Plot
Melānija and her son are forcefully moved from their home in Latvia to a slave camp in Siberia as part of the June deportation in 1941. For the next 16 years, she retains her will to live by writing letters to her husband, whose destiny she knows nothing about.Cast
* Sabine Timoteo as Melānija * Edvīns Mekšs as Andrejs * Ivars Krasts as Aleksandrs * Guna Zariņa as Katrīna * Maija Doveika as Vilma * Viktors Nemecs as Ampalov * Erwin Leder as Jakob * Evija Rudzīte as Biruta * Baiba Broka (actress), Baiba Broka as Anna * Kirill Zaytsev (Latvian: Kirils Zaicevs) as Lieutenant of the NKVD, People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs * Astrīda Kairiša as Melānija's mother * Lilita Ozoliņa as deported woman * Ģirts Krūmiņš as Katrīna's husband Kārlis * Evija Martinsone as opera soloistAwards
The Chronicles of Melanie received the award for best cinematography at the 2016 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. It was selected as the Latvian entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. In the 2017 Latvian film festival Lielais Kristaps The Chronicles of Melanie won the award as the Best feature film, while members of the film crew received awards as the Best Director, Best Actress, Best Design and Best Costume Design.Reception
Wendy Ide of ''Screen International, Screen Daily'' described the film as "a potent account of the human cost of Soviet ethnic cleansing in the Baltic region". She compared it to the 2014 Estonian film ''In the Crosswind'', which also is about a woman subjected to the June deportation, and wrote that ''The Chronicles of Melanie'' is "less experimental in approach". Ide wrote: "The distorted sound creates a sense of delirium; the painfully slow movements of the malnourished women gives the film a nightmarish quality. Time slows down, both for the exiled Latvian women and also, at times, for the audience. It all amounts to a challenging viewing experience."See also
* Population transfer in the Soviet Union * List of submissions to the 90th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * List of Latvian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmReferences
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chronicles of Melanie 2016 films 2016 biographical drama films Films about Soviet repression Films set in 1941 Films set in Latvia Films set in Siberia Latvian-language films Latvian drama films 2010s historical drama films 2016 drama films Biographical films about writers Baltic states World War II films