Jānis Streičs, the Latvian film and theatre director and screenwriter, died on March 5, 2026. He was 89.
Streičs was born on September 26, 1936, in Anspoki, Preiļi parish (Preiļu pagasts), Latvia. When he was 11, his mother, Olga Streiča, died of untreated appendicitis, and his father was mobilized into the legion during the German occupation and did not return after the war.
He began his film career at Rīgas kinostudija, first working as an assistant on Cielaviņas armija (1964) and then as second director on Tobago maina kursu (1965).
Streičs made his feature debut with Kapteiņa Enriko pulkstenis (1967) and went on to direct 22 feature films. His best-known work included Limuzīns Jāņu nakts krāsā (1981), a film included in the Latvian cultural canon.
He also sometimes placed himself directly into his films as an authorial presence, including appearing as “Autors” in Teātris.
International recognition came with Cilvēka bērns, which won the main prize at the Sanremo autorfilm festival in 1992 and received the Vatican prize “Beato Angelico per L’Europa,” making him the first Latvian recipient. Beyond filmmaking, he served as chairman of the Latvian Filmmakers’ Union and chairman of the Riga Latvian Society, and he received Latvia’s Order of the Three Stars.
His films, led by Limuzīns Jāņu nakts krāsā, remain central to Latvia’s cultural memory.