The French epicenter controls Alfredo Castro’s co-production ‘Dog Legs’
The 76e The Berlin Film Festival ends on Sunday, February 22, but new deals are still in the works. Among them is that of France’s Epicenter Films, which has shot ‘Dog Legs’ (‘Patas de perro’), the latest feature from Chile’s Matias Rojas (‘A Place Called Dignity’), starring the inimitable Chilean Alfredo Castro (‘The Count’, ‘The Club’).
It joins production partners from Chile (Tomás Gerlach Mora – A Simple Vista), Colombia (Federico Durán) and Germany (Linus Günther – Klinker).
Led by Daniel Chabannes, Julie Bergeron, Birgit Kemmer and Corentin Sénéchal, Epicentre’s truly international slate includes Colombian Oscar entry ‘A Poet’, for which it acquired French distribution rights ahead of its Cannes premiere last May.
Inspired by the 1965 novel of the same name by Chilean literary giant Carlos Droguett, winner of the 1970 Chilean National Prize for Literature, “Dog Legs” is set in a remote southern Chilean town where Bobi, a young boy born with dog paws, is kept hidden by his family. The status quo changes when Carlos, a loner new to town (played by Castro), decides to help Bobi integrate into society. Instead, he encounters increasing hostility as people view him as a madman and the boy as a monster.
“Castro loves this book. He sees it as a sharp reflection of the current identity crisis affecting today’s youth,” said Durán (“El Paramo,” “Rebellion”), speaking on behalf of his fellow producers and who participated in the film as an individual producer.
Alfredo Castro
Courtesy of Masala Films
“Widely considered one of the most extreme and influential works of 20th-century Chilean literature, it has long been described as strange, hybrid and ‘monstrous’, just like its main character: Bobi, the boy with dog paws,” said Rojas, adding: “The first time I read it, I was deeply moved; I immersed myself in the stream of consciousness that evokes loneliness, the struggle to live with an untreated psychiatric condition, the search to belong and to learn to love the fear of losing what one is.”
“In today’s world – shaped by mass migrations, rising inequality and urgent debates over diversity and human rights – ‘Dog Legs’ resonates with a disturbing relevance. The film reflects on how societies construct symbolic boundaries between the ‘normal’ and the ‘abnormal’ and how these boundaries cause pain, isolation and violence. At its core, the film is concerned with hybridity, liminality and the monstrous as forms of resistance,” he reflected.
About his plans for shooting the feature film, Rojas said: “The camera will follow Bobi in his transition between human and animal, between the intimate and the collective, shaping a film that moves between the contemplative and the visceral.”
The project development process included participation in the Guadalajara Co-Production Meeting; Sitges FanPitch; Cinéma en Développement Toulouse; Venice Production Bridge and Cannes Marché du Film before landing at the EFM Berlinale.
Rojas’ third feature film, produced by A Simple Vista, is in advanced financing stages, with Chilean funds already secured and additional funding from each co-producing country expected in 2026. Location shooting is planned for Valdivia, southern Chile in 2027.
