Latvian filmmaker Viesturs Kairišs and lead actor Arnolds Karlis Avots make a melancholy biopic about fame, isolation and unwanted attention.
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Courtesy of Ego Media Recently premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, “Ulya” is a biopic of Latvian-born basketball phenomenon Ulyana Semjonova, who played and won many medals and championships for the Soviet Union from the late 1960s until well into the 1980s. Yet her tragedy, as director Viesturs Kairišs‘ film presents it, is her height: At about 6 feet 5 inches, she never felt comfortable in her skin. That physical attribute is the only thing about her that everyone in her life cared about, worried about or wanted to exploit.
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