Synopsis

At a building in the midst of mysterious Japanese woods, a delivery of cats and dogs takes place. Some of them just seem to be killing time, others enter the Dream Box.

Director

• 

  Jeroen Van der Stock
  

  Silent Visitors (2012)
  Wild Beast (2008)

  After making a film depicting the transient beauty of abandoned buildings in Japan (Silent Visitors, 2012), I became highly fascinated by yet another lesser-known side of contemporary Japanese society. There lies a hidden world where kitties & cats / puppies & dogs have been banned from family homes and public streets, thereafter picked up by animal welfare centers and brought to generic buildings situated in the midst of mysterious woods. Here, away from their trusted environments, some of these cats and dogs start a process of waiting for the unknown whilst others enter the secretive Dream Box. This phenomenon exists in parallel with the highly contrasting but famous universe of kitty cuteness and puppy adoration that occupies a big piece of Japan’s ubiquitous ‘kawaii culture’ (i.e. the culture of favoring all things cute).
  Dream Box shines a light on another side of this sugarcoated kawaii cake and focuses on a part of (Japanese) society that definitely deserves some more attention for a change.

  It is my ambition with this film to encourage spectators to ponder on how we humans treat our fellow non-human creatures on planet Earth as well as to provoke contemplation on matters such as animal ethics, consumerism, throw-away society, life and death…

Review

It seems to be a mysterious island or a gigantic forest in Japan. A thick mist-somewhat sacred and perhaps even spiritual-is covering and coiling itself around the mountaintop. The film does not tell us where this place is. It rather shows us what is happening in this place, little by little. People in working clothes spray water and cleanse the great and small moving cages. What are they used for? Who are these people? The film gradually lets us know. Once the camera steps into a building in the calm forest, cats and dogs in an array of cages whine as if they are frightened. Those who do not whine are soundless with a vacant look. Someone seems to anesthetize and give first aid to these cats and dogs. When it is about time, one realizes that this is a site of euthanasia, not a common veterinary clinic or a farm and the CCTV screen with black and white scanning lines capturing the interior of the building appear more often. The passing of the cats and dogs are captured in it as well. They collapse against the floor whenever a gas is pumped into the closed cages. The name of those cages is the title of this film, “Dream Box.” Almost none human voices can be heard during the screening. The indifferent, or even merciless building is there while the images of the CCTV and the view of the scenary occasionally intersect. This film does not make fierce comments and instead, objectively mediates on the topic of life and death. [Jung Han-Seok]

Credits

• Director  Jeroen Van der Stock
• Producer  Steven Dhoedt
• Cinematographer  Xavier Van D'huynslager
• Editor  Bram Van Paesschen
• Sound  Boris Debackere

Contribution & World Sales

• Contribution & World Sales  Steven Dhoedt
• Phone  32 2 4509166
• E-Mail  info@visualantics.net