Genre: drama, biopic, sports
Running time: 1 h 42 min
Country: Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania 2026
Director: Viesturs Kairišs
Screenplay: Kārlis Arnolds Avots, Livia Ulman, Andris Feldmanis
Cast: Kārlis Arnolds Avots, Chulpan Khamatova, Aleksas Kazanavičius, Shamil Khamatov, Kaspars Dumburs, Artūrs Krūzkops, Alise Dzene
Language: Latvian, Russian
Subtitles: Estonian, English

 

Screenings: 

20.11 at 6pm TICKETS

29.11 at 6.15 pm TICKETS

On 29.11 – the screening is fallowed by a talk with the film’s make-up artist Liisi Põllumaa.

Ulya tells the story of the youth of legendary Latvian basketball player Uljana Semjonova and the beginning of her path to the top of the world.

 

Soviet Union, Latvia, 1964. In a remote village in Latgale, teenage Ulya grows up in an Old Believer family, nearly two metres tall. Her extraordinary height worries her family: is there a place in the world for someone like her? When her class photo reaches basketball coaches, she is invited to Riga to play for a legendary women’s team.

 

Struggling with her height and her sense of self, Ulya trains hard, but soon realises that basketball may not fulfil her greatest dream: to live an ordinary life. Fleeing back to her home village, she discovers that both on the court and at home, people see only her height and strength. Slowly making peace with herself, Ulya arrives at a decisive question: should she hide from the stares of others, or try to become the best basketball player in the world?

 

Uljana Semjonova went on to become a two-time Olympic champion, three-time world champion and ten-time European champion. In her 18-year career with the national team, she never lost an international game.

 

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, opened this year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and has been selected as Latvia’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The screenplay was written by lead actor Kārlis Arnolds Avots, who plays Ulya, together with Estonian screenwriting duo Livia Ulman and Andris Feldmanis (Compartment No. 6). The music is by Marko Veisson and Ramo Teder, better known as Puuluup.

 

 

Distributor: Estonian Theatrical Distribution OÜ