Marija's Silence

Marija's Silence (Marijas klusums) is a 2024 Latvian-Lithuanian feature film directed by Davis Simanis Jr. The film is based on real events and tells the sad story of the Latvian theatre Skatuve, almost all of whose employees were shot in Moscow during the Great Terror. At the center of the story is the fate of the Latvian silent film star Marija Leiko. The world premiere of the film took place at the 74th Berlin Film Festival in February 2024. The Latvian premiere took place on April 4, 2024.

Director Davis Simanis explained already at the filming stage that he wanted to draw parallels between the dramatic events of the era of Stalinist terror and the growing wave of repression in modern Russia under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin.

Cast

 * Olga Šepicka as Marija Leiko
 * Artūrs Skrastiņš as Jēkabs Peterss
 * Ģirts Ķesteris as Leonid Zakovsky
 * Inese Kučinska as Asja Lācis, director
 * Vilis Daudziņš as Osvalds Glaznieks
 * Gleb Belikov as Nikolai Yezhov