"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.
About the filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmonts
THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS is Simon Lereng Wilmonts' fourth film at Final Cut for Real. Simon graduated as a Documentary Film Director from The National Danish Film School in 2009. His films DORMITORY MASTER (2009) won a Gold Panda Award at Sichuan International TV & Film Festival and Above Ground, BENEATH THE SKY (2008) won Best Short Film at Vision Du Reel and Best International Documentary at Vienna Film Academy International Film Festival. His previous films THE FENCING CHAMPION (2014) and CHIKARA – THE SUMO WRESTLER’S SON (2013) both premiered at IDFA, won the Jury Award for Medium length Documentary and Best Short Children Documentary Award at Al Jazeera Film Festival 2015, and they have since been screened at a number of international film festivals and sold to tv-stations around the world.
THE DISTANT BARKING DOGS
In Select Theaters Now
