Year of the Dog

China is celebrating the Year of the Dog! Through four episodes, which are at times absurd, at times critical, four different stories of life and relationships are told. A wedding couple hopes to get especially lucky if it marries during this special year. We also get to know a rich woman from the city of Dalian whose life revolves exclusively around work and her little dog. Then there is a family from the artist village Song Zhuang. They love dogs, but still they eat them. Finally we meet an old couple living in a Hutong in Beijing who has dyed their poodle with the Olympic rings. Nowadays in the Far East, dogs are loved, spoiled, styled, pampered, trained and buried, just as they are in the West. This is in sharp contrast to the traditional customs of killing and eating dogs. The relationships between people and their dogs tell us a great deal about Chinese society. Through this bizarre examination of the sometimes ambiguous laws and rituals of loving and killing dogs, we plunge deep into everyday life in China. (DOK.fest München)