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The
trio are the focus of new documentary "Stray" which depicts
daily life in Istanbul through the eyes of three dogs that roam
its streets, searching for food, wandering along the Bosphorus
and stumbling upon a women's rights march.
Inspired by her grief for her childhood pet, Hong Kong-born
director Elizabeth Lo said she had wanted to make a film about
dogs and was fascinated to learn of a 2004 law in Turkey that
protects stray animals from cruelty and requires that they
receive good treatment.
"I remember when I ... went to Istanbul and saw the way the dogs
were living, where it felt like they were communally cared for
and they could have these transitory friendships with all the
people who were around them, I was really amazed by that," she
told Reuters."I wanted to document that and capture that for the
rest of the world to see, to sort of ask us to reconsider our
relationships with other species and in particular dogs."
'PRIMAL URGE'
Lo found Zeytin, the star of the film, in a tunnel where she saw
her running after a group of young Syrian refugees, who feature
prominently in the documentary because of their relationship
with the strays.
"Those were things that I was really moved by ... It felt to me
like a real reflection of a primal urge that we have towards
dogs and needing each other to survive in our most difficult
times," she said.
Lo wore a special vest to support her camera while following the
dogs as they ran around or sometimes lay down beside strangers,
seemingly eavesdropping on their conversations.
"These are ... conversations about love and women, these are
things that I'm personally drawn to, but it was also what Zeytin
sort of happened to eavesdrop on," she said.
Asked what she had learned from making the documentary, filmed
between 2017 and 2019, Lo said:
"I had assumed cities with large stray animals are inhumane or
not taking care of their animals but I found that it's actually
the exact opposite."
"It’s cities that don't have any stray animals that are actually
betraying dogs and cats. It's because it means that you're
getting rid of all of them."
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; additional reporting by
Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian;
Editing by Gareth Jones)
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