The 7th Annual New York Baltic Film Festival (NYBFF) presented by Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America returns this November with the best new films from the Baltic region! On Saturday, November 9 see Maria’s Silence (dir. Davis Simanis, Latvia, 2024), a powerful historical drama about the actress Maria Leiko. In 1937, silent film star Leiko travels to Russia upon learning of the birth of her granddaughter. But when she discovers the tragic circumstances of that event, KGB agents persuade her to remain in the country. Leiko abandons her cinema career to instead join Skatuve, the Latvian State Theatre in Moscow. Soon she discovers that she is being manipulated by the government amid its purges of political enemies. As a network of traitors, informers, and NKVD agents surround her, she must choose between family and career, and between her ideals and the lies of Stalin’s totalitarian regime.

“Rich in historical references and complex visual poeticism…a beautiful and highly artistic take on the occupation and the regime behind it” (Cineuropa).

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