Dog Owners
A multi-strand narrative about lonely people with dogs in search of a true connection.
We witness a day in the lives of different people and their dogs, creating a web of interconnected stories. For example, couple of ex-lovers accidentally meet on the street, their dog joyfully recognizing the one who is no longer around. The relationship between a mother and her daughter transforms with the arrival of a new dog, deepening their bond. A young girl finds a new friend on her way to school, only to lose him hours later. An aggressively barking dog disrupts its owner's date, yet this mishap leads to beautiful discoveries by the evening's end. The narrative weaves through these moments presenting a portrait of life and the meaningful connections people share with their pets.
Director's note
Over the past few years, due to events affecting everyone, each person's relationship with their environment, city, community, and home has changed multiple times. We have experienced what isolation, distance, and the feeling of intangible threats mean, and recently began to understand the nuances of the spaces we have long inhabited.
Meanwhile, one personal circumstance that significantly altered my relationship with the environment was acquiring a dog. Caring for a social and needy animal leads down paths we typically wouldn't tread, yet the dog itself acts as a mediator, facilitating connections with people whom we might otherwise pass by. Even under the strictest quarantine measures, walking the dog provided a lawful opportunity to go outside and interact with other members of this open community. Here, you find people with dogs, those without but who either love or hate them, passive observers, and engaged conversationalists.
Moving through different scenes, we shift from one location to another. According to the psychogeography of dog owners, these locations connect not only through streets or yards but also intertwine into a network of relationships among the people who meet here and recurring small details.
The episodes move through one day —- daily rituals—morning and evening walks.
As perspectives shift, with recurring characters and places, and attention to small details, what emerges can be described as the poetry of everyday life for dog owners. This includes the search for connection, companionship, love, and sometimes simply objects. It encompasses passive and direct aggression, testing of private boundaries and public rules, encounters with strangers or old acquaintances, unsolicited confessions, and discussions of current events. Details and encounters are seen from changing perspectives—sometimes observing only body language from afar, and sometimes directly participating in situations.
Biography
Dovilė Šarutytė (b. 1986) graduated with a degree in film directing from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in 2009. Her student work "Nasty Dream" (2008) captured the attention of critics at home and abroad. "I Know You" (2010), one of her first works as a director, was voted the Best Lithuanian Short Film at the Lithuanian Film Academy Awards Silver Crane. The film won the Main Prize at the Young Cinema Art 2010 World Student Film Festival in Poland. In 2011, she won a second Silver Crane award for "Not Lucky Today".
Producer's note
Dovilė Šarutytė's second feature, DOG OWNERS, is a multi-strand narrative film that adopts an observational form to explore human loneliness and the yearning for connection through the everyday poetry of life. The structure is an artistic choice by the director to reveal that loneliness is not the experience of one person, but a feeling shared by many. The different characters and stories become connected through this common sentiment.
The director creates a map of situations and relationships, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions and find their own points of relatability. Although the film is fictional, many situations are inspired by real people and events, making these seemingly mundane moments easily recognizable, even to those who do not own dogs. Rather than relying on dramatic events, the film finds emotional meaning in small encounters, gestures and details that we might otherwise overlook.
At its heart, DOG OWNERS explores isolation, the search for true connection, companionship and loss. These experiences include the loss of friendships, relationships and dogs, emphasizing our intrinsic need for connection. Yet despite its subject matter, the film remains full of light and warmth. Its intended emotional impact is not simply melancholy, but recognition and tenderness—encouraging the audience to see something of themselves in these ordinary moments.
By bringing together seemingly separate lives and finding unexpected beauty in everyday details, the film offers a meaningful social and psychological perspective on loneliness and our need to feel connected, while leaving space for the audience to form their own conclusions rather than providing simple answers or judgments.
Biography
Uljana Kim graduated from the Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (VGIK) in 1993 and is a film critic by education.
Profile
Studio Uljana Kim is a Vilnius-based production company founded in 1997 by producer Uljana Kim.
It is one of the leading companies in the Baltic countries producing art-house feature films and creative documentaries. Since its foundation the company has (co-)produced 26 feature films and 13 documentaries.
Most of them were premiered at the esteemed international film festivals and others were successful at the domestic box office. E.g. “You am I” (Un Certain Regards, Cannes 2006),“The Gambler” (New Directors, San Sebastian 2013), “Mariupolis” (Panorama Dokumente, Berlinale 2016), “Motherland” (Flash Forward, Busan 2019), “Songs for a Fox” (POFF 2021), “Mariupolis 2” (Cannes 2022; European Documentary Award at EFA 2022), “5 1/2 Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania” (POFF 2023, Rebels with a Cause, Best Film);“Renovation” (Karlovy Vary, Proxima Competition 2025), “Holy Destructors ” (IDFA, Best Directing / Envision Competition 2025; POFF - Best Baltic Documentary 2025)