45 jaar NoFF: de filmkeuze van Fredau Buwalda: White God

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, this year we are screening three favorite films from former artistic directors of the Noordelijk Film Festival; White God is Fredau Buwalda's choice. She will give a short introduction to the film and will talk to Asing Walthaus after the screening.

Thirteen-year-old Lili comes to live with her father in Budapest, bringing her beloved dog Hagen with her. But when the government imposes a high tax on mixed-breed dogs, Lili's father refuses to pay it and dumps Hagen on the street. The film seamlessly switches to the perspective of the dog, who is constantly pursued by dog catchers, trained to be an aggressive fighting dog, and finally joins a group of radical street dogs. Together they rebel against cruel humanity—a vengeful revolt that only Lili can stop.

This apocalyptic fable by Kornél Mundruczó is a compelling allegory that explores the boundary between social drama and dark family film. White God premiered in 2014 at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, where the two dogs who played the leading roles each won a Palm Dog. The film itself was awarded the Un Certain Regard prize. Remarkably, all the dogs featured in the film (except for the two leads) were street or shelter dogs; after filming, almost all of them were adopted.