Four years after Yiannis Economidis’ Soul Kicking, Yiorgos Lanthimos brings Greece back to Cannes (May 13-24) with his sophomore project Dogtooth [trailer, film focus], set to screen in Un Certain Regard.

Dogtooth could be called a cut-off character drama, as it revolves around a family of five that lives in a secluded country house, their only contact with the outside world a female security officer from a nearby factory, whom the father brings to visit every time his son’s sexual urges need soothing.
As the kids are home-schooled and home-entertained, they grow up thinking that airplanes flying over the estate are just toys and zombies are those little yellow flowers that grow in the back yard. However, the family’s bliss is short-circuited when the security officer offers the older sister a toy and asks for something in return.

The cryptic plot is matched by the filmmaker’s preference to not comment on the story and the twists it seems to offer, at least not before it has been screened for the public.

Produced by Boo Productions, Dogtooth is the advertising-specialized company’s first foray into feature films, a risk they decided to take based on the merit that it was Lanthimos’ new film, according to producer Giorgos Tsourianis.

Lanthimos’ previous project, Kinetta, an experimental character drama heavy on physical performances, premiered in the Berlinale Forum before travelling to the Toronto Film Festival, which Tsourianis hopes to visit again with Dogtooth.

“We are thrilled to have been accepted at Cannes”, said Tsourianis, noting that “the film has raised interest from abroad and we hope the same will happen in Greece”, a market that has lately become notoriously difficult for promoting arthouse projects.