Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Dogs are not welcome at the Chicago stop of the nationally touring Dog Film Festival.
Other than that, the films cover a wide range. There are animated movies and live-action movies, documentaries and fiction, in English and subtitled; the only stipulation was that they be shorts. Hotchner found most of the entries online and then tracked down the filmmakers, many of whom had moved on from filmmaking. “It was really fun,” she says. “It was like looking for coins on the beach with a metal detector. The filmmakers had passion. It shines through. Most of them made their movies with no expectation that anyone would ever see them. When you see a short, you know that was not done for commerce or for glory, but for a passion for the dog.”
