DOG OF GOD
DOG OF GOD
Trailer
In the setting of an early modern Livonian village where it is constantly raining, the two brotherly directors Lauris and Raitis Ābele use animation to bypass taboos. Graphic sex, religious mockery, grotesque bodies, and imagery that might be too shocking in a live-action context are used in Dog of God to provide commentary on power, gender, and religion. The story blends grotesque fantasy and crude humour with historical inspiration: the trial of Thiess of Kaltenbrun, an 82-year-old man who claimed to be a werewolf fighting for God. Co-director Raitis Ābele previously worked on the Latvian-Belgian-French Oscar-winning animated film Flow. This inspired the brothers to push animation in a wilder direction. The Ābele brothers drew from Latvian folklore, old spell books, and 1980s animation to shape this strange world. Instead of folk sounds, the music leans into synths and psychedelic metal. Dog of God doesn’t aim for comfort. It explores religious hypocrisy, sexual obsession, and the way communities turn on women, with scenes that are bold, shocking, and impossible to forget.
Text: Mourad Touil
Tue 04.11. I 17:00 I OBENKINO I original version with English subtitles
Wed 05.11. I 20:45 I OBENKINO I original version with English subtitles
Ivo Briedis, Raitis Ābele, Lauris Ābele, Harijis Grundmanis
Marcis Ābele
Raitis Ābele, Lauris Ābele - Raitis and Lauris are directors, producers, editors, and screenwriters, often joined by their youngest brother Marcis as director ofphotography. Some call it a family business—but with their blend of arthouse, genre, and dark Baltic mysticism, it's more of afamily thing than a business.Lauris studied philosophy and later earned a Master’s in Audiovisual Arts (Film Directing) at the Latvian Academy of Culture. Raitisstudied at the New York Film Academy and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology. The brothers began their creative journey inthe DIY skateboarding video scene, moved into music videos, and found international success when their short Castratus the Boarwon the Grand Prix at the Tampere Short Film Festival in 2015.They later co-directed the docudrama Baltic Tribes: Last Pagans of Europe and their first feature film Troubled Minds, whichpremiered in the First Feature Competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Apart from filmmaking, the brothers also play andcompose music in two alternative rock bands—Soundarcade and Sonntags Legion.
2015 ‘Castratus the Boar’, 22min, dir.Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele (Grand Prix at Tampere
Short Film Festival 2015)
2018 ‘Baltic Tribes | Last Pagans of Europe’ 104min docudrama, dir. Lauris Abele, Raitis
Abele
2021 ‘Troubled Minds’, 108min, dir. Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele, premiered at POFF First
Feature Competioton
