Kristians Alhimionoks, founder of Centaur Films, is behind one of Latvia’s highest grossing movies and most successful franchises, but he’s not laughing all the way to the bank. He talks remakes, reality TV and a better system for sharing the spoils of success in the content industry.

Not many content execs can say that their big break started off as a bit of a joke, but that’s the case for Kristians Alhimionoks, owner of Centaur Films, an indie prodco based in Riga, Latvia.

Kristians Alhimionoks

Alhimionoks is the producer of Swingers, a romcom that was released in cinemas in Latvia in 2016 and unexpectedly became one of the biggest grossing films of all time in the Baltic country.

“It started as a joke,” Alhimionoks confesses. “And it worked.”

The film, shot on a small budget in less than a fortnight, was such a hit when released in Latvia that Alhimionoks and Andrejs Ekis, owner of the country’s Cinevilla Studios and former boss of Alhimionoks, went on to sell the Swingers franchise into no fewer than five other European countries, including Estonia (2017), Ukraine (2018 and 2019), Norway (2019), Poland (2020) and the Netherlands (2021).

The joke Alhimionoks is referring to is not to do with the romcom premise of the film – or, as Alhimionoks more precisely puts it, “sexy little comedy” – but the fact he had to convince Ekis to swap his producer role on the project for that of director just to get the film made.

“It was difficult to find a director [to make the film], and Andrejs, he was just like, ‘OK, if you can bring me some budget, I’ll do it.’ You know, as a joke,” explains Alhimionoks.

Since then, the film has broken so many records that it’s in the Guinness Book of Records, according to Alhimionoks, who has since gone on to make Accidental Santa, another local hit comedy, this time coproduced with Riga’s Filmu Studija Grauba.

Since its release over the 2022 Christmas period in its home country, the film’s remake rights have been optioned by Sony Pictures International Productions for North America, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Mexico and Brazil.

Accidental Santa may well tell the story of an escaped prisoner who disguises himself as Santa but is mistaken for the real deal by two children with a plan of their own, but there was nothing accidental about Alhimionoks’ strategy for turning this film into an international franchise. The producer, who cut his teeth in the business working as intern at Kaleidoscope Film Distribution in London at the age of 22, has always studied the market carefully to ensure what he produces can be remade.

Latvian streamer Tet carries action-comedy Produkts

“For Accidental Santa, together with the director, I was already thinking about franchise potential when we were writing the script because we had to sell it, because otherwise what’s the point?” he explains.

It’s a strategy that Alhimionoks continues to stick to since going solo with his own prodco, Centaur Films, which launched three years ago, since when he’s moved more into the TV sphere. For example, he has sold the format rights to Centaur’s first project into Estonia. The mockumentary series, called Great Fools, launched in 2020 on Latvian OTT service Tet and ran for three successful seasons and was adapted in Estonia as Munavere.

Alhimionoks has high hopes that his latest TV project, 10-part action-comedy Produkts, currently on Tet in Latvia, can hit the remake jackpot.

Based on a true story, it is about a young woman who, on a very bad day at work, discovers cocaine in a consignment of bananas, but instead of telling the authorities, decides to hold on to it – with some fairly hairy consequences.

“It’s the kind of story that is adaptable in every market. I believe it has a massive potential for remake rights, including for the bigger markets,” says Alhimionoks, who will be heading to C21’s Content Warsaw event in June with that objective in mind.

Alhimionoks’ laser focus on the international market is, in part, a symptom of the Latvian market, which cannot offer the budgets required for high-quality home-grown fare in the scripted space. On the film front, there are very few sources of finance, and it can take years to get a feature film made, he points out. And while he’s grateful for the support TV platforms such as Go3 and Tet are providing for local productions, he acknowledges there is an economic imperative driving them towards commissioning more unscripted.

“The budgets are really small and what Go3 and all the other streamers are looking for is more viewers, so for them it becomes easier to produce reality shows,” says Alhimionoks.

Go3 reality series Smash or Pass

This has led the exec to move into the unscripted space himself in the past year. His company has already produced one relationship reality show for Go3, called Smash or Pass. It is now in its second season and is proving “very popular,” says Alhimionoks, who describes it as a format where “young people are partying together and finding the love of their lives.”

The success of Smash or Pass means Centaur has been commissioned to produce another reality show that launches on Go3 in March, titled Amors. The Big Brother-esque original format has cameras rolling 24/7, with participants living together trying to find love, but with jeopardy never far away.

“Amors is the name of the voice, which tries to help them… or not help them,” Alhimionoks explains.

So what’s his verdict on reality TV? “To learn new things and to find out how it works is always something that is pleasurable,” says Alhimionoks. “I know how to make TV series, I know how to make films, but I never knew how to do reality. And now I’m learning it, which just makes me stronger as a producer.”

But while the exec is grateful for the opportunity to develop his skills in the unscripted space, as well as diversify his portfolio, his real passion remains film and scripted TV series, and he admits this move has come out of necessity rather than design.

“I’m not happy about it,” he explains. “I would love to do TV series and films, but it’s difficult. Right now, I am working on a big feature film that is my dream to make, and it’s been so now for two years. But it takes time for a young company to do something like that.”

The film in question is The Boy Who Saw in The Dark, about a 13-year-old being raised as the ‘perfect son’ for his blind parents. Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce, the Latvian writer and playwright who penned the book on which the film is based, is on board, along with up-and-coming Latvian director Pauls Kesteris, who received the country’s National Film Award for his documentary Crossing in 2021.

The film received development funding last year from the Latvian Film Centre and the European Union-funded programme Midpoint.

But being a producer in Latvia, whether you’re responsible for one of the biggest grossing films or not, remains a struggle and you must be nimble and be prepared to adapt, says Alhimionoks, who would like to see more business-oriented support for young producers to establish themselves.

Centaur’s mockumentary series Great Fools

“Every film is an art but so much of it is business. And it helps the industry, it helps the country, it helps everyone. We should think more about this in Latvia – and in Europe,” he says.

Alhimionoks believes the flat-fee system for paying producers, which he says is the norm in Latvia, is also holding back creative talent in the industry. He favours a model where profit participation is more equitable, and he is inspired by artist-led studio Artists Equity, formed in 2022 by Hollywood stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale, whose mission is to “reimagine the relationship between talent, studio and distributor.”

“This is also something that has to change,” he says of the current status quo.

In the meantime, however, he is grateful for the relationship and trust that has developed between his company and local streamers, such as Tet and Go3, the latter of which has funded two more of his TV series, New Norm and Ecstasis.

“For me, as a company, it would be very bad if I didn’t have a partner like Go3. If they weren’t here, I wouldn’t be here talking to you,” says Alhimionoks.