Latvia‘s Animated Oscar Contender ‘Dog of God‘ Secures Distribution Deals in Germany and Greece
Latvia’s submission for the 2024 Academy Awards’โ Best International Feature Film category, the animated feature Dog of God, has secured distribution deals in Germany and Greece, bolstering the film’s international profile as it campaigns โfor Oscar recognition. Produced โby Tritone Studio โขfor under โฌ1 million ($1.1 million), the film has garnered attention forโฃ it’s unique blend of baltic pagan culture, past drama, and mature themes.
The ฤbele brothers, Gints and Raitis, directed Dog of God, embracing a creative freedom encouraged by distributors familiar with Japaneseโ animationโ from the ’90s. “That audience has seen Japanese animation from the ’90s, which means they are ready for anything,” Raitis recalls. “we were encouraged to go wild,”โฃ and the filmmakers chose to ground theโข film in their Baltic roots, drawing inspiration from conventional โfolk songs for its more provocative elements. The story centers on a 17th-century court trial involving a werewolf, interwoven with “fairy-tale โlikeโ charactersโ and magician spells.”
Dog of God distinguishesโฃ itself with its thematic exploration of โpower dynamics, rather โขthan a direct critique of religion. “We are against theโข use of power.โฃ We’re not against a hierarchical society when โit’s natural. But โฃeveryโ hierarchy fucks up at someโ point. When โorder becomes to strict, it needs to be โchallenged,” explained Raitis. He added that Latvia’s experience under โSoviet occupation and subsequent embrace of democracy since 1991 has deeply informedโฃ this perspective.
The film’s financing was supported by the National โขFilm Center of Latvia and a โkey investment from U.S.indie producerโ Giovanni Labadessa of Lumiere Lab, who was โขimpressed โby the ฤbele brothers’ previous work, Troubled Minds (2021).
Currently, the โคteam is actively pursuing an Oscar campaign, with Lauris ฤbele recently travelingโ to the U.S. bearing a uniqueโ gift โขfor Academy members: chaga mushroomโฃ body โskincare. “These aren’t psychedelic but medicinal mushrooms with healing powers.I hope โLauris will make it through customs with them!” Raitis quipped, expressing hope for continued momentum leading up to the Oscar short-listing announcement on December 16.
The success โคof Dog of God is seen as a critically important step for Latvian andโ Baltic cinema, opening doors for a wider range of animated projectsโ beyond the โคdominance of studios like Pixar and disney. The ฤbele brothers are already developing their next project, a live-action thriller โtitled wagner and Satan, exploring the formative years of German composer Richard Wagner in Latvia, promising “a โtrue Faustian drama” steeped in paganism and occultism.
