Dog Film Festival Announces Film Program Details

Los Angeles Festival to Celebrate its Love for Dogs Through Film

While cats have taken over the internet, it’s the dogs that will be taking over the city of Los Angeles on Sunday, June 5 at LA’s first Dog Film Festival™. Happening at the Crest Theater in Westwood, the Dog Film Festival™ will feature two approximately 90-minute screenings of completely different canine-themed programs. The best part?  Dogs are invited to join their humans inside the beautiful theater!
 
Each screening is composed of animated, documentary, and live-action shorts, submitted by dog-loving filmmakers from around the world, illuminating the remarkable human-canine bond.
 
The 1:30 PM screening features a medley of over 10 lighthearted, animated and narrative shorts, perfect for families and children who love dogs. Some of the fun and uplifting shorts featured in this first screening include:

• The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold: Renowned photographer William Wegman’s 30-minute film, starring four of his own Weimaraners in costume.
• The Lewis Lectures: Merrill Markoe’s animated and hilarious depiction of what dogs are thinking and doing when their humans leave the house.
• Beta: Jon Lefkovitz’s delightful tale about a couple who adopts a dog and try to answer the many questions we’ve all wondered about dogs.
• Useful Dog Tricks: Heather Brook’s inspirational short about the myriad of ways a dog can help around the house.
• SURFice: Director Judy Fridono’s video, seen over 4 million times online, depicts a dog’s early development to become a service dog – but how instead, the dog had a career change and became a surfer – a SURFice dog – to raise money for charitable causes.
• Looking for Love: Featuring a Black Lab named Helen, Director Blaire Dobieski’s tale outlines the ups, downs and fun surprises that come along with finding love online.
• Rewind: Razor Jane’s music video with a rollicking plot that will have the audience tapping their feet (and paws!) to a catchy tune.

The second screening, beginning at 4:00 PM, features a more sophisticated line-up that includes over a dozen short documentaries, narratives and subtitled narrative films.  Films in this screening include:

• New York – Life on a Leash:  Made in the 1970’s, this witty and poignant documentary follows a dog walker as he picks up more than 20 dogs from their city apartments and takes them to play in the park.
• Second Chances: A PBS film by Director Steven Latham about shelter dogs who are paired with incarcerated women, who train them to become service dogs and how this gives the dogs a sense of purpose, and the women redemption.  
• La Vie D’un Chien:  Director John Harden made this amazing sci-fi film which he describes as: “Paris, 1962: a lonely scientist devises a formula that transforms him into a dog. It’s only when he changes back to a human that his troubles begin.”
• Valentina: Spanish directors Crespo and Romera created this wry little tale of an estranged couple and their pug, Valentina, who brings them back together. (In Spanish, sub-titled)
• Biscuit/Return to Sender:  Reel Rock films and director Jaime Bogardy documented the most athletic little dog: Biscuit the Jack Russell Terrier, who climbs sheer cliffs and then teachers her puppy to do the same.
• Myra & Prince:  This uplifting film is directed by Christine Kim, a Social worker for homeless people, especially those with dogs.  It is about Myra, a gorgeous Vegas performer, who became homeless and remained that way because no shelter would allow her in with her dog Prince, until she found the PATH shelter in Los Angeles where the Petco Foundation had installed an adjoining facility for the pets of the residents. 

On Saturday, June 4, VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital is kicking off the Dog Film Festival™ with an outdoor Afternoon Tea Pooch Party. In addition to sandwiches, pastries and bakery treats, the Pooch Party will host on-site dog adoptions with the Lange Foundation.  Melissa Rivers, as the honorary hostess for the Dog Film Festival™, will be attending and the event will also feature fun contests with prizes, meet and greets with celebrity dogs and deluxe sWag bag. Dogs welcome!

 
The Dog Film Festival™ is presented by the Petco Foundation. Tickets for the Dog Film Festival™ are $20 per screening and can be purchased online. There will be two screenings on June 5 at 1:30 PM and 4:00 PM at the Crest Theater (1262 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles 90024). Tickets to the Pooch Party are $150 and it will take place from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital (1900 South Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles 90024). Fifty percent of every film festival and Pooch Party ticket will benefit the Lange Foundation and Downtown Dog Rescue. For more information, please visit www.dogfilmfestival.com.
 
About the Dog Film Festival
In 2014, the first Dog Film Festival™ grew out of Tracie Hotchner’s desire, as a pet wellness advocate, to expand her Radio Pet Lady Network’s outreach to educate the public about adoption, pet wellness issues and philosophical aspects of pets in our lives. The festival is a unique way of honoring dogs as true family members by bringing together like-minded people to experience and celebrate the remarkable human-canine bond. The Dog Film Festival™ shares proceeds from its ticket sales with local shelters and rescue partners wherever it travels. 

About Petco Foundation
The Petco Foundation believes every animal deserves to live its best life. Since 1999, the Petco Foundation has invested more than $145 million in lifesaving animal welfare work to make that happen. With its animal welfare partners, the Petco Foundation inspires and empowers communities to make a difference by investing in adoption and medical care programs, spay/neuter services, pet cancer research, service and therapy animals, and numerous other lifesaving initiatives. The Petco Foundation partners with Petco stores and animal welfare organizations across the country to increase pet adoptions and has helped more than 4.5 million pets find new loving families. Visit petcofoundation.org to learn how to get involved. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or by using the hashtag #PetcoFoundation.

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