Living with her younger brother Robis in a simple wooden cabin at the end of a soggy, nearly impassible road, Raya must function as a sister, mother, student, farm- er, and lover. Her poverty, a deceased father, a difficult brother, an absent mother, an uncaring grandmother, and the threat of being placed in foster care push Raya to make some rash and unfortunate decisions in an attempt to improve her life. Elina Vaska, in a stellar debut film performance, depicts Raya as a complex and confused youth whose emotional quest is to find the respect, love, support, and family she once experienced. She fully conveys Raya’s feelings of desperation, anger, abandonment, bitterness, and first love with incredible conviction and deep authenticity. Vaska also expertly reveals Raya’s strength, tenderness, sensuality, and self-reliance.

Es esmu šeit is Renars Vimba’s first feature-length film. Vimba studied filmmaking at the Latvian Academy of Culture and also studied under director and screenwriter Boris Frumin at the Baltic Film and Media School in Tallinn, Estonia. His embrace
of social realism provides the mechanism to honestly tell Raya’s poignant story of youthful mistakes and links the film to other examples of Baltic Cinema that this series has recently screened: Stupid Young Heart (Finland), Cherry Tobacco (Esto- nia), and Children from Hotel America (Lithuania). These films aspire to capture the “poetics of the everyday,” which includes challenging — often ugly — issues that teenagers must navigate such as immigration, racism, poverty, abortion, alcohol- ism, and inappropriate sexual relationships.

The young characters in these films, frequently without adult role models, make mistakes and exercise poor judgment at every turn. Their actions typically make older viewers uneasy and fearful because experienced individuals can see the tragic consequences headed their way, unexpected repercussions that these young adults simply can’t recognize: That dreams of happiness often end in disappoint- ment, that plans often fall apart, that obligations replace personal freedom. And yet, even with these setbacks, they ultimately learn to take responsibility for their actions, learn how to negotiate the harsh reality of their lives, and assume the man- tle of adulthood.

In 2016, Es esmu šeit was named Best Film by the Youth Jury at the Berlin Film Festival and won Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress (Elina Vaska) at the Latvian National Film Festival. Es esmu šeit runs 105 minutes.

You can watch a trailer at:

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2218574105?ref_=tt_pv_vi_aiv_1