
Directing
Janis Streics
Born — Died
1936-09-26 — 2026-03-05
Place of birth
Anspoki, Republic of Latvia
Known for
Directing
Credits
47 titles
Jānis Streičs (1936-2026) was a renowned Latvian film director, writer, actor and painter. Streičs is often described as the master of understanding the mentality of Latvians and no stranger to good-hearted irony and humour. His comedy films earned him an unwavering popularity among the people, and three of his films - Theatre (1978), A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve (1981), and The Child of Man (1992) - were awarded the national cinema prize 'Lielais Kristaps' as the best film of the year.
Known for
5.5Set in early 20th-century England, a celebrated middle-aged actress, Julia Lambert, begins an affair with a young clerk named Tom Fennell. After realising he is merely a social climber using her for status, Julia tries to break free from the infatuation.
Theatre
1979
7.0It is the post-war era on the Latvian border, and the Lithuanian girl Maryte has located her relative, Antanas. Having been a farmhand on a rich farm as well as the lover of the owner's wife, upon his return from the war Antanas hopes to gain as much as he can from the collapse of the old world. The wife's daughter, Ausma, has since grown up and seems much more desirable to Antanas than his former lover. The historical situation makes for a tense atmosphere, because in the nighttime partisans may emerge from the forest, while during the daytime everyone must be careful to follow the new rules of life under Soviet rule.
Strange Passions
1983
5.9A six-year-old boy plots to stop his "sweetheart", a grown-up woman in his pre-World War II Latvian village, from marrying.
The Child of Man
1992
8.0Edmunds Berzs is an architect who has achieved a comfortable life, but this causes him unease, so he decides to go to the country house where his mother lives. There he wakes up to find himself locked in a cage in the middle of the forest. Edmunds, paradoxically, finds the tranquility he was looking for.
The Cage
1993
10.0At the center of it is the fate of young women in the war and in the harsh post-war times, when witch-hunting of "enemies of the people" was a common occurrence. The brutal war is mutilating both the girls' bodies and their souls. Location: military hospital. It is just a backdrop to which the character rattles, the intrigue, the human relationships. The pathos of the tape conveys the idea that a woman is and remains a woman in all circumstances and situations. During the tumultuous years of war, they were also overwhelmed by true love, mutual understanding, trust and tenderness.
Carmen Horrendum
1989
9.0Nina and Nikolai Jansoni seem to have everything: successful careers, a comfortable home and a car. When Nina gives birth despite doctors’ warnings, a tragic mix-up leads her to believe that her baby has died. Afraid to tell her husband the truth, she accepts another child as her own. When the mistake is eventually uncovered, Nina rejects her biological child, who is taken in by a nurse, Inta. Years later, her dormant maternal feelings awaken, and Nina sets out to reclaim the child she once gave up.
To Remember or to Forget
1981
Film credits
2010s · 2 titles
NR“Today you will hear my most honest and truthful story about how I made a movie with Eisenstein and Pudovkin almost 90 years ago, how I shot from a bow in the movie Ivan the Terrible, about how I taught the Red Army to ski, how I built the Riga Film Studio, about Naval ships, about Stalin and life in the Universe."
The Smell Of Cinema
2015
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Teātris. Filmas arheoloģija
2015
1990s · 4 titles
5.9A six-year-old boy plots to stop his "sweetheart", a grown-up woman in his pre-World War II Latvian village, from marrying.
The Child of Man
1992
8.0Edmunds Berzs is an architect who has achieved a comfortable life, but this causes him unease, so he decides to go to the country house where his mother lives. There he wakes up to find himself locked in a cage in the middle of the forest. Edmunds, paradoxically, finds the tranquility he was looking for.
The Cage
1993
4.9The beginning of the 30s of the last century. A leak of classified information was found at the Soviet shipbuilding plant. Arriving under the guise of a scientist, the legendary chekist Karotin begins to unravel the threads of the conspiracy of the fascist spy organization. He is helped by inexperienced but active local detectives. Mastering the basics of the counterintelligence, they fall into a situation the other one funnier.
Was There Karotin?
1990
The fourth film in the series about Latvian regional folk costumes – Shrovetide traditions in Latgale – shows clothing, household items and celebrations, as well as games and masquerades. The film features the Upīte village children's folklore group, the Rēzekne folk dance ensemble Dziga, and the Šķilbēni village folklore group. The narration, sometimes in Latvian and sometimes in Latgalian, is by Jānis Streičs.
Latvju pūrs pielocīts. Latgale
1993
1970s · 4 titles
6.3The 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?
Theatre
1978
NR1917. In Petrograd, a young Latvian boy Jezups signs up to work for the revolution and is sent to central Russia to show films and campaign for joining the Red Army. Jezups is a naive idealist and would rather not touch weapons at all, but life destroys his belief that it is possible to do without violence. In the end, Jezups is forced to understand that the ideals of the revolution must be defended not only with a film projector, but also with a machine gun.
Shoot in My Place
1971
8.0Alfrēds Turlavs is a successful engineer at a communications technology factory in Riga, but his comfortable life has grown emotionally distant. His marriage to Līvija has lost its warmth, while their daughter Vita has grown up and started a family of her own. Just when Turlavs seems settled into a predictable routine, a new love enters his life: his colleague Maija.
Vīrietis labākajos gados
1978
No synopsis available yet.
Chicken Get Counted In The Autumn
1973
Series credits
5.5Set in early 20th-century England, a celebrated middle-aged actress, Julia Lambert, begins an affair with a young clerk named Tom Fennell. After realising he is merely a social climber using her for status, Julia tries to break free from the infatuation.
Theatre
1979
NRIn one of the prestigious restaurants during banquet speech a large company's director Palmgren is killed in front of dozen guests . Case is lead by Criminal Investigation Officer Pierre Monson with his assistants. Suspect can be easily intercepted if only miserably lazy police officers Kvant and Kristiansson instead of catching criminal would not argue with father of little 3 years old boy who yelled: "Police, police, mashed potatoes" when they ate hot dogs. Help comes from capital in form of the famous Commissioner Martin Beck, who discovers that murdered industrialist was involved in illegal activities and had many enemies. The case is linked as well with government's "higher ends".
Unfinished Dinner
1979
Behind the camera
7.0It is the post-war era on the Latvian border, and the Lithuanian girl Maryte has located her relative, Antanas. Having been a farmhand on a rich farm as well as the lover of the owner's wife, upon his return from the war Antanas hopes to gain as much as he can from the collapse of the old world. The wife's daughter, Ausma, has since grown up and seems much more desirable to Antanas than his former lover. The historical situation makes for a tense atmosphere, because in the nighttime partisans may emerge from the forest, while during the daytime everyone must be careful to follow the new rules of life under Soviet rule.
Strange Passions
1983
7.0It is the post-war era on the Latvian border, and the Lithuanian girl Maryte has located her relative, Antanas. Having been a farmhand on a rich farm as well as the lover of the owner's wife, upon his return from the war Antanas hopes to gain as much as he can from the collapse of the old world. The wife's daughter, Ausma, has since grown up and seems much more desirable to Antanas than his former lover. The historical situation makes for a tense atmosphere, because in the nighttime partisans may emerge from the forest, while during the daytime everyone must be careful to follow the new rules of life under Soviet rule.
Strange Passions
1983
5.9A six-year-old boy plots to stop his "sweetheart", a grown-up woman in his pre-World War II Latvian village, from marrying.
The Child of Man
1992
5.9A six-year-old boy plots to stop his "sweetheart", a grown-up woman in his pre-World War II Latvian village, from marrying.
The Child of Man
1992
10.0At the center of it is the fate of young women in the war and in the harsh post-war times, when witch-hunting of "enemies of the people" was a common occurrence. The brutal war is mutilating both the girls' bodies and their souls. Location: military hospital. It is just a backdrop to which the character rattles, the intrigue, the human relationships. The pathos of the tape conveys the idea that a woman is and remains a woman in all circumstances and situations. During the tumultuous years of war, they were also overwhelmed by true love, mutual understanding, trust and tenderness.
Carmen Horrendum
1989
9.0Nina and Nikolai Jansoni seem to have everything: successful careers, a comfortable home and a car. When Nina gives birth despite doctors’ warnings, a tragic mix-up leads her to believe that her baby has died. Afraid to tell her husband the truth, she accepts another child as her own. When the mistake is eventually uncovered, Nina rejects her biological child, who is taken in by a nurse, Inta. Years later, her dormant maternal feelings awaken, and Nina sets out to reclaim the child she once gave up.
To Remember or to Forget
1981
6.3The 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?
Theatre
1978
6.3The 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?
Theatre
1978
6.7When old auntie Mirta succeeds in a lottery and wins a car which she cannot use herself, all sorts of family members suddenly appear by her side, hoping to get the car after their auntie's death. Until then, they had never helped Mirta, it was only her neighbours who supported her in her old age. Now, her nephew Ēriks with his wife and son, and her ex-daughter-in-law Olita with her second husband and daughter, would all love to get their hands on the car that's in the colour of Midsummer's Eve.
A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve
1982
8.0During the Second World War, senior lieutenant Astra Lejiņa, a member of the Soviet Army’s propaganda unit, receives permission to serve in the same military unit as her fiancé. Travelling a long distance by vehicle and on foot, she makes her way to the front, becoming an eyewitness to a series of dramatic and harrowing events that reveal the human cost of war.
Meeting on the Milky Way
1985
8.0When Rolands and his friends' amateur movie seen at his 18th birthday party unfolds as a crime testimony, fragile bond between people threatens to break completely.
This Dangerous Balcony Door
1976
1.0Latvia, 1980s. While striving for achievements in the Soviet kolhoz competition, people have forgotten to take care of their surroundings and their loved ones. The Latvian countryside is overwhelmed by alcoholism, and the chairman of the kolhoz is keeping the newly built culture hub locked up so that public would not "spoil it". Vitolds, the new secretary of the Young Communist League is ready to combat all the negative issues. However, it's important to do everything with moderation, as otherwise one may fall from one side of a ditch to another.
It's Easy to Fall Into an Overgrown Ditch
1986
1.0Latvia, 1980s. While striving for achievements in the Soviet kolhoz competition, people have forgotten to take care of their surroundings and their loved ones. The Latvian countryside is overwhelmed by alcoholism, and the chairman of the kolhoz is keeping the newly built culture hub locked up so that public would not "spoil it". Vitolds, the new secretary of the Young Communist League is ready to combat all the negative issues. However, it's important to do everything with moderation, as otherwise one may fall from one side of a ditch to another.
It's Easy to Fall Into an Overgrown Ditch
1986
6.8A love triangle - a terminally ill university teacher, a blind girl and a young bard. In the background of it all - the wild arrival of the capitalism, political conflicts, city life and the beautiful nature of Latvia. In the end love will conquer everything, though not everybody will live to witness that.
The Mills of Fate
1997
6.8A love triangle - a terminally ill university teacher, a blind girl and a young bard. In the background of it all - the wild arrival of the capitalism, political conflicts, city life and the beautiful nature of Latvia. In the end love will conquer everything, though not everybody will live to witness that.
The Mills of Fate
1997
A family drama circling around a love triangle - a mother, a daughter and a son-in-law. The plot is focusing on the mother's psychological manipulation with the son to "make a man" of him.
Ipolits
2002
A family drama circling around a love triangle - a mother, a daughter and a son-in-law. The plot is focusing on the mother's psychological manipulation with the son to "make a man" of him.
Ipolits
2002
5.2A young boy finds a watch with an engraving in Spanish saying that the watch belongs to Captain Enrico, and adventures begin...
Captain Enrico's Watch
1967
NRThe 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.
Ilga-Ivolga
1974
5.0The film is about a middle-aged couple experiencing a midlife crisis. The husband and wife are tired of life together and start to forget the love they once shared in their youth.
Roses of Autumn
2004
5.0The film is about a middle-aged couple experiencing a midlife crisis. The husband and wife are tired of life together and start to forget the love they once shared in their youth.
Roses of Autumn
2004
5.6Arvīds Lasmanis can't hold any job for long because he is not ready to tolerate deceit and slapdash work. He still has to feed his family, by chance he finds a well-paid job as a gravedigger. A friend helps Arvīds to find a place in a construction team, but other workers don't approve of Arvīds' high principles. His wife accuses him of not knowing how to make money, the family lives crammed in one room of a shared flat. The Soviet absurd comedy tells a story about a man who, while at odds with the system, won't lose his conscience and his true self, even if it means saying no to wealth and comfort.
My Frivolous Friend
1975
NR1917. In Petrograd, a young Latvian boy Jezups signs up to work for the revolution and is sent to central Russia to show films and campaign for joining the Red Army. Jezups is a naive idealist and would rather not touch weapons at all, but life destroys his belief that it is possible to do without violence. In the end, Jezups is forced to understand that the ideals of the revolution must be defended not only with a film projector, but also with a machine gun.
Shoot in My Place
1971
NRArtūrs comes back to Riga after serving in army and faces changes because of his years of absence- his girlfriend has met another man, his work in a factory in a superior position brings changes to relationships with acquaintances.
Master
1977
NRArtūrs comes back to Riga after serving in army and faces changes because of his years of absence- his girlfriend has met another man, his work in a factory in a superior position brings changes to relationships with acquaintances.
Master
1977
NRA group of young Latvian boys enroll to a pioneers movement during the first years after WWII.
Boys from Liv Island
1969
NRA group of young Latvian boys enroll to a pioneers movement during the first years after WWII.
Boys from Liv Island
1969
8.0Ten year old Sancho arrives to Leningrad and starts looking for friends.
Faithful Friend Sancho
1974
A story about the Latgale Song Festival in Daugavpils, building a bridge between Latvia's fateful days in June 1940 and the 1990 festival, which is like a prelude to the upcoming 20th Latvian Song Festival in Riga. The director, who was born in Latgale, narrates the film himself, sometimes speaking in Latgalian, sprinkling in heartfelt jokes, drawing historical parallels, and radiating emotional excitement. The film features conductors Terēze Broka and Gunārs Ordelovskis, priest Aleksandrs Madelāns, composer Raimonds Pauls, and politician Anatolijs Gorbunovs, whom Streičs calls the president of Latvia because he was the first head of the restored state. The emotional climax of the film is composer Jānis Norvilis' song Daugav's abas malas (Both Banks of the Daugava) with Rainis' words "... Latgale is ours!"
Mēs esam un būsim
1990
7.5In this movie (based on a true story) within a movie, a director tries to film the tale of an old KGB activist living in a parish house. In the summer of 1941 the activist tortured and killed Latvians in the cellar of the house. Although the old man hires others to brick over the cellar door, the murdered people keep coming through the stones and never leave him in peace. Unbeknownst to the film makers, the "real" KGB activist, now an aged drunk, is milling about the film set. Moreover, the director and lead actor are competing for the love of the lead actress, and the film's producer wants the director to re-shoot parts of the movie.
The Mystery of the Old Parish House
2000
7.5In this movie (based on a true story) within a movie, a director tries to film the tale of an old KGB activist living in a parish house. In the summer of 1941 the activist tortured and killed Latvians in the cellar of the house. Although the old man hires others to brick over the cellar door, the murdered people keep coming through the stones and never leave him in peace. Unbeknownst to the film makers, the "real" KGB activist, now an aged drunk, is milling about the film set. Moreover, the director and lead actor are competing for the love of the lead actress, and the film's producer wants the director to re-shoot parts of the movie.
The Mystery of the Old Parish House
2000
NRThe dawn of the XX century promised Latvians a prosperous and happy future. The nation’s self-esteem had awakened, and farmers were increasingly able to rise above even the estate stewards. Rudups, old soldier of the Kaiser and, with his wealth and pride, a thorn in the Baron’s side, becomes truly uncontrollable when he’s hit by Cupid’s arrow. The old boy is willing to do anything for simple maid Emily. But the girl loves his godson Karlis. It’s all a mix of riches, of cheating, and the Baron’s lawlessness. The fight of two relatives for Emily’s heart changes the fate of both men and the maid, so she can see sunshine through the tears.
Rudolf's Gold
2010
NRThe dawn of the XX century promised Latvians a prosperous and happy future. The nation’s self-esteem had awakened, and farmers were increasingly able to rise above even the estate stewards. Rudups, old soldier of the Kaiser and, with his wealth and pride, a thorn in the Baron’s side, becomes truly uncontrollable when he’s hit by Cupid’s arrow. The old boy is willing to do anything for simple maid Emily. But the girl loves his godson Karlis. It’s all a mix of riches, of cheating, and the Baron’s lawlessness. The fight of two relatives for Emily’s heart changes the fate of both men and the maid, so she can see sunshine through the tears.
Rudolf's Gold
2010
NRA modern story of love and how dangerous it is to play with the feelings of another.
Night-watchman and Laundress
2002
NRA modern story of love and how dangerous it is to play with the feelings of another.
Night-watchman and Laundress
2002
