The Chilean film Los Reyes by the directorial duo of Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff was awarded with the Special Jury Award at the 2018 edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The jury awarded the prize to the Chilean film "for the creative and beautiful way it displaces the viewer gaze by associating a sensible look at non-human wonderful characters and the soundtrack that connects daily lives of animal and human stray dogs."
Los Reyes is the oldest skatepark in the Chilean capital of Santiago. But in its literal sense, “the kings” in the title of this film can equally refer to Chola and Football, the two stray dogs that have made their home in this open space full of hurtling skateboards and rowdy teenagers. The energetic female Chola loves to play with the balls she finds lying around. She positions them at the edge of the bowls where the skaters show off their tricks, and tries to catch them just before they fall down. The older dog, Football, looks on impatiently and barks at Chola until she finally drops the ball.
The teenagers around them come from very different, sometimes troubled backgrounds. They each have their own story, which they recount to us in voice-over. But in this almost fairy-tale-like film, the phenomenal, dreamlike camerawork centers almost entirely on the subtle interaction between the two dogs, as they play with a ball, a stick, a stone and each other.
The 2018 edition of IDFA took place November 14 - 25 in the Netherlands.
