DIEVA SUNS / DOG OF GOD

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Projektu līdzfinansē REACT-EU finansējums pandēmijas krīzes seku mazināšanai

 SIA Tritone Studio piedalās ERAF projekta “Latvijas kino industrijas uzņēmumu izaugsme, veicinot to profesionālo veiktspēju” Nr.13.1.4.0/22/I/001 īstenošanā, kura ietvaros

2022.gadā ir uzsākusi filmas “Dieva suns” ražošanu.

IDEA

If we wanted to articulate a phrase that would at the best describe North-East Europe or Livonia some three hundred years ago – it would be ‘The Kingdom of Werewolves’.

But... a different kind of werewolves than we all know. Werewolves that call themselves ‘The Dogs of God’. Werewolves that travel deep down into the hell and there they fight witches, sorcerers and demons to secure prosperity of peasants and protect crops from draught and famine. This werewolf tradition that is representing surviving remnants of a shamanistic substratum that had survived Christianization.

The story of the film is based on an actual trial that took place in Zaube (current day Latvia, but Swedish Livonia at the time) in 1692. The trial has been fully documented and it can be read like a real detective story: during the interrogation of a church robbery of the witnesses, old man Thiess, 82, loudly stated that he is a werewolf. His testimony completely changes the course of the trial - turning all attention toward him.

This one of the most famous and the last werewolf trial in Europe. But at the same time Thiess’ story can be viewed as a window into the shamanistic and animistic notions of Northern European beliefs. Also, this trial is a glimpse into peasant resistance to the ruling German / Swedish class.

Also, this story is not only about werewolves, priests, shamans and history – it’s a story about human relationships that always have been are at the centre of everything.