Remarkable debut film about the relationship between humans and dogs

A man and a woman drive through a post-apocalyptic landscape cleaning up dead dogs. But what really is a post-apocalyptic landscape? Does it always have to look like a disaster just happened Mad Max-style, or is that what you can experience in films as post-apocalyptic actually the dream-like ‘unheimliche’, ‘the uncanny’, that which resembles a world we know too well that it seems strange or strange to you?

The feature film debut Kala azar by Greek video artist Janis Rafa plays with that alienation. We are in a world where dogs (and sometimes people) are affected by the parasitic disease ‘kala azar’, or leishmaniasis, a disease that manifests itself through ulcers on the skin and in organs. Rafa follows the couple with great tenderness, from fiercely realistic moments to tender and remarkable scenes in which sexuality, physicality and decay are portrayed as mini-performances.

Kala azar is a remarkable and rich film that makes you think about the symbiotic relationship between humans and dogs and their shared natural living environment. The camera sniffs all those images curiously and sometimes restlessly like a dog.

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