Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. According to a legend, she returned to Earth as a ghost and has roamed the streets of Moscow ever since. Following her trace, and filmed from a dog’s perspective, SPACE DOGS accompanies the adventures of her descendants: two street dogs living in today’s Moscow. Their story is one of intimate fellowship but also relentless brutality, and is interwoven with unseen archive material from the Soviet cosmic era. A magical tale of voyagers scouting for unknown spaces.

"A total work of art—a foreshadowing of a near future in which man is no longer the center of the world, but rather a species among many others." (KINO-ZEIT)

"As crazy as poetic—this is an incredible experience and probably unforgettable. This is undoubtedly one of the highlights of this Locarno Festival.” (LE POLYESTER)

“It’s like a dog version of GRIZZLY MAN. Brutal but also deeply sensitive – a complex work that got under my skin.” (FILM COMMENT)

"The scariest film of the year. Like a real fairy tale this film makes your mind wander.” (CINEUROPA)

"Like Disney’s THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY, if it had been directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, we get a dog’s eye view of the city as a pair of scruffy street denizens snap and snarl their way through their version of the Zone from STALKER, licking cars, scavenging for food and meeting a very unfortunate kitten." (CINEVUE)

Wednesday, September 23
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm
Advance tickets $15 | $15 at the door

Warning: SPACE DOGS contains some graphic content that may not be suitable for younger audiences. Parental guidance is suggested.

*Minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Sorry, Rio Theatre Groupons and passes n/a for this screening.

PLEASE NOTE: All of the Rio Theatre’s screenings are operating at a sharply reduced capacity. We can’t guarantee availability of tickets at the door, so advance tickets for all screening events are strongly recommended. Our online box office can be found at www.riotheatretickets.ca. Online sales for every screening automatically end 1 hour before any given showtime.

SPACE DOGS (Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter, 2020 / 90 mins / 18A / Russian with English subs) Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. A legend says that she returned to Earth as a ghost and still roams the streets of Moscow alongside her free-drifting descendants. While shooting this film, the directors little by little realised that they knew the street dogs only as part of our human world; they have never looked at humans as a part of the dogs’ world.