For two years, filmmaker Elizabeth Lo and her crew followed Zeytin, Nazar, and Kartal—three homeless mutts—around the streets of Istanbul. The result is a new "dogumentary" called Stray. The film premieres online March 26. From The Guardian:
"The hours-long adventures that these dogs would take themselves on!" she marvels. "Walks upon walks upon walks upon walks. Most pets don't ever get to experience that. It made me realise the potential that dogs have, the desires that are not often fulfilled, even under the care of people as pets. I hope the film acts as a decolonising tool, to challenge Eurocentric views on what a humane and just city looks like."
What she witnessed in Istanbul was that dogs could successfully integrate into a city without becoming nuisances or harming themselves – and the dogs were, not coincidentally, far better socialised than the vast majority of pets in LA, where Lo has lived for most of the last decade. There are no interviews or commentary in the film – only a bit of overheard gossip – though there are some choice maxims from Diogenes of Sinope in 360BC: "Human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog."
