After graduating from the Latvia Conservatoires in 1989 as a drama theatre director, Martinsons worked with Latvian musicians as an independent director/producer of music video clips. His first music video clip, "This is My Car" by the band Jumprava, was the first independent video in Latvia’s history and it received the best video award from in 1989/1990. Since 1991, Māris has lived in Lithuania, where together with a partner he founded the production company “ARTeta”. ARTeta has become a leading production company and the biggest studio complex in the Baltic States. In Lithuania, Martinsons worked in the TV field, producing over ten original TV series, and creating TV series and videos, where he often served as both the director and author of these productions. Since 2005 he has participated in various workshops in Europe developing skills in script writing, developing and marketing. In 2006 Martinsons finally wrote a script for the arthouse movie Loss. The script was written in Jaipur, and preparation for the shooting was managed from Bangkok. The film was shot in Lithuania and Ireland, edited just when his third son was born and finished during his visit in Beijing. In January, 2008, the film was released in Lithuania. In June, 2008 film was selected for the Official Competition of the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival and it was awarded with 2 prizes: Best Director and Best Music. Later this year Loss was submitted as the nominee from Lithuania for Best Foreign Language Film consideration for the 2009 Academy Awards. In 2009-2010 Māris Martinsons coordinated the development of a second feature filmAmaya, also known as Hong Kong Confidential. This film stars brilliant Japanese actressKaori Momoi and Lithuanian musician/actor Andrius Mamontovas. It was notable as the first-ever Latvian-Hong Kong co-production in the film industry. Amaya has received a mixture of acclaim and criticism since its debut screening in Riga, Latvia on 14 September 2010. It was a Best Foreign Language Film nominee from Latvia for the 2011 Academy Awards. This must be a first in Academy Awards history, having the first two movies by the same director/producer nominated by different countries! On 12 June 2011, the gala Hong Kong premiere of Amaya at the Harbour Road Arts Centre was attended by dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, the Latvian Ambassador to China, distinguished ProfessorsRoger King and Maris Martinsons, and many members of the Latvian community in Hong Kong. In January, 2013 the third film by Māris Martinsons Christmas.Uncensored has been released in Lithuania. It's a controversial drama, black comedy with a budget of only USD 45 000. The National premiere was held right after Māris Martinsons finished to shoot a psychological mystery drama Oki - in the middle of the ocean in Los Angeles, USA. It has been re-union with Japanese actress Kaori Momoi. The film premiere was on 2014. After the release of drama based on legendary Shakespear's novel - Romeo n'Julietin 2015, passionately worked on the feature film - drama / mystery Magic Kimono starring Kaori Momoi and Issey Ogata. It's been the first co-production ever between Latvia and Japan.
Filmography
Magic Kimono" as director, writer, editor
Romeo n'Juliet" as director, co-producer, editor
Oki - in the middle of the ocean as director, co-producer, writer, editor
Christmas.Uncensored as director, co-producer, writer, editor
Amaya also known as Hong Kong Confidential as director, co-producer, editor, writer
Loss as director, co-producer, editor, co-writer
Television filmography
42 as director, producer, co-writer
Anastasia as director, producer, co-writer
Anastasia as director, producer, co-writer
Refresh as author, co-director
Tenants as author, director
Julia as author, co-writer, director, producer
De Facto as author, director
Shapro show as author, director
Valse of destiny as author, co-writer, co-director, producer
