Latvian Awards Darling ‘Soviet Jeans’ Tells The Story Of Life Under Communism, With A Hat Tip To ‘Finding Nemo’…
Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.
Following last edition’s trip to the Czech Republic, we are staying in Europe this time round with Soviet Jeans, the buzziest show to come out of Latvia this decade. The series — part-love story, part absurdist comedy — follows a young rock fan who begins illegally producing American-style jeans after being sent to a mental asylum for political reasons. Though budgets in Latvia are minuscule compared with those in many other territories, its producers found a way to create an award-winning series that is now rolling out internationally.
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Name: Soviet Jeans
Country: Latvia
Producers: Tasse Films
Distributor: Beta Film
Network/streamer: Go3 (Baltics)
Where to Watch: Walter Presents (U.S.)
For Fans Of: Deutschland ’83, Goodbye, Lenin!, Finding Nemo (no, seriously…)
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume a Baltic comedy-drama about a garment-production operation in 1979 Latvia isn’t the easiest sell in the world. You’d be wrong, though. Soviet Jeans has been an almost evergreen festival darling this year and it now looks set to take its absurdist sensibilities to the next level.
The series, from Tasse Film and known locally as Padomju D?insi, follows young Latvian rock fan and theater costume designer Renars, played by Karlis Arnolds Avots in an award-winning role, who in the late 1970s is sent to a psychiatric asylum by the country’s communist government. Ostensibly a political prisoner, he uses the incarceration to begin illegally producing counterfeit U.S. jeans with his fellow inmates. Concurrent with the motley crew vibe and gentle mocking of the pro-Soviet government is a love story that anchors the plot, with Renars falling for Finnish actress Tina (Aamu Milonoff).
Quirky and comedic but with an ever-present threat of danger, the eight-part show has wowed audiences and juries across the world in 2024, especially at Series Mania, where it took home the coveted Audience Award prize and Best Actor trophy in the International Panorama Competition. Soviet Jeans played in competition at the Serial Killer Festival Brno and was nominated at the Seoul Drama Awards, while back home it won three Latvian Film Awards.
“Soviet Jeans is one of the few series from Latvia that quickly became a festival favorite and achieved global success,” says Veronika Kovacova, EVP Sales and Acquisitions at Beta Film, which snapped up rights to the series before its screening in Lille, France, earlier this year. “Although it is set in a specific time and place, it serves as a gateway into understanding the Soviet era that shaped much of the 20th century’s history. The ironic plot really provides a fresh perspective on past events, making it relevant and relatable even today, and the fresh, light and humorous tone, combined with high production value and great talents in front and behind the camera, truly makes it stand out for our clients.”
For co-creator and co-showrunner Stanislavs Tokalovs, the success has been a long time coming. He was first introduced to the idea of TV shows around black market trading in communist Latvia around 12 years ago by another producer – long after the communist regime had fallen. Under the regime, individuality was brutally suppressed, which led many to go underground to make or buy what they needed. Tokalovs had worked up a concept but was told the plan was to pitch it into Russia, and that it would need to be more sympathetic to communists. “I was really poor at the time, and was really considering it, but after three days I felt I couldn’t sell my soul to the devil and make a series that I didn’t like,” he recalls with a chuckle.
The idea was shelved until years later when appetite for a story set in an asylum was renewed. Then Covid-19 struck and seemingly killed off the idea again. However, Latvia received pandemic relief cash for the arts sector, and Tokalovs was offered the chance to pitch for funding. “Latvia is not a big country,” he says. “This was a one-time thing for a country where episodes usually get made for $10,000.”
The cash was duly secured, giving Soviet Jeans the chance to cut through in the Baltic nation. By this point, Tokalovs had met Bulgarian writer Teodora Markova and unsuccessfully pitched her the idea to co-write the project. “I was very persistent and called again to beg her to agree,” he says. “The second time was more successful.” They ended up writing the series with U.S.-based Polish scribe Waldemar Kalinowski.
Markova says she could immediately see the jeopardy and conflict in the story, but was unconvinced anyone wanted another downbeat show out of the region, with Sky’s critical darling Chernobyl and HBO Max’s Spy/Master already on the scene. “I had the feeling audiences were tired of bleak and depressing series from Eastern Europe,” she says. “We had a tight deadline and we decided we should go for comedy.”
Though life was tough for Latvians in the late 1970s, Tokalovs notes jokes helped them survive the reality. “People lived in these circumstances but found their little escapes and pieces of freedom,” adds Markova. “Listening to music or wearing jeans were small acts of defiance against a big system. We wanted to be true to the events and the atrocities of the regime, but go deep into the interpersonal relationships and the will to survive and make their lives better.”
Tokalovs and Juris Kursietis directed the first season, and their guiding light was the principle that ideas can form in the minds of young people that life can be different. Renars, the lead, is a human embodiment of that: All big hair and tight-fitting trousers, rocker attitude and wild dreams. Legally working as a costume designer, he has a side hustle in prohibited western products and was largely going about life unrestricted until young KGB officer Maris (Igors Selegovkis) demands he turn informant before detaining Renars in a psychiatric hospital, as many were during the regime, which is portrayed as ludicrous and inefficient.
As scripts were developed, inspiration came from an unlikely source. When a script doctor saw the scripts, he noted that the love story of Renars and Tina tipped its hat to Finding Nemo — because though they yearn to be together, they were forced apart. It was also suggested they did not rush into the imprisonment plot, and to give the romance time to breathe first — as such the incarceration doesn’t happen until the second episode, unusual in a world where algorithms can demand worlds are established in literal seconds. It was an enlightening moment for the showrunners, who felt empowered to tell the real story of under Soviet rule and to follow their own approaches to filming that differ from many other scripted series.
Public broadcast funding had been out of the question due to rules of a competition that help fund the show, but the commercially-financed Baltic Go3 was able to board, and filming began in April 2023. After the shoot finished, Soviet Jeans was selected for the Serial Killer showcase, where Tokalovs and Markova ran into Anthony Root, the former HBO Europe exec who is arguably better versed in uniting western production with Eastern European ideas than any other. He suggested sending the bible to Beta, whose execs answered the same day and wanted to see an episode. Then they wanted another. They binged it in two days and quickly signed up for international distribution. Tokalovs and Markova then applied to screen at Berlinale Series, and were accepted the same day. Series Mania followed and Latvia suddenly had one of the buzziest new shows in Europe.
Beta’s Kovacova says the series’ “remarkable run at festivals also highlights its sales potential,” noting it has sold to Walter Presents for the U.S., Canada and the UK, Arte for Germany and France, HBO for the CEE region and Filmin for Portugal and Spain. Streaming service VOYO took the rights for Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and Hungarian broadcaster MTVA snapped up Hungary. Further negotiations with other key territories are currently ongoing.
“Soviet Jeans quickly caught our attention, not just for its great production quality and compelling storyline, but especially for its nostalgic, humoristic and light-hearted approach,” says Kovacova. “Unlike most shows about the Soviet era, Soviet Jeans strikes a totally different, uniquely light tone. Based on true events, the series explores the concept of freedom in an ironic way, offering a fresh take and a timeless view on the realities of the Cold War. It really stands out from other shows of the region.”
Furthermore, the show aired in Latvia in cinemas with a limited theatrical run, adding to its unusual route to market. Latvians were enthralled. Markova recalls one screening where up to 200 people sat and watched all eight episodes over a day. “It was crazy,” she says.
“Before ‘Soviet Jeans’ only miniseries were produced”
Soviet Jeans has certainly been one of the international TV stories of the year, cutting through despite a tiny budget, although we understand Go3’s investment of hundreds of thousands of euros puts the show towards the top-end of Latvian TV budgets.
“If you talk about a TV series market in Latvia, it is not there yet, but I think we will get there,” says Tokalov. “Before Soviet Jeans, a few series and some miniseries were produced, but rarely crossed borders. Now, the National Film Centre of Latvia and the Ministry of Culture are pushing a tax incentive for series that I really hope will come through.” The country also holds a national TV competition once every few years for miniseries. The winning entry lands a budget of around €800,000 ($840,000). “It’s very hard to find shows that travel even within the Baltics, but the competition gives them a chance,” says Tokalovs.
However, Soviet Jeans might take a different path if it continues. Last week, we revealed plans are in the works for a second season, which would move the action on nine years to just before the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Two episodes are planned to be shot in Germany, on both side of the wall, which divided the political spectrum and was at the frontline of the Cold War. Go3, part of Baltic broadcaster TV3, is on board and, given Aija Berzina from Tasse has been travelling the international circuit with the show this year, she has been cultivating potential co-production partners. She has ongoing conversations with major production houses and says she is optimistic “the focus is shifting a little towards Eastern Europe.”
Talking more broadly about Latvian production, Markova says: “We understand there is no other possibility to compete on the international stage if we don’t join forces from several sides.”
The good news is they now have a calling card that is truly unique on the international TV stage. The political satire-love story dynamic might not be something we see catching on everywhere, but it has certainly made an impact on TV lovers. “Maybe rock ‘n’ roll and jeans killed communism,” laughs Markova.
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