Leonīds Leimanis started his creative career as a theatre actor, and played the main role in the first Latvian sound film Daugava (1934, dir. Aleksandrs Rusteiķis). After spending several years on the film sets of other directors, Leimanis debuted in directing as a co-director to Pāvels Armands on Frost in Springtime (1955). Leimanis could be accused of political naïveté in portraying the newly formed nation of Soviet Latvia, but not for a lack of a feel for life.