On 23 February 2023, at the “Splendid Palace” cinema, the premiere of Kristīne Briede’s documentary film “Oscillations” will take place. The film tells the story of contemporary Latvian Lutheran clergywomen who wish to serve as pastors in their homeland of Latvia – in an office that has been denied to them since the early days of the Awakening. The film has been nominated for the National Film Award “Lielais Kristaps” in four categories – Best Documentary Film, Best Documentary Film Director, Best Documentary Film Cinematographer, and Best Film Composer.
Strangely, the word combination “woman pastor” still sounds unusual in 21st-century Latvia, and to many – even provocative. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) is virtually the only Lutheran church in the world that has denied women ordination to the clergy after women had been ordained and successfully served as pastors for nearly twenty years. While some clergywomen, unable to reconcile themselves with this, emigrate in order to be able to fulfill their calling elsewhere in the world, others continue to hold hierarchically second-rate positions in Latvia’s churches, working as evangelists and as performers of pastoral duties. However, several women theologians are no longer willing to stand aside and resign themselves to the “helper” and “right hand” role assigned to them.
About the new film, the film’s director Kristīne Briede says this: “This film is not so much about women and men, not even about the church, faith, or even feminism. It is about the society in which we live and which has the choice – to turn a blind eye and keep silent, or to become aware, to raise up and speak about a problem that evidently is still smoldering somewhere down there – ‘at the bottom’ even after three decades. With this film I want to symbolically give a voice to the women who, despite obstacles and prohibitions, have chosen to do that to which they were called.”
Kristīne Briede is a Latvian documentary filmmaker and publicist, as well as a producer of various cultural, social, and research projects. Kristīne has received a number of accolades for her film, contemporary art, and social projects. Her latest film “Bridges of Time” (2018, co-directed with the Lithuanian director Audrius Stonys) received the main award at the Shanghai International Film Festival (2019), and also won the “Best Documentary Film” award at the National Film Festival “Lielais Kristaps” in 2018.
The documentary film was made with the support of the National Film Centre and the State Culture Capital Foundation; it was produced by the Rucka Art Foundation and the studio Baltic Balkan Productions.
In March 2023, the film will be available to watch at K.Suns cinemas
The press release was prepared by Emīlija Mikalauska ([email protected])
A link to the trailer of the documentary film “Oscillations”: