After recent patriotic blockbusters such as “My People, My Country” (2019) and “The Eight Hundred” (2020), director Guan Hu is back to his “sixth generation” roots, with a film that might not be low budget, but it has a big indie heart. “Black Dog” bagged the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in May of this year, and its lead canine, Xiao Xin, a Jack Russell-greyhound cross, received the Grand Jury Prize at the Palm Dog Award.

Black Dog will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on August 30 by Trinity Cine Asia

It's the summer of 2008 and the Beijing Olympics are about to kick off. On a dusty road in the outskirts of China's Gobi Desert, a rickety minibus is heading towards its destination when a pack of feral dogs appears on the street in front of it and causes the bus to tip over.