Official selection
Sundance 2019, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019, Göteborg International Film Festival 2019, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival 2019, Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Film 2019
Director
Johannes Nyholm
Writer
Johannes Nyholm
Cast
Peter Belli, Leif Edlund, Ylva Gallon, Katarina Jakobson, Morad Khatchadorian, Brandy Lietmanen
Cinematographer
Tobias Höiem-Flyckt, Johan Lundborg
contact
Stray Dogs
Elin and Tobias are a happily married couple who regularly vacation with their young daughter. The family is on a dreamy holiday when an innocuous case of food poisoning derails their plans and forever alters the course of their lives. Three years later, the once loving couple is on the road again to go camping, looking for one last chance to go back to the way things used to be. But what once was is lost, and our characters instead find themselves having to relive the same nightmarish events, as thate day and the horrors it brings repeat themselves infinitely. Together, they must overcome their trauma, reconcile with their past and fight for their lives. Over, and over, and over again.
Director Johannes Nyholm takes grief and gives it a life of its own in this strange folkloric tale. If its protagonists are simple folk, the rest of the characters are eerie and upsetting — a bizarre, mismatched set of sadists who inflict torment to the tune of an upbeat children’s song, their look is striking and yet never out of place in the bleak Nordic landscapes of cinematographers Johan Lundborg and Tobias Hoirm-Flyck. The piece is further elevated by its haunting score, a perfectly ghastly blend of ominous tones and uplifting melodies. Everyone involved gives an incredible performance, embodying loss and pain with a raw accuracy that’s rarely been shown on the screen. As beautiful as it is horrible, KOKO-DI KOKO-DA gets under your skin and stays with you. – Tania Morissette
Showings
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