Soft Power

Soft Power (Maigā vara), 2023

National Theatre of Latvia, New Hall

In a prestigious European theatre festival the opening event is supposed to be a performance about conquerer Tamerlane directed by a famous Russian director. Shortly before the premiere a new theater artist Tina from Eastern Europe joins the creative team. Tina is sure that this sudden chance will lift her career on a new level. When a community of Ukrainian artists begin to fight against the premiere of this performance, Tina is put in a maze of uncomfortable truth and difficult choices, she discovers – no one is really what he says he is.

The performance reveals the world of art and individual responsibility in the conditions of war.

CREDITS
Cast
Marija Luīze Meļķe, Matīss Budovskis, Egons Dombrovskis, Kaspars Aniņš, Ināra Slucka, Rūdolfs Sprukulis, Agate Marija Bukša
Director
Matīss Kaža
Playwrights
Elza Marta Ruža, Matīss Kaža
Composer
Toms Auniņš
Stage and Costume Designer
Kristina Rezviha
Lighting Designer
Lienīte Slišāne
Video Artist and Cinematographer
Aleksandrs Grebņevs, LGC
Producer
Anna Vekmane

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 “The Soft Power” (2023) and “The National Network” (2025). He teaches film directing at the Latvian Academy of Culture.

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