BBC Storyville - The Distant Barking of Dogs (2022)

Set in Eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the war from 2016 to 2017. 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 war zone. 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. 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.

BBC Site

• IDFA Award for best first Appearrance 2017
• Best Documentry Feature SFFilm Festival
• Best Nordic Documentary Göterberg Film Festival
• Official Seclection HotDocs Outspoke Outsanding 2018
• Thessalonsky Doc Festival Winner Golden Alexnder 2018
• Special Selection Docpoint Film Festival 2018
• DOK.fest München Nominated for the DOK.fest Awar for SOS Kinderböbfer WellWeit 2018
• International Film Festival Docs Barcelona 2018
• É Tudo Verdade It' All True 2018
• Best Int'l Documentary Docaviv 2018
• Winner Grand Prix EIDF 2018
• Art Doc Grand Prix 2018

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