A Latvian man helps Vietnamese refugees cross into the EU. Everyone loses. Everyone plays anyway.
An absurd game of “finding happiness” is being played by local Latvian coyotes* and illegal immigrants on the Russian and the European Union border. It is a game with no winner – all participants are driven to play by the sense of despair. While one side leaves home and undertakes a perilous journey to the other side of the globe, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in a free country, the other side risks their freedom to earn a chance to stay right where they are, in their homeland. *coyote – someone who smuggles illegal immigrants
Direction
Zviedris observes without judgment, which is somehow worse
Editing
69 minutes that feel like a fever dream you can't wake from
Director
Ivars Zviedris
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Latvia's eastern border with Russia became an EU frontier in 2004, turning locals into accidental gatekeepers of Fortress Europe.
The title's 'coyote' borrows from US border discourse, but these smugglers are broke, desperate locals—not criminal masterminds.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
LV
