Space Dogs (OmeU)

SPACE DOGS – not to be confused with DOGS IN SPACE (1986) – begins from figures of animal legend: the dogs, chimpanzees, and turtles that were launched o the earth for experimental monitoring during the long-gone era of the “space race”. These creatures endured a tough, often tragic cycle: from birth in nature, to being trained, tested, and exploited by science, to ending either sacrificed or discarded. Kremser & Peter imagine a different fate: what if these animals are now spirits, reincarnated in the strays that resourcefully wander the streets and fields of Moscow? The montage-counterpoint between the daily life of scrounging canines and heroic myths of famous “space dogs” (as seen in extraordinary archival footage) is heavily ironic. But the film explores a less usual perspective: with few humans visible, we are invited to imagine how animals see, feel, and react to the world. This is what philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls bare life: whether being spun around mercilessly in capsules, or killing and eating a cat, these dogs do what they can to survive. SPACE DOGS is an intimate, observational documentary, unafraid of using fictional devices (like Aleksei Serebryakov’s narration). (Adrian Martin)

In the presence of Elsa Kremser und Levin Peter.