Metro Dogs (Moscow), 2004, Single Channel Video, 3'02"

Metro Dogs (Moscow) follows the journey of one of Moscow’s infamous ‘Metro dogs’, a pack of wild dogs living on the underground system. The film observes his progression across a number of different train lines, changing direction, getting increasingly agitated as if in search of something. Filmed with low-fi surveillance equipment, the camera constantly attempts to remain on the dogs trail as he leaves and enters compartments, brushes past passengers, settles and rushes off, until finally losing him as he squeezes out a closing door. This observational piece gives account of the dog’s status as a modern day leper, ignored by people as another daily nuisance, and raises questions about urban culture and its social codes. Set to a piece of melancholy Georgian music the film is both a document and a portrait.