D1film

Scent Trail
In production

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 trail” 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 trail” 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…

Image: Scent Trail
  • Scent Trail
  • CZ 2024, 85 min.
  • Concept: Salomon Association and Zuzana Piussi
  • Director and camera: Zuzana Piussi
  • Editor: Sebastián Kučkovský
  • Sound: Jan Richtr
  • Producer: Vít Janeček
  • In close co-operation with Solomon Association Prague
  • INDUSTRY FORUMS
  • Heart of Europe Warshaw 2023
  • Work in Progress Ji.hlava DIFF 2023
  • East Doc Market 2024
  • Dok.Incubator CZ 2024
  • Support: Czech Film Fund