THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS
DIRECTOR: SIMON LERENG WILMONT
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 self- taught life lessons this generation will carry with them into the future.
PRODUCTION FACTS
Duration: 90 min
Release: November 2017
Language: Ukrainian
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Producer: Monica Hellström
Editors: Michael Aaglund
Cinematographer: Simon Lereng Wilmont
Director Assistant: Azad Safarov
Sound designer: Pietu Korhonen, Heikki Kossi & Peter Albrechtsen
Composers: Uno Helmersson & Erik Enocksson
Graphic Designer: Martin Hultman
Colorist: Anders V. Christensen
Co-producers: Sami Jahnukainen - Mouka Filmi, Tobias Janson - Story,
Monika Lobkowicz & Sonja Scheider - Bayerischer Rundfunk & ARTE
Executive Producers: Philippa Kowarsky & Signe Byrge Sørensen
Produced by Final Cut for Real
Supported by
The Danish Film Institute / Ulla Hæstrup
Sundance Film Institute
The Swedish Film Institute / Juan Pablo Libossart
The Finnish Film Institute
AVEK / Outi Rousu
Nordic Film and TV Fond / Karolina Lidin
Bayerischer Rundfunk & ARTE
Creative Europe, Tv Programming
Broadcasters
DR2 and DRUltra
SVT
YLE
Yes:Doc
ERR
RTV
CZ
Contact
DENMARK
Final Cut for Real – Producer Monica Hellström
monica@final-cut.dk - +45 26270275
PRESS & PUBLICITY:
Publicist Freddy Neumann
neumann@mail.dk - +45 20467846
WORLD SALES
Cinephil - Philippa Kowarsky
info@cinephil.co.il - +972 3 566 4129
FESTIVALS
Danish Film Institute - Anne Marie Kürstein
kurstein@dfi.dk
AWARDS
2017:
Best First Appearance - IDFA
2018:
Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary - Göteborg Film Festival
Golden Alexander Award - Thessaloniki International Film Festival
FIPRESCI Award - Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Human Values Award - Thessaloniki International Film Festival
The Youth Jury Prize for Best Documentary - International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva
The Student Jury Award - DocUDays International Film Festival
JURY PRIZE (2nd pl) in Documentary Competition at the 42nd Hong Kong International Film Festival 2018
McBaine Documentary Feature Award, San Francisco Film Festival 2018
Best Documentary of the International Feature, It's All True - International Documentary Film Festival, Brazil 2018
SOS-Documentary Film Prize, Dok.Fest München, Germany 2018
The VIKTOR Main Competition Award - Dok.Fest München, Germany 2018
CineDoc Current Time Award, Tblisi 2018
Documentary Academy Award, Docs Against Gravity, Poland 2018
Best International Film, DOCAVIV International Film Festival 2018
DocsBarcelona TV3 Award for Best Documentary, Spain 2018
The Grand Pix Award for best documentary, Oslo PIX, 2018
The Grand Prix Award for best documentary, EIDF, Seoul, South Korea, 2018
The Audience Award, Nordic Panorama, Sweden 2018
Honourable Mention for Pare Lorentz Award, IDA Documentary Awards
DocsMX 2018 Award in the Innocent Voices Section, Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de la Ciudad de México
ArtDocFest Grand Prix, Russia
2019:
Spotlight Award, Cinema Eye, New York 2019
Special Jury Award, Salem Film Festival, 2019 USA
Best Documentary Robert Award, Denmark
Billedbladets TV-Pris, Denmark
Best documentary, Bodil Award, Denmark
Pordenone Docs Fest Competition - Le Voci del’Inchiesta, Italy
FESTIVALS
2017:
World Premiere at IDFA - First Appearance Competition - Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018:
Göteborg Film Festival - Gothenburg, Sweden
DocPoint - Helsinki, Finland
ZagrebDox - Zagreb, Croatia
Thessaloniki International Film Festival - Thessaloniki, Greece
One World Human Rights Film Festival - Prague, Czech Republic
Forum on Human Rights - Geneva, Switzerland
Vilnius International Film Festival - Vilnius, Lithuania
Hong Kong International Film Festival - Hong Kong, China
Docudays UA International Human Rights Film Festival - Kiev,Ukraine San Francisco international Film Festival, US
HotDocs, Canada
Its All True, Brazil
Cinedoc Tbilisi - Georgia
ok.Fest Münich - Germany
Millenium Docs - Poland
DOCAVIV International Documentary Film Festival, Israel
Nordic Docs, Norway
DocsBarcelona - Spain
AFI, Washington, US
Gdansk Film Festival. Poland
Sheffield Doc Fest, England
Sydney International Film Festival, Australia
New York Human Right Watch, US
Magnificent 7 Film Festival, Serbia
The New Zealand Film Festival
Open Air Cinema, Romania
Der Neue Heimatfilm, Austria
Makedox. Makedonia
Vancouver Film Festival, Canada
EBS Seoul, South Korea
Reykjavik Film Festival, Iceland
EIDF, Seoul, South Korea, 2018.
Osnabruck Film Festival, Germany
Astra Film Festival, Romania
ArtDocFest 1, Latvia
Ânûû-rû Âboro, France
DocsMX, Mexico
Jersey Arts Center Human Right Film Festival, UK
Cork Film Festival, Ireland
Enfances Dans Le Monde, France
International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg, Germany
RIDM Montreal International Documentary Festival, Canada