Is It Easy To Be Young?

Documentary, director Juris Podnieks, Latvia, 1986.

Director Juris Podnieks enters into "on equal ground" conversation with the young people who enter in life or who've taken their first independent steps in it. The problems confronted by them are of a new nature for the society. Several young fellows wind up on trial after smashing a train carriage as they are returning from the rock concert, others become extreme examples of “punks” who view Soviet reality as “upside down”. A sixteen-year-old girl accused of stealing a dress tries to commit suicide by jumping out a window in a police station. A young man becomes an amateur film-maker making a Kafkaesque avant-garde film, while another youth becomes a follower of the Hare Krishnas. Several other young people say they have turned to drugs, while a teenage girl who appeared in the opening as a child having a good time now has a child of her own and no idea what her future will be. And there are those who join the army and are sent to Afghanistan.

“Is It Easy To Be Young?” provoked interest in documentary film-making and made Juris Podnieks famous all over the world. The film was bought by 85 countries in the world, a huge number for a Latvian film. It was seen by at least 28 million people during its first
year.

Filma "Vai viegli būt jaunam?" atklāti un emocionāli stāsta par jauniešiem, kuri meklē savu vietu dzīvē. Filmas varoņi ir jauni cilvēki, kas brīvi runā par sabiedrībā azliegtām tēmām – karš Afganistanā, narkotikas, panki, Krišnas apziņas kustība.
Pirmajā gadā pēc filmas pirmizrādes to noskatījās 28 miljoni cilvēku visā pasaulē. Tā izrādīta vismaz 85 valstīs. 1986. gadā tā ieguva "Lielo Kristapu" kā labākā dokumentālā filma. Tā arī iekļauta Latvijas kultūras kanonā.

Script   Ābrams Kleckins, Jevgēņijs Margoļins, Juris Podnieks

Director   Juris Podnieks

Cinematographer   Kalvis Zalcmanis

Music composed by   Mārtiņš Brauns

Sound director   Anrijs Krenbergs

Editing director   Antra Cilinska

Assistant director   Aleksandrs Demčenko

Sound operator   Gunārs Netrebskis

Film director   Baiba Urbāne

Length  78 min

View film

Purcese film in Vimeo or Shortcut