Uģis Olte
TESA MAN
TESA MAN
LV
2024, 60', no dialogue
Age 12+

 

Reeling in uncompromising, thunderous energy, echoing across frozen ground and crumbling mud, the spirit of music emerges. Between the open sky and the clay-covered earth, five pale Fates arrive. Here, the vapour of breath forms into mythical shapes, magical milk flows, and the sweetness of sound is reduced to ashes. On an earthen stage between Drusti and Jaunpiebalga, within the terrain of Savvaļa open-air art space, artists, actors, like-minded individuals, and heavy soundscape wizards Tesa gather around the artist Andris Eglītis. As music swirls in a psychedelic rumble and natural shadowplay enshrouds the view, performers arrive upon the monumental altar of nature…

Rumour has it that this music film was directed by Nature itself. The creators confirm this – a biting cold of five degrees below zero, smoking wet wood bonfires, nine cinematographers (the brightest talents across generations), an amphitheatre dug into a clay hill, a huge and intense shoot, a band covered in snowflakes, and savage nature. Such is the exposition for this poetic genre-blending piece by director Olte (Upurga (2021)), shot in an open-air art space with the acclaimed heavy instrumental trio Tesa taking the leading role alongside November textures. Welcome to the world premiere of a unique audiovisual and alchemical legend, where, in the words of Nietzsche, “man is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art”.