Description

Ancient Abava River Valley was a famous place for shooting Latvian movies. In 1940, the Latvian feature film “Aizsprosts” (The Weir) was made in the area of Kandava and Sabile. The film is a love story between the miller’s daughter and a Latvian army soldier, which was nearly destroyed by a cattle trader, because he, too, wants the beautiful girl’s hand. The film was shot in the area of Kalnamuižas mill and the beautiful banks of rivers Amula and Imula. During the filming, the mill dam was actually destroyed, but Latvian army engineers rebuilt it again. The film was screened in cinemas only a few times. Unfortunately, the film has not survived till the modern time.

In 1959, the feature film “Atbalss” was made in the ancient Abava river valley based on the trilogy of Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš “Aija”. It is the story of a relationship between the servant boy Jānis and the landlord’s relative Aija: the young man loves the beautiful and enticing Aija, but she marries the elderly Galdars. Jānis leaves and fails to notice a loving heart right next to him — Ieviņa. When Jānis returns many years later, Galdars has already died, Aija with her three daughters live on a shoestring. They get together, but the relationship is complicated, because the feelings are not mutual or honest. One of the filming locations was the Devil’s Boulder, “Rēdnieki” hillock and the ancient Abava river valley. The scene of “overturned hay cart” took a lot of time and effort, because the hay cart refused to topple over.

The role of Aija had several doubles. At the time of the cart tipping over, it was a different actress, but the person lying down in hay was the real one — Dzidra Ritenberga. While the Aija galloping on horseback in the night-watch scene is a stunt double of Dzidra Ritenberga. The viewer will believe that it is a real church that appears in the movie, even though the mock-up of this massive wooden building can easily be carried away by one person. The cemetery, where Aija wanders around in the night time with the horse, is not real either, but some old crosses placed across the meadow create the necessary impression. It is only the bridge, on which Aizupju Juris stops the galloping horse, is real, even though it is built in a bend of Abava and does not even lead across the river. In the film, doubles were recruited from the local residents. So, instead of Dz. Ritenberga, the cow was milked by Biruta Petrēvica, while the role of the youngest daughter at the time of herding cattle was doubled by her daughter Aksilda, today the history teacher of the Kandava K. Mīlenbahs Secondary School.

The Pūce water mill — a magical corner of the nature of Latvia — was where the story of Latvia’s recent history and morals of society “Likteņdzirnas” was filmed.