The Dogwalker 
| Directed by: | Jacques Thelemaque |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Diane Gaidry, Pamela Gordon |
| Country: | U S A |
| Created: | 2006 |
| Runtime: | 85 min. |
| Member: | Jacques_Thelemaque |
|
Average rating: 4.62 by 21 users
Film Description:
Synopsis
The Los Angeles dogwalking scene provides the backdrop to the story of Ellie Moore (Diane Gaidry), damaged goods on the run from her latest abusive boyfriend and on the verge of transformation. She's helped along in that process by Betsy Wright (Pamela Gordon), a misanthropic dogwalker in need of help with her business and struggling with her own dark past. In Betsy, Ellie finds a dark mirror of herself - a lonely, angry, complex woman whose own troubled past proves disturbingly close to her own. And in the dogs, she finds lost pieces of herself as she fumbles for the leash to her own life - struggling to hold on as it pulls her toward a brighter future.
Forms: Feature
Genres: Alternative, Drama, Microcinema, Independent, Urban
Niches: African American, Gay/Lesbian, Women, Mature/Adult
Screenings & Events
Cinequest Film Festival
Film Festival
Awards: Best First Feature
San Jose, U S A
March 2002
Maryland Film Festival
Film Festival
Baltimore, U S A
May 2002
Los Angeles Film Festival
Film Festival
Los Angeles, U S A
June 2002
Florida Film Festival
Film Festival
Winter Park, Florida, U S A
March 2003
Hong Kong International Film Festival
Film Festival
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
April 2003
Digital Talkies Film Festival
Film Festival
New Delhi, India
May 2003
Waterfront Film Festival
Film Festival
Saugatuck, Michigan, U S A
June 2003
Ashland Independent Film Festival
Film Festival
Awards: Best Cinematography
Ashland, U S A
April 2004
Cast & Crew
Production
David Diaan (Executive Producer), Hilary Six (Producer), Jacques Thelemaque (Director (1st Feature), Producer), Linda Miller (Producer), Thomas Gaidry (Executive Producer)
PerformanceAlan Gelfant (Supporting Actor), Diane Gaidry (Lead Actor), Lisa Jane Persky (Supporting Actor), Lyn Vaus (Supporting Actor), Pamela Gordon (Lead Actor)
MusicChris Wells (Original Music/Composer)
RepresentationJudy Dixon (Publicist)
GREAT REVIEWS FOR "THE DOGWALKER"!!
Aug 28, 2006 03:33PM
We got a bad one, too, from some stringer at the L.A. Times (he's entitled to his opinion, of course - but a thoughtless, and therefore useless, opinion is about all we got from the insensitive hack). But let's focus on the positives, shall we?
We got a bad one, too, from some stringer at the L.A. Times (he's entitled to his opinion, of course - but a thoughtless, and therefore useless, opinion is about all we got from the insensitive hack). But let's focus on the positives, shall we?
"The Dogwalker" Distribution Interview with Jacques and Diane - Part I
Aug 28, 2006 11:52AM
Jacques: What did you think we were going to do with the film prior to our current distribution efforts?
Diane: Before we made the film, I was certain that we would sell it for a gazillion dollars and live happily ever after. But that didn’t happen. We had some lame offers while we were doing the festival circuit and working with Stephen Beer, our erstwhile producer’s rep, and then we were going to do a dvd distribution with Cinema Libre before we realized that Philippe Diaz was a sociopath, so we pulled out of that deal. Ultimately, our options were limited, so we’re really grateful that we have this investment through FA Productions, and are able to essentially self-distribute with the support of our hand-picked, brilliant distribution team.
J: Yes, we always had strong feelings about independent film distribution as a whole, and felt that a lot of smaller films like ours were not treated well by the prevailing indie film distribution film paradigm. It seemed that the options for independent films were limited. Your film could get picked up by a distributor for no money, where they would take the rights across all media, and try to get it out in the world, usually in a half-assed kind of way, where they hoped it would make money through world sales and home video sales and the filmmaker usually saw nothing up front and nothing on the back end. And the other option was to self-distribute which is a LOT of work. And most filmmakers don’t have the resources to do that for themselves.
D: And the thing is, we hope to have other things in our lives at some point besides this goddamns film. But we’re grateful that we have an amazing team of people that we were able to hire with this fund from an investor.
J: Yeah, we were planning to go the traditional route because we didn’t see any other way. And then luckily we met this investor who we set up a deal with for our production company and who very much liked the film, and he provided the funds for us to get the film out into the world. So we were able to test our own theories about what we think works and doesn’t work in independent film distribution.
We’re consulting with Peter Broderick who is advising us on how we can roll our film out. And we’ve put together a team, Elizabeth Stanley, who used to work with the Directors Guild, Elizabeth’s former assistant at the DGA, Michelle Wells, who is co-managing this effort with Elizabeth, an amazing marketing person, Melissa Sweeney, and our friend, Jessica Williamson, who is doing a lot of the research and message board posting.
D: Once we got this awesome distribution team together, we started contacting bookers to help us get the film into theatres. Most of them never returned our calls or e-mails and the ones who did assured us that without name talent or a genre or an award from Sundance, we were wasting our time. But if we were to have the privilege of working with a booker we could plan on paying through the nose for that privilege.
Fortunately we learned about a new program set up by the Landmark Cinemas, called Truly Indie, which tries to help independent filmmakers get their work out into the world. It’s kind of a curated 4-wall deal where they give a special rate to filmmakers who’s films are selected to be a part of this effort. They also help their filmmakers get reduced advertising rates and offer some marketing and publicity support. We’re working with Truly Indie in San Francisco, Berkeley, Denver, Boulder, Chicago, and Minneapolis. And The Dogwalker was also booked at the Rafael in Marin, and the Laemmle’s Music Hall here in L.A. And we’re working with the Dipson theatre chain in Buffalo and 4-walling one of the screens at the Market Arcade downtown. We chose each of these cities because we have friends and supporters in each of them. Except Chicago, where we just felt intuitively that that was a good market for our film.
J: We’ve decided to take sort of a multi-pronged, grass roots approach to our marketing. We’ve built a web site that has some community aspects; blogging, chat rooms, links, various community building elements. And off-line we are also setting up partnerships with various non-profits that work with and for issues that are part of the film: animal rescue, cancer relief (our other lead actress, Pamela Gordon, died of cancer a couple of years ago), domestic violence, and women’s shelters and empowerment. We are setting up a program to donate a percentage of dvd sales to these non-profits who partner with us.
Diane: Before we made the film, I was certain that we would sell it for a gazillion dollars and live happily ever after. But that didn’t happen. We had some lame offers while we were doing the festival circuit and working with Stephen Beer, our erstwhile producer’s rep, and then we were going to do a dvd distribution with Cinema Libre before we realized that Philippe Diaz was a sociopath, so we pulled out of that deal. Ultimately, our options were limited, so we’re really grateful that we have this investment through FA Productions, and are able to essentially self-distribute with the support of our hand-picked, brilliant distribution team.
J: Yes, we always had strong feelings about independent film distribution as a whole, and felt that a lot of smaller films like ours were not treated well by the prevailing indie film distribution film paradigm. It seemed that the options for independent films were limited. Your film could get picked up by a distributor for no money, where they would take the rights across all media, and try to get it out in the world, usually in a half-assed kind of way, where they hoped it would make money through world sales and home video sales and the filmmaker usually saw nothing up front and nothing on the back end. And the other option was to self-distribute which is a LOT of work. And most filmmakers don’t have the resources to do that for themselves.
D: And the thing is, we hope to have other things in our lives at some point besides this goddamns film. But we’re grateful that we have an amazing team of people that we were able to hire with this fund from an investor.
J: Yeah, we were planning to go the traditional route because we didn’t see any other way. And then luckily we met this investor who we set up a deal with for our production company and who very much liked the film, and he provided the funds for us to get the film out into the world. So we were able to test our own theories about what we think works and doesn’t work in independent film distribution.
We’re consulting with Peter Broderick who is advising us on how we can roll our film out. And we’ve put together a team, Elizabeth Stanley, who used to work with the Directors Guild, Elizabeth’s former assistant at the DGA, Michelle Wells, who is co-managing this effort with Elizabeth, an amazing marketing person, Melissa Sweeney, and our friend, Jessica Williamson, who is doing a lot of the research and message board posting.
D: Once we got this awesome distribution team together, we started contacting bookers to help us get the film into theatres. Most of them never returned our calls or e-mails and the ones who did assured us that without name talent or a genre or an award from Sundance, we were wasting our time. But if we were to have the privilege of working with a booker we could plan on paying through the nose for that privilege.
Fortunately we learned about a new program set up by the Landmark Cinemas, called Truly Indie, which tries to help independent filmmakers get their work out into the world. It’s kind of a curated 4-wall deal where they give a special rate to filmmakers who’s films are selected to be a part of this effort. They also help their filmmakers get reduced advertising rates and offer some marketing and publicity support. We’re working with Truly Indie in San Francisco, Berkeley, Denver, Boulder, Chicago, and Minneapolis. And The Dogwalker was also booked at the Rafael in Marin, and the Laemmle’s Music Hall here in L.A. And we’re working with the Dipson theatre chain in Buffalo and 4-walling one of the screens at the Market Arcade downtown. We chose each of these cities because we have friends and supporters in each of them. Except Chicago, where we just felt intuitively that that was a good market for our film.
J: We’ve decided to take sort of a multi-pronged, grass roots approach to our marketing. We’ve built a web site that has some community aspects; blogging, chat rooms, links, various community building elements. And off-line we are also setting up partnerships with various non-profits that work with and for issues that are part of the film: animal rescue, cancer relief (our other lead actress, Pamela Gordon, died of cancer a couple of years ago), domestic violence, and women’s shelters and empowerment. We are setting up a program to donate a percentage of dvd sales to these non-profits who partner with us.
"The Dogwalker" Distribution Interview with Jacques and Diane - Part II
Aug 28, 2006 11:52AM
Part II of the interview
J: So we received the funding to do this distribution towards the end of last year.
D: And at first, Jacques and I thought we could handle a lot more than we actually could. Because we were completely delusional. We had no idea what this effort entailed. We really only had a very general idea of what we were getting ourselves into and didn’t even really know where to start. So we hired Elizabeth who really got the ball rolling.
J: I always tell filmmakers to budget for festivals and distribution. When you’re raising money for the film, raise money for distribution at the same time.
D: That is if your major investors aren’t Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, like ours were.
J: And if you get picked up and don’t need to spend that money, great!
D: We always knew that marketing was key, obviously, to any distribution effort, but again, we had no clue as to how much work this required. The amount of effort and energy and clarity and experience…Our campaign is almost all grass roots. We’re kind of almost pretending that traditional media doesn’t exist but still doing a little bit of print advertising and maybe some cable and progressive am radio ads. But we’re primarily focusing on partnerships and word of mouth.
J: So we asked ourselves, “Who is our target audience? Who does this film speak to and who would be receptive to what the film has to offer?” And then we created a strategy for how to reach that target audience and how to hopefully, eventually get people to organically work on behalf of the film.
D: And we’re still figuring that out.
J: Yeah, it’s an ongoing process. First we thought, who are the taste makers, who are the people who sit at the top of the pyramid and can spread the word to a lot of other people. So we started thinking about organizations for whom the issues the issues in the film might be relevant. And we came up with independent film organizations non-profits that deal with the issues that we mentioned above, in each area where the film is going to screen theatrically.
D: But sometimes it’s been difficult to get the non-profits to respond when we didn’t have a personal introduction, because organizations like these are understandably careful about who they partner with. We’re the same way with Filmmakers Alliance because it’s a reflection on the organization and it’s branding and things that one has to be conscious of, especially when running a non-profit.
And early on in our efforts, at the beginning of the year, we took the pathetic approach of trying to get high profile celebrity types to validate us and give us a supportive quote. And I’m sure that works for some people, but it’s just not in alignment with who we are or the spirit of this film. For the record, I was against this from the beginning, but went along with it thinking “what do I know?” But it ended up being a total waste of time and money.
J: So we wound up sending the screeners to people who work with organizations that had a relationship to the film and who we either knew personally or had a personal introduction to. And we got some responses there and actually got some great quotes that we’re putting up on the site. We’re also doing benefit screenings in two or maybe 3 of the markets that we’ll be in: Arts Fighting Cancer here in L.A., and a consortium of cancer relief and domestic violence relief organizations in Buffalo, including Why Me House, Crisis Services, The Morlock Foundation, and The Mathew Foster Foundation. And we’re still working on trying to possibly set up a benefit screening in Minneapolis. Also, in Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center has programmed an evening in which I will be talking about Filmmakers Alliance and collectivism and filmmaking and showing some FA short films and some clips from The Dogwalker.
D: This event was set up by this wonderful man, Robb Mitchell, who runs a film and video workshop there called Screenlabs, and who has been a guardian angel for The Dogwalker and introduced us to all kinds of helpful and supportive people in Minneapolis.
J: And we also have other levels of partnerships with non-profits in which hopefully they will promote the theatrical and dvd and we will donate a percentage of the dvd sales when the purchaser uses the code for that organization when buying the film.
Also, we had hoped to do more additional screenings at college campuses and micro-cinemas as a means of promoting awareness of the film, but that hasn’t panned out as well as we had hoped because we didn’t have a data base or a road map of who to contact and how that all works. And we gathered a bunch of information and lost it in a server crash and got luke warm responses if any, when we did make contact, so as we got closer to the release, we put that on the back burner and focused our attention on more pressing concerns.
D: We hope to be able to build out that database at some time, because we see it as the way that smaller films will be able to get seen in the future.
J: Also, a key component of our distribution plan is the services provided by a lifestyle marketing company, FLAG Marketing, run by Christi Crowe. FLAG (fight like a girl) has teams in cities across the country and in Canada as well, who put up posters and put out postcards, etc. at locations strategically selected by Christi and the publicity/marketing people for a given film. In our case, along with the usual cafes and stores, we will have our materials at pet supply stores, vets’ offices, dog parks, yoga studios, etc. in each of the markets where our film is playing theatrically.
D: Oh, and speaking of postcards and posters, hire your key art designer as early as possible.
J: The same goes for web designers. Get your web site up and working as early as possible. Our design is a little more complicated than some because we wanted to have a lot of community building components… So that’s where we’re at. This issue goes to print before we open in our first market, the three theatres in the Bay area, so we’ll let you know how the theatrical release goes and how the beginnings of our dvd distribution is going in the January issue.
J: So we received the funding to do this distribution towards the end of last year.
D: And at first, Jacques and I thought we could handle a lot more than we actually could. Because we were completely delusional. We had no idea what this effort entailed. We really only had a very general idea of what we were getting ourselves into and didn’t even really know where to start. So we hired Elizabeth who really got the ball rolling.
J: I always tell filmmakers to budget for festivals and distribution. When you’re raising money for the film, raise money for distribution at the same time.
D: That is if your major investors aren’t Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, like ours were.
J: And if you get picked up and don’t need to spend that money, great!
D: We always knew that marketing was key, obviously, to any distribution effort, but again, we had no clue as to how much work this required. The amount of effort and energy and clarity and experience…Our campaign is almost all grass roots. We’re kind of almost pretending that traditional media doesn’t exist but still doing a little bit of print advertising and maybe some cable and progressive am radio ads. But we’re primarily focusing on partnerships and word of mouth.
J: So we asked ourselves, “Who is our target audience? Who does this film speak to and who would be receptive to what the film has to offer?” And then we created a strategy for how to reach that target audience and how to hopefully, eventually get people to organically work on behalf of the film.
D: And we’re still figuring that out.
J: Yeah, it’s an ongoing process. First we thought, who are the taste makers, who are the people who sit at the top of the pyramid and can spread the word to a lot of other people. So we started thinking about organizations for whom the issues the issues in the film might be relevant. And we came up with independent film organizations non-profits that deal with the issues that we mentioned above, in each area where the film is going to screen theatrically.
D: But sometimes it’s been difficult to get the non-profits to respond when we didn’t have a personal introduction, because organizations like these are understandably careful about who they partner with. We’re the same way with Filmmakers Alliance because it’s a reflection on the organization and it’s branding and things that one has to be conscious of, especially when running a non-profit.
And early on in our efforts, at the beginning of the year, we took the pathetic approach of trying to get high profile celebrity types to validate us and give us a supportive quote. And I’m sure that works for some people, but it’s just not in alignment with who we are or the spirit of this film. For the record, I was against this from the beginning, but went along with it thinking “what do I know?” But it ended up being a total waste of time and money.
J: So we wound up sending the screeners to people who work with organizations that had a relationship to the film and who we either knew personally or had a personal introduction to. And we got some responses there and actually got some great quotes that we’re putting up on the site. We’re also doing benefit screenings in two or maybe 3 of the markets that we’ll be in: Arts Fighting Cancer here in L.A., and a consortium of cancer relief and domestic violence relief organizations in Buffalo, including Why Me House, Crisis Services, The Morlock Foundation, and The Mathew Foster Foundation. And we’re still working on trying to possibly set up a benefit screening in Minneapolis. Also, in Minneapolis, the Walker Art Center has programmed an evening in which I will be talking about Filmmakers Alliance and collectivism and filmmaking and showing some FA short films and some clips from The Dogwalker.
D: This event was set up by this wonderful man, Robb Mitchell, who runs a film and video workshop there called Screenlabs, and who has been a guardian angel for The Dogwalker and introduced us to all kinds of helpful and supportive people in Minneapolis.
J: And we also have other levels of partnerships with non-profits in which hopefully they will promote the theatrical and dvd and we will donate a percentage of the dvd sales when the purchaser uses the code for that organization when buying the film.
Also, we had hoped to do more additional screenings at college campuses and micro-cinemas as a means of promoting awareness of the film, but that hasn’t panned out as well as we had hoped because we didn’t have a data base or a road map of who to contact and how that all works. And we gathered a bunch of information and lost it in a server crash and got luke warm responses if any, when we did make contact, so as we got closer to the release, we put that on the back burner and focused our attention on more pressing concerns.
D: We hope to be able to build out that database at some time, because we see it as the way that smaller films will be able to get seen in the future.
J: Also, a key component of our distribution plan is the services provided by a lifestyle marketing company, FLAG Marketing, run by Christi Crowe. FLAG (fight like a girl) has teams in cities across the country and in Canada as well, who put up posters and put out postcards, etc. at locations strategically selected by Christi and the publicity/marketing people for a given film. In our case, along with the usual cafes and stores, we will have our materials at pet supply stores, vets’ offices, dog parks, yoga studios, etc. in each of the markets where our film is playing theatrically.
D: Oh, and speaking of postcards and posters, hire your key art designer as early as possible.
J: The same goes for web designers. Get your web site up and working as early as possible. Our design is a little more complicated than some because we wanted to have a lot of community building components… So that’s where we’re at. This issue goes to print before we open in our first market, the three theatres in the Bay area, so we’ll let you know how the theatrical release goes and how the beginnings of our dvd distribution is going in the January issue.
Ellie struggling with dogs a
Ellie on plane a2
Dog In Casket a
Ellie walking streets a
Dogwalkers running to hilla
Di at door a
history
Ellie at Dog Funeral a
Betsy sick in bed
Clarice On stairs
Ellie and Betsy at cafe
Diane Gaidry
Jacques at Poster
Ellie and History at pound
Ellie and Betsy Walking
Cover pic
Ellie on plane a2
Dog In Casket a
Ellie walking streets a
Dogwalkers running to hilla
Di at door a
history
Ellie at Dog Funeral a
Betsy sick in bed
Clarice On stairs
Ellie and Betsy at cafe
Diane Gaidry
Jacques at Poster
Ellie and History at pound
Ellie and Betsy Walking
Cover pic
Ratings
Sara
Pamela Gordon was such an engaging character, I loved her voice, I could have listened to her talk for an hour more. And Diane was beautiful and talented as always! Loved the movie, loved the simple and yet powerful story, loved the dogs!
fairfight
The trailer is very well done. It makes me want to see the film next time you screen in LA. Best of luck!
Michaela
I'll try and make it after my 12 hour shooting schedule to watch the Film a second time at the Laemmle's Music Hall in LA at midnight. I want to check out photography, montage and performance of one of the braves filmmakers I know in LA.
filmstorm
In the true spirit of independent filmmaking, writer/director Jacques Thelemaque and his wife/parnter, gifted actress Diane Gaidry, create a sensitive yet powerful film that is reminiscent of Cassavetes and Rowland collaborations in the past.
seanhood
This movie has all the intimacy, authenticity and depth the one hopes for in independent film.
23 Comments about The Dogwalker
Jan 08, 2008 01:55PM
i love this movie.
:))
-Donna
Feb 25, 2007 03:25PM
Whoa! Downright intimidating in it's professionalism and substance. I never cease to be amazed at the quality of films on WAB. Really enjoyed your trailer and learned a lot from your blog. Continued success to you!
Burnley
www.donttalksodumb.com
Oct 07, 2006 03:25AM
Congrats.
Tina
Sep 07, 2006 07:30AM
This is a brave, lucious film that I can watch with my body...it forgoes any temptation to cheaply manipulate the viewer emotionally. Jacques Thelemaque has patiently paid attention to detail and balanced the emotional impact with a heads-above-water storyline, taking the time to suffuse the most hardened film critic with the visual impact, which is where Diane Gaidry and Pamela Gordon shine brilliantly. This kind of directing parallels Ellie's psychological movement in the film into a new world of potential harmony - leading to a truly physically pleasurable film to watch!
Aug 30, 2006 04:02PM
Rarely has a film melded animal brutality, in the form of domestic abuse, with the need for redemption and healing. The Dogwalker is a film that offers both aspects of our nature in a thoughtful way. The film is filled with tiny, fleeting moments of understanding, which all of us could use in the current socio-political climate. Check it out.
Aug 30, 2006 09:24AM
I hear you're having a screening tonight? The profile says August 25th, but if it's August 30th then LET ME KNOW HOW TO GET TICKETS!!!!
Aug 27, 2006 04:19PM
(To further my comment above) In the true spirit of independent filmmaking, writer/director Jacques Thelemaque and his wife/parnter, gifted actress Diane Gaidry, create a sensitive yet powerful film that is reminiscent of Cassavetes and Rowland collaborations in the past. The late Pamela Gordon also gives a stellar performance, as together this team puts a very truthful portrayal, a slice of real life up on the screen. Dogwalker is a touching story about healing old wounds and finding new friendship, love and hope in rebuilding one's life. Thelemaque directs with a mmasters touch, and his style reminds me of the best offerings from John Sayles. The fact that both Thelemaque & Gaidry are co-founders of Filmmakers Alliance in Los Angeles, and that that very community contributed immensely to making the film, sets them apart in the independent world as leaders who put their money where their heart is, and deliver the goods when they themselves are out in the field. To not see this accomplishment of theirs is to doubt the very foundation of independent filmmaking. And if you're a filmmaker, see this film and celebrate in their triumph, so you can be inspired by what's possible and aim high in your own aspirations.
Aug 27, 2006 12:03PM
When I first saw this film I was moved beyond belief. The quality, integrity and emontional life of this film was amazing. Jacques is a brillant writer director and Diane a equally brillant actress who gives a sublte moving performance of this woman. This film takes you on a journey that shows you the tremendous capabilities of the human spirit.
Jeanne Robinson
Aug 27, 2006 01:06AM
Another great performance by Diane Gaidry. And Pamela Gordon what a character.
Aug 27, 2006 12:05AM
Hey, I just wrote something and it disappeared. Anyway, what I basically said was that I went to the movie not expecting much, having read some stuff about it beforehand. But my friend recommended it who is never wrong about movies and he was right again. It blew me away! The director and his wife (the star of the movie) were at the theater and asked people to write stuff about it here if they liked it. I'm not even a filmmaker, but I signed up anyway, so that I could help out and spread the word. It's a great movie! Human and complex and disturbing and profound and affecting...all that. I stole most of that from other reviews, but it's all true! I'm still thinking about it...
Aug 25, 2006 10:13PM
I love this film! It was both touching and funny! The acting was superb! I wish it had a longer run in Los Angeles, so I could bring more friends!
Aug 25, 2006 03:21PM
Just saw the film at an advance screening on Wednesday and read a couple of bad reviews (L.A. Times and L.A. Alternative) today. Frankly I'm astonished. They must've seen a much different film than me and my fellow audience members saw. Everyone I talked to enjoyed the film immensely and I personally found it a rich, complex, subtle and deeply affecting slice of Los Angeles life.
Besides being poorly-written reviews that were superficially dismissive, the level of hostility toward the film in these reviews was very stange. Ignore them, I tell you and GO SEE THIS FILM. Don't be stopped by a couple of men who don't get the subtlty and sensitivity of a film like this. Shocking that anyone would hire them to professionally do reviews. But then, people do eat at McDonald's.....
Aug 25, 2006 11:22AM
Jacques, Your film sounds amazing. Would you consider bringing it to Phoenix, AZ if at all possible? The Phoenix Film Society would be a good contact to get it here. Would love to see it as a writer who is studying film making. Carol
Aug 22, 2006 01:01PM
I highly recommend this film to everyone, you don't even have to be a dog lover to enjoy it! From the writing to the directing to the outstanding performances by Diane Gaidry and the late Pamela Gordon, every bit of this film is filled with an honesty and authenticity that is missing from so many films today. Not to mention the amazing cinematography....this film is definitely worth checking out!
Aug 21, 2006 09:19PM
When I saw this movie, it blew me away. What wonderful performances and great directing. Can't believe the budget this was made for -- it has the look of a much bigger budget. Really heart-warming and captivating. I recommend!
Aug 21, 2006 06:20PM
Jacques Thelemaque directs with a meditative simplistic quality that is hypnotic.
Aug 21, 2006 06:13PM
Aug 21, 2006 03:41PM
This is an amazing film well worth seeing again and again. I did so because many of my favorite historical dogs have cameos in it. :)
There are ample opportunities to see this film now circling round the globe and you should take your first possible to see it.
:)
Aug 21, 2006 09:41AM
I saw this film with a fellow dogwalker. We could tell we were the only ones in the audience because we laughed at all the familiar scenarios with the women and the dogs; the opening of the tailgate of the truck and the loss of control; the regaining of control with a "Get in the truck everyone, NOW!" We were rolling on the floor laughing - how many times have we done that? The film is brilliant, albeit intense and disturbing in parts. I saw parts of myself in each actress, especially the parts that are lonely and reach out to the pups, and the parts that oftimes rather be with animals than people. Thank you for making this film; although I don't have any dogwalker peers quite like these two women, in terms of their complicated backgrounds, I feel you have nailed us all as 'characters' in our own right!
Aug 21, 2006 03:09AM
Nice picture
Aug 19, 2006 11:19AM
I just read your heart felt ...emploring...passionate E-Mail...to see...to know to share...and I stopped everything...and went to see the trailor...this is old time European life ...as done by the old filmakers...letting us in on the pain...the fear...the struggle...TO SURVIVE...the REALITY...that is all around us...always on the edge of every street corner of every city,town,villiage world wide...You can feel the sincerity to tell a story with integrity...compassion...and not having seen the whole film...I imagine ...Hope...and redemption...that we can over come..and we can TRIUMPH...I support your work...would you support mine? go to http://www.thetotalworkshopforacting.com I would love the film makers to know my actors... I have over 40 of my original short films (from a library of over 500) and demo's as well as my Award Winning Film work... I would like you to know about my work as you want us to know yours...this site is worth your time... all I ask is after you have truly experienced it you email me your feedback..and if possible you let the Without a Box Community know there are actors trained to work in a ONE-SHOT ONE-TAKE enviornment for their low-no budget films...I will start to BUILD my world here as well as you have asked...I will spend a serious amount of time and import my work here to be viewed...I won't aplogise for the amount of words I have shared...there was a time that when a man wrote a letter and it was not a note...it was treasured...books are filled with such letters...PLEASE keep speaking your mind...pour your mind ...heart and soul out...you need not apologise for having such GREAT things to say...I am tired of good men as yourself...taking your time to help and inspire people and they say you talk to much...THAT IS INSANE...you keep on speaking...and I will listen...all the Best...I am HAPPY for you and your current work...keep it up...I am finishing two full length features...you may see a trailor on the site... EXECUTION.KILL and TALKING TO STRANGERS....some location footage...
You are a good man...who does great work...and you are Generous to your community...what more could we all ask for? God bless you ...your work...and your family...Sincerely...Michael Savage aka SIRTONY (alumni member of the TONY AWARD HONOREE THE ACTING COMPANY)...
May 31, 2006 10:26AM
This movie has all the intimacy, authenticity and depth you could hope for in an independent film. Jacques Thelemaque is subtle director inspired by masters like John Cassavetes and European filmmakers such as Erick Zonca (Dreamlife of Angels, The (1998)). The movie is both funny and touching... and has lots of cool dogs.... oh, and the human actors are pretty sharp as well.
Jan 21, 2006 09:15AM
Jacques, You should upload productions stills and stuff.. I know you have some good ones.
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