In the stopped clock of a lockdown, two women tell their stories, sharing, if indirectly, about their lives as women and mothers of immigrant families. From Jerusalem to Venezuela, the cinematographic and narrative devices of their lives are entwined in the same space-time. Nostalgia for one’s home, integration, languages, home versus a hostile city, etc., all resonate with the many other stories of immigration in the area. In Life of a Dog, the protagonists’ bodies seem frozen throughout the film’s duration, transposed into two distinct voiceover tracks, ceding their movements to their children’s gestures and subjective gazes as they progressively distance themselves from the frame and their mothers’ experiences. Reading between the lines of this remarkable documentary as it liberates the hidden life stories of people too often relegated to the background of our society, we find ourselves in need of new landmarks and may find ourselves clinging to the gentle presence of our silent four-legged friends, who are ready to guide us toward uncertain horizons.

Julia Minne
Programmer