VIRUSFILM

Logline: Are you lacking evidence but aspiring to excel in solving criminal cases? The system offers a captivating solution: a dog.

Among the law enforcement and judicial methods with very high relevance in the evidentiary proceedings of many ex-communist states, the so-called “scent evidence” is included. Its main protagonist is a dog, which convicts the perpetrator. This method originated in the former GDR and was initially secretly employed by the German police against political dissent. Over the years, it became domesticated as one of the accepted strong evidentiary methods, and its acceptance extended to the law enforcement and judicial practices of democratic states in many Eastern Bloc countries. In the Czech Republic, the result of a “scent evidence” alone is sufficient as evidence to convict a perpetrator, even for the most serious crimes. Within the scientific community, there is a growing, fact-supported resistance against the uncritical use of this method, while possibly hundreds of innocent individuals spend their sentences in prisons…

• SCENT EVIDENCE
• Pachová stopa [CZ],[SK]
• CZ / SK, 2024, 78 min.
• Director: Zuzana Piussi
• Producer: Vít Janeček – D1film (CZ), VIRUSfilm (SK)
• Editor: Sebastián Kučkovský
• Music: Lucia Piussi
• Sound: Jan Richtr
• Apearance as themselves: John Bok, Václav Peričevič, Ludvík Pinc, Pavel Koloděj, Štěpán Urban, Lukáš Dobeš, Dana Kalmanová, Roman Kalman, Jaroslav Celnar, Martin Balhar, Jiřina Balharová, Eduard Balhar, Petr Hampel, David Bartoš, Miloš Zezula, Martin Skalický, Jiří Dufek, Milena Santoriová, Jiří Rulc, David Šimek, Radim Žondra, Šárka Doležálková, Luděk Bartoš, Libor Vávra, Vít Janeček ad.
• Distribution: Atlas Cinema (CZ, 30.1.2025), FILMTOPIA (SK, 6.2.2025)
• In co-operation with: RUR, Salomon Association
• The cut of the film was finished within Dok.Incubator CZ/SK 2024
• Support: Czech Film Fund