
The Distant Barking of Dogs
DIRECTOR(S): Simon Lereng Wilmont COUNTRIES: Denmark, Sweden, Finland YEAR: 2017 LANGUAGE(S): Ukrainian SUBTITLES: English RUNNING TIME: 90 min
SECTION: International Forum 2019
SCREENINGS
Thursday, 03.10., 7.00 pm, kinoeins
Saturday, 05.10., 3.00 pm, Caritas-Pirckheimer-Haus
SYNOPSIS
THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS is set in Eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the war. The film follows the life of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy Oleg throughout a year, witnessing the gradual erosion of his innocence beneath the pressures of war.
Oleg lives with his beloved grandmother, Alexandra, in the small village of Hnutove. Having no other place to go, Oleg and Alexandra stay and watch as others leave the village. Life becomes increasingly difficult with each passing day, and the war offers no end in sight. In this now half-deserted village where Oleg and Alexandra are the only true constants in each other’s lives, the film shows just how fragile, but crucial, close relationships are for survival.
Through Oleg’s perspective, the film examines what it means to grow up in a warzone. It portrays how a child’s universal struggle to discover what the world is about grows interlaced with all the dangers and challenges the war presents. THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS unveils the consequences of war bearing down on the children in Eastern Ukraine, and by natural extension, the scars and selftaught life lessons this generation will carry with them into the future.
SIMON LERENG WILMONT
Simon Lereng Wilmont was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and graduated as a Documentary Film Director from The National Film School of Denmark in 2009. His most recent film, The Distant Barking of Dogs (2017), premiered on IDFA 2017, and received the award for The Best First Appearance. It has won several awards worldwide, for instance the McBaine Documentary Feature Award at San Francisco’s SFFILM Festival, as well as winning the European Film Award (EFA) documentaries of 2018, the most prestigious awarding body in Europe.
FILMOGRAPHY
Ramona’s Journey (2004), Above The Ground, Beneath The Sky (2008), The Dormitory Master (2009), Travelling With Mr. T (2012), Chikara – The Sumo Wrestler’s Son (2013), The Fencing Champion (2014), Graine de Champion (2016), The Distant Barking of Dogs (2017)
PRODUCER: Monica Hellstrom CAMERA: Simon Wilmont EDITOR: Michael Aaglund MUSIC: Uno Helmersson, Erik Enocksson
PRODUCTION: Final Cut For Real WORLD SALES: Shoshi Korman, Cinephil