COYOTE shows a tragic coyote, who loses his family during an attack by wolves.
Tormented by fear, anger, and grief, he finds the support of a demon in the desert. The demon opens up a parallel world in which the coyote has a second chance to avenge his family. However, the coyote represses the past and gets haunted by delusions. He can’t stand the emotional strain any longer, the evil takes more and more possession of him until the coyote viciously attacks the wolves in a violent rage. The demon gets what he wants and the coyote returns to his world. In thoughts with his family, the coyote strides alone trough the desert and will, from now on, carry a shadow of the demon with him at nighttime.
The film explores the turmoil of human emotions, which occur after a tragic loss, and deals with their processing. Topics such as feelings of guilt, delusions, repression, fear, but also the confrontation, the letting go and the processing of experiences play a central role in this. When I see what the coyote has to go through, I’m not surprised that he’s going crazy.
I’m interested in the inner processes which take place in overburdened persons. Wherein or how does the affected person find a way out of the problem? Sometimes you go wrong and it seems that breaking out is the only solution to the turmoil of human emotions.
This situation can affect us all and this is also the story. I do not want to glorify the violence in the film and present it as a solution to problems. On the contrary, I want to show that violence – no matter what reasons it arises and is applied – never goes without consequences and does not offer salvation with a happy ending.
Therefore, at the end of my story there is not a clean hero, but a character who was overwhelmed by the violence and the greed for wild justice and not finding any satisfaction. The theme of COYOTE is serious and heavy, but the movie does not kill the audience with it. Thanks to the fantastic worlds and the cartoonesque irony, the movie is perceived as a cool and laid-back entertainment. COYOTE is a beautiful tragedy with a macabre picture joke.
