Latvia made Oscar history in 2025 when Gints Zilbalodis ‘ Flow won the best animated feature award. Two years later, the country has selected a very different movie to represent it at the Oscars 2027. The Baltic country picked Ulya from director Viesturs Kairišs ( January ), which stars up-and-coming Latvian actor Kārlis Arnolds Avots and world-premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section , as its international best feature film Oscar contender.

Inspired by the life of legendary Latvian basketball player Uljana Semjonova, a two-time Olympic champion and three-time world champion, the black-and-white Ulya follows its protagonist from an isolated rural Old Believer community into the fiercely competitive world of professional basketball.…