Anthology Film Archives presents a screening of Space Dogs (2019) by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter; in
collaboration with Erste Bank, Deutsches Haus at NYU, and the Austrian Cultural Forum New York. The
filmmakers will be present for an audience Q&A following the screening.
SPACE DOGS – not to be confused with DOGS IN SPACE (1986) – begins from figures of animal legend:
the dogs, chimpanzees, and turtles that were launched on the earth for experimental monitoring during the long-gone era of the “space race”. These creatures endured a tough, often tragic cycle: from birth in nature, to being trained, tested, and exploited by science, to ending either sacrificed or discarded. Kremser & Peter imagine a different fate: what if these animals are now spirits, reincarnated in the strays that resourcefully wander the streets and fields of Moscow? The montage-counterpoint between the daily life of scrounging canines and heroic myths of famous “space dogs” (as seen in extraordinary archival footage) is eavily ironic. But the film explores a less usual perspective: with few humans visible, we are invited to imagine how animals see, feel, and react to the world. This is what philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls bare life: whether being spun around mercilessly in capsules, or killing and eating a cat, these dogs do what they can to survive. SPACE DOGS is an intimate, observational documentary, unafraid of using fictional devices (like Aleksei Serebryakov’s narration). (Adrian Martin).

Location & Time
Thursday, November 3 through Wednesday November 9, 2022.
Screening times are as follows (91min), for tickets please click on the corresponding time:
November 3, 6:45 PM and 9 PM
November 4, 6:45 PM and 9 PM
November 5, 6:45 PM and 9 PM
November 6, 6:45 PM and 9 PM
November 8, 6:45 PM and 9 PM
November 9, 6:45 PM and 9 PM