SILENCE Documentary film (in the development)

About the film

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If a story remains untold, does it disappear? 
What does it mean for us, for our shared history, and for the future generations? 

Latvian filmmaker Marta Kaprāle sets out on a journey to find answers, because her grandparents were among those thousands deported into the vast Siberian exile of 1949. In the wake of the Second World War, Latvia, shadowed by Soviet rule, experienced one of the largest forced deportations in its history. Carried out as part of the operation Priboi, this coordinated action targeted families across Latvia — including educators, landowners, and other citizens considered unreliable. No trials. No charges.

Though part of the deported could eventually allowed to return to Latvia, the mark of exile left an imprint for life and generations to follow. 

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 Marta documenting her research work

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For years, this part of the history was whispered in conversations held in hushed tones, and stories shared  into private family moments. 

Through her family history and those who carry the echoes of that time, Marta is looking for answers — what that meant for her family, for Latvia and Europe. Then and now. This story is no closed book. It invites us to reflect on history’s unfinished shadows that still linger, understood in ways words often fail. Beneath it all is a story of resilience, hope and the quiet power of reclaiming what was thought lost forever.

By opening a conversation between personal memory and collective understanding, the film invites us to see the 1949 deportations not only as a historical event, but as a social reality with consequences that continue to unfold. Maybe there is still something to truly understand how that can affect lives,  and guide how we learn, engage, and respond to complex realities we keep facing today.