Neon Spring

Neon Spring (Neona pavasaris), 2022

(102 min, coming-of-age/drama, Latvia)

Laine is a college girl from a bland middle-class suburb in Latvia. As Laine’s father distances himself from his crumbling marriage and his family, Laine is unable to cope with the separation and discovers the edgy Riga party scene, where she falls in love with seasoned raver Gunda. Going from rave to rave, the girls journey into a drug-fuelled underworld of anarchy, freedom and exploration.

CREDITS

Main Cast

Marija Luīze Meļķe, Grēta Trušiņa, Gerds Lapoška, Agnese Rukšāne, Jānis Skutelis, Timotejs Pelle Kalniņš

Director

Matīss Kaža

Producers

Matīss Kaža, Dace Siatkovska, Una Celma

Writers

Marija Luīze Meļķe, Matīss Kaža

Cinematographer

Aleksandrs Grebņevs, LGC

Composer

Toms Auniņš

Editor

Paula Popmane

Sound Designer

Aleksandrs Vaicahovskis

Produced by

Trickster Pictures / Deep Sea Studios / Fenixfilm

FESTIVALS

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2022 (World Premiere)

Helsinki International Film Festival "Love & Anarchy" 2022

International Film Festival of India, Goa 2022

London Baltic Film Festival 2022

International Human Rights Film Festival - this human world 2022

Festival del Cinema Europeo 2022

b2 Biennale 2022

AWARDS

Works in Progress Award

Tallinn Baltic Event 2020

NOMINATIONS

Latvian National Film Awards "Lielais Kristaps" 2023

5 nominations

STILLS

Matīss Kaža

Matīss Kaža is an Academy Award-winning Latvian producer, director and writer. He is best known for co-writing and producing the animated feature film FLOW (2024) by Gints Zilbalodis, which won the first ever Golden Globe and Oscar for an independent animated feature. Recent producing credits include SISTERS (2022, Warsaw Film Festival 1+2 Competition Winner) by Linda Olte, DROWNING DRY (2024, two awards in the Locarno Main Competition) by Laurynas Bareiša.

Matīss has directed and written for live action, documentary and the theatre, including NEON SPRING (2022, Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival) and critically acclaimed performances at the Latvian National Theatre, like SOFT POWER (2023) and THE NATIONAL NETWORK (2025).

He teaches film directing at the Latvian Academy of Culture.

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