Viestur Kairish

Viestur Kairish born 30 January 1971 is a Latvian film opera and theatre director whose work has been recognized at festivals across Europe He trained as a theatre and film director at the Latvian Academy of Culture graduating in 1997 Kairish began his filmmaking career with the documentary The Train in 1998 His feature debut Leaving by the Way 2002 earned Latvias National Film Award for Best Feature competed at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won the Best Debut prize at Londons Raindance Film Festival along with a FIPRESCI Award for Best Baltic Film He went on to direct the historical drama Chronicles of Melanie 2015 a LatvianFinnish coproduction and January 2022 which won the Lielais Kristaps award for best feature film His documentary Pelican in the Desert screened in competition at the Visions du Réel festival in Nyon and received a Special Jury Prize at Viennas Lets CEE Film Festival His newest film Ulya 2026 has been screened at the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection Alongside his film work Kairish has built a prominent career as an opera director He made his opera debut with Tchaikovskys Eugene Onegin at the Latvian National Opera in 1999 winning the Latvian Great Music Award for Best Opera Production He later staged the final three installments of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle at the same house work that helped launch an international opera career taking him to Komische Oper Berlin Oper Köln and Staatstheater Darmstadt with productions of works by Britten Weber and Verdi drawing praise from critics including the Financial Times He is also a longtime director at Rigas New Riga Theatre where several of his stage productions have toured major European festivals such as the Wiener Festwochen the Festival dAvignon and the Bonner Biennale