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SFFILM Festival

The Dog

Directed by Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren

USA | 100

27 Apr
Sun, Apr 27, 2014 at 9:00 pm PT

Description

It was a bizarre happening: A Brooklyn bank robbery on a hot August afternoon turns into a hostage crisis, with one of the thieves admitting that he did it to pay for his transgender bride’s sex-change operation. Film fans know the story from Sidney Lumet’s gritty 1975 classic Dog Day Afternoon. But there is much more to this ripped-from-the-headlines tale and to John Wojtowicz, the robber whose antics inspired Al Pacino’s Sonny Wortzik character. The Dog employs archival footage and contemporary interviews to separate truth from fiction to get to the heart of Wojtowicz’s story. Combat experience in the Vietnam War radicalized this former Goldwater Republican, while an affair with a fellow soldier clarified his sexual orientation. Upon his return to Stonewall-era New York, he threw himself into the nascent gay rights movement. Decades before gay marriage was a cultural flashpoint, Wojtowicz married Ernest Aron, aka Liz Eden, in a public ceremony. That much is true and so are the bare facts of the robbery, but separating fact and legend with such a slippery character can be tricky. Wojtowicz is disarming, funny and seemingly frank, but also the very definition of an unreliable narrator. While his mother (a pistol), two of his wives and others fill in some of the details, it is Wojotwicz’s voice—whether describing his outrageous sexual exploits or revisiting the scene of the crime—that dominates. Ten years in the making, Alison Berg and Frank Keraudren’s lively documentary captures the essence of Wojotwicz and his times. —Pam Grady

Director Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren

Born in New York City, Allison Berg is an award-winning filmmaker who directs and produces feature-length documentary films and television documentary series.  Allison’s first film, Witches in Exile, focused on women accused of witchcraft and banished to remote villages in Northern Ghana. The film premiered at the 2004 SXSW Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature Film. Berg has received grants from such prestigious foundations as the Soros Documentary Fund, New York State Council of the Arts, Eastman Fund, Wellspring Foundation and Women in Film Foundation.  Witches in Exile has screened at festivals throughout the world and has both international television and educational distribution. Recent television credits include Supervising Producer and Director on documentary series and specials for broadcasters such as Sundance Channel, MTV, Oxygen and A&E.

Born in New York City and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, Frank Keraudren is an award-winning filmmaker with directing and editing credits in both documentary and narrative film.  Frank co-directed and edited The Last Cigarette (New Yorker Films), Who wants to be president? (TLC) and Lust in Las Vegas (FX) with co-director Kevin Rafferty.  He then collaborated with Allison Berg on Witches in Exile (Special Jury Award, SXSW 2004), which he co-produced and edited.  Editing credits include The Drug Years (Cine Eagle Award, IDA Award nomination), I Think I Do (Brian Sloan) and Little Red Riding Hood (David Kaplan).  Frank received an MFA from NYU’ s Graduate Film program.

Trailer

//player.vimeo.com/video/89748434?autoplay=1

Film Details

Language English

Year 2013

Runtime 100

Country USA

Director Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren

Producer Allison Berg, Frank Keraudren

Editor Frank Keraudren

Cinematographer Amanda Micheli, Nim-Rod Bachar, Wolfgang Held, Pete Ginsburg, Axel Baumann