A made-for-television movie filmed last year in Rīga, about a Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish babies and children from the Warsaw Ghetto, premieres April 19 in the United States.

The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler tells the true story of Catholic social worker Irena Sendler, who is credited with organizing an effort to smuggle young Jews out of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

The movie, part of the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” series, airs from 9-11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on the CBS network, according to a Hallmark press release.

Filming of The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler began during a cold and snowy November in Rīga, which the movie’s creators found offered settings that resembled what Warsaw, Poland, might have looked like 60 years ago.

Sendler was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo and sentenced to death, but was freed when the Polish resistance movement bribed a guard. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Sendler died at age 98 in May 2008.

Canadian actress Anna Paquin portrays Sendler. The movie also stars Marcia Gay Harden, who plays Sendler’s mother, and Goran Visnjic, who portrays a friend who helps Sendler with the smuggling operation.

About 2,000 Latvian actors and local residents were hired for the production, according to andrejsala.lv, the Web site of the developer of the Andrejsala district in Rīga, where much of the filming took place. Most prominent is Latvian child actor Sergejs Marčenko, who plays Jasio. But other Latvians are not in leading roles. For example, Jānis Reinis, who played the lead character Mārtiņš in the 2007 feature film Rīgas sargi, appears in The Courageous Heart as an SS officer.

The newspaper Diena reported that filming on the USD 10 million production continued into December. Filming took place in several venues in Old Rīga and Andrejsala. One visitor to the CBS network’s Web site about The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler noted a continuity error: As Sendler leaves a building and bids goodbye to her friend, the blue sign of the modern DnB Nord bank can be seen in the background.

The film is based on the book The Mother of the Holocaust Children by Anna Mieszkowska. Director of the movie is John Kent Harrison.

A new Lutheran congregation under the umbrella of an “exile” church is to be founded April 19 in Latvia, organizers have announced.

The congregation is as yet unnamed but would be part of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Outside Latvia (Latvijas evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca ārpus Latvijas, or LELBĀL), which has its headquarters in Germany. It is not seeking membership in the larger Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (Latvijas evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca, or LELB), which has its headquarters in Rīga.

“This congregation is under LELBĀL leadership because we, members of the nascent congregation, want to come together to worship God is the manner of LELBĀL services, not LELB,” Andris Bērziņš, a member of the congregation’s provisional board of directors, told Latvians Online in an e-mail.

LELB dates from the 1920s and was formed from Lutheran congregations in newly independent Latvia. LELBĀL appeared after World War II and unites Latvian Lutheran congregations throughout Western Europe and Australia.

Several months ago a number of repatriates joined with local Latvians through LELBĀL’s Rīga office to begin holding services in the Old St. Gertrude Church of Rīga (Rīgas Vecā Svētās Ģertrūdes baznīca).

The new congregation will be founded during a service scheduled at 15:00 hours April 19 in the church, Ģertrūdes iela 8, Rīga. Members of the provisional leadership will be available to meet with interested persons before the service. The service will be officiated by Archbishop Elmārs E. Rozītis and the Rev. Dean Klāvs Bērziņš. Participants are asked to bring food the share after the service.

Latvian Lutheran churches in North America are organized under the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Latviešu evanģeliski luteriskā baznīca Amerikā, or LELBA). It was founded in 1957 as a congregational association, but in 1975 reorganized as a church, according to LELBA’s Web site, lelba.org.

LELB has two congregations outside Latvia, the St. Peter Latvian Church of Moscow (Russia) and the Dublin-based Latvian Church in Ireland, according to its Web site, www.lelb.lv.

Fitch Ratings has become the second service to cut Latvia’s credit rating to “junk” status, but the country’s finance minister says the decision will not affect its economic stabilization plan.

The London-based ratings service on April 8 cut Latvia’s long-term credit rating to BB+ from BBB-. Fitch also downgraded its ratings for Estonia and Lithuania, warning that their economic ties to Latvia will put them under more pressure.

In February, the ratings service Standard & Poor took similar action on Latvia, making it the second European Union country after Romania to fall to junk status.

The downgrade for Latvia comes as the country’s new government has been working to shore up loans arranged late last year with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

“The downgrade of Latvia’s ratings reflects the deterioration in the prospects for the Latvian economy and elevated risk of policy slippage since the agreement of the EUR 7.5 billion loan package with the IMF, EU and other international lenders in December 2008,” the ratings service said in a press release.

Fitch has forecast Latvia’s economy will shrink by 12 percent this year, much more than the 5 percent contraction the Latvian government used in approving its current budget.

A delay by the Latvian government in submitting a revised austerity budget, Fitch said, may force the IMF and EU to hold back on the loans. The ratings service also warned that the risk of devaluation of the national currency, the lat, has increased and would be a “severely negative” scenario.

Finance Minister Einars Repše said in a press release that Latvia’s negotiations with international lenders will continue as it works to stabilize the economy. However, the ministry acknowledged that the downgrade is a blow to the country, which generally has had a credit rating favorable to foreign investment.

Fitch followed its announcement on the Baltic states with action April 9 on several banks. In Latvia, SEB Banka, Swedbank and Latvijas Krajbanka all have had their ratings lowered.