Māris Mičerevskis
Writer
Latvia, Germany
Māris Mičerevskis is a writer, publicist, and historian. He has appeared as an actor in the films “Kriminālās ekselences Fonds” and the Finnish film “Devils Bride.” As a historical consultant, he contributed to the films “Baltu Ciltis” and “Dieva Suns.” He is the author and publisher of several books, including the children’s book “7 dienas Miltiņu karaļvalstī,” which won the “Zvaigzne” award for children’s literature. He also wrote a play in the Latgalian dialect of Latvian – “Sapyns vosoras naktī” – and authored the script for the theater production “Dzimumzīme.” As a historian, he has researched Freemasonry in Latvia and published several articles on the subject. He is co-writing with Raitis Abele.
Project
Wagner and Satan
In 1837 Riga, 29-year-old streetwise con artist and fabric merchant Peter — a self-proclaimed grandson of Count Cagliostro — lives with his father Janus, a once-feared occultist now lost to dementia. When 26-year-old, debt-ridden Richard Wagner enters his back-alley shop, Peter’s charm — and the charged undercurrent between them — draws Wagner into Riga’s shadow world of forbidden lodges, pagan rites, and candlelit séances. In a trance-like ritual, Janus guides Wagner’s hand to a crumbling manuscript — a fusion of Baltic paganism, Egyptian magic, and Dionysian cult hymns — said to summon madness in those who hear its music. Wagner steals it and begins to decipher it, falling under its spell, his obsession turning him into something dangerous, even to his wife. For the first time, Peter begins to believe his father’s fevered prophecies. In a rare lucid moment, Janus gives his son a crooked ritual knife, warning only he can stop the curse — Wagner. But as Richard tries to flee, voices begin to haunt him; after a storm-lashed sea voyage, he hears the first ghostly melodies of The Flying Dutchman.
