is unhappy in her family life.

About the first steps of Soviet diplomacy at the international conference in Genoa in 1922.

The action of the film takes place in Latvia and spans the period from 1939 to the early 1970s. The events that occurred in the country had various effects on the fates of the characters. But throughout it all, love guided them — it scattered and gathered, made them suffer terribly, and made them the happiest people in the world...