In a dark theater Herz Frank places the camera on the face of a young boy watching a puppet show. The performance itself remains unseen. Over ten uninterrupted minutes, the audience witnesses an extraordinary range of emotions—wonder, fear, joy, suspense, curiosity—reflected on the faces of children experiencing a story. The film becomes a meditation on cinema, childhood, imagination, and the human capacity for empathy.

Cast & Crew
Producers: Herz Frank, Pauls Pakalns
Director: Herz Frank
Script: Herz Frank
Director of Photography: Juris Podnieks
Production Design: Gunar Kondrats
Music: Ludgards Gedraudiņš, Jiří Pauer
Sound: Alfred Vishnevskis
Editing: Herz Frank
Production: Rīgas Kinostudija

Herz Frank (1926–2013)
Herz Frank was one of the most influential documentary filmmakers of the Baltic region. Born in Latvia, he became renowned for intimate humanistic documentaries exploring memory, morality, spirituality, and the emotional lives of ordinary people. His films frequently focused on revealing profound psychological truths through observation. Ten Minutes Older became his most internationally celebrated work and is regarded as a classic of documentary cinema.

Filmography (selected)
The Salt Bread (1964), Without Legend (1967), Ten Minutes Older (1978), Supreme Court (1987), The Last Judgment (1987), Once There Were Seven Simeons (1989), The Song of Songs (1989), Prayer (1990), The Jewish Street (1992), The Man of the Wall - A Documentary Mystery (1998), Madonna with Child (2001), Flashback (2003), Darga Dzuljeta (2003), Good Friday (2005), Beyond the Fear (2015).