The Dog Pound

Colour, 35 mm
Uruguay, Argentina, Canada, Spain, 2006, 109 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

25-year-old David ends up at his father’s weekend house at a seaside resort. The season is over, his girlfriend goes back to the city, but he is unable to leave. He can’t even drum up any enthusiasm for his studies. He spends his days in lethargy, smoking grass and trying to build his own house – only because his father is forcing him to do it. But basically it is his friends and acquaintances who start laying the foundations. David seems to be wrestling with more important, existential questions… A fresh portrait of a place where nothing ever happens, and of a whole generation of South-American “slackers”.

About the director

Manuel Nieto Zas (b. 1972, Montevideo) studied communications at the University of Uruguay. He worked for several years in television until he made his first short film with Diego Fernández, Nico & Parker (2000). Zas also worked as an assistant director with Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso (La Libertad, 2001), and two of his Uruguayan compatriots, Pablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella (25 Watts, 2001). The Dog Pound (2006) is his feature debut.