The Last Dogs of Winter (Botes, 2011)
This year’s New Zealand International Film Festival commences screening in Auckland on 31 July and the full programme1 was announced yesterday. As soon as I click send on this newsletter, I’ll go through it with the proverbial fine tooth comb looking for films I can preview for you here.
Back in 2012, I was still a recipient of screeners in advance from the festival team but I prefer to keep my distance – and my independence – these days. They were canny in choosing what they sent me, taking advantage of knowing my taste in order to get positive coverage. That sounds cynical but it was good business.
It’s interesting that the current iteration of festival management has chosen to highlight that they have programmed over 100 films for this year’s event when the 2012 version had over 150. It’s no secret that the festival – like many other cultural institutions – have struggled to bounce back from the Covid pandemic but it’s also no secret that some poor decision making on their part means that they have squandered their inheritance and are now limping along with no permanent staff and a cut-down list of screening locations. Whether they are mortally wounded or not remains to be seen.
In that 2012 preview, there were some excellent films, most of which are no longer accessible to local audiences. One that you can find is Costa Botes’ atmospheric documentary, The Last Dogs of Winter:
In The Last Dogs of Winter, Wellington documentarian Costa Botes contributes a smashing story that does what all documentaries should do – tells you something you didn’t know before and makes it compelling. In remote and freezing Churchill, Manitoba, Brian Ladoon breeds and fiercely protects the last of an endangered species – the Eskimo dog. Bred as sled dogs to pull the only possible form of transportation in the snowy Arctic Circle, they’ve been made redundant by the petrol engine and now there are only a few left. Churchill is also the polar bear capital of the world and the three species (man, dog and bear) live in uneasy harmony as society and the climate change around them.
Also in that preview: Woody Harrelson plays a rogue cop in Rampart; there are more rogue cops, this time in Israel, in Nadav Lapid’s Policeman; Ursula Meier’s “heartbreaking little story set against some stunning alpine scenery”, Sister; “engrossing existential fable” The Wall; brilliant portrait of choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones, A Good Man; and Troubles-related coco Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey2.
Where to watch The Last Dogs of Winter
Aotearoa: Digital rental from NZ Film On Demand
Worldwide: Rent or buy direct from the filmmaker
Evidently we should be braced for some last-minute additions.
Only Rampart and Sister are available as digital rentals in New Zealand.
