A Family That Steals Dogs (2020) story, sound and images by John C Kelley

Awards:

Best Sound Design
Ottawa International Animation Festival
.
Best Animation Short Nominee
Raindance Film Festival, London, UK
.
Best 2D/Vector Animation: Independent
Best 2D/Vector Animation: Overall
Florida Animation Fest
.
Golden Hat Award: Best Animated Short
Animattikon Project, Cyprus
.
Vimeo Staff Pick
.
Reel South Award, Reel South on PBS
.
Jury’s Choice Award,
Thomas Edison Film Fest, Hoboken NJ
-
Audience Award for Animated Doc, Melbourne Int’l Animation Fest, AUS 
-
Filmmaker Recognition Award, 
ASIFAC-SOUTH, Atlanta, GA



Screenings:

Les Sommets Du Cinema D’Animation, Special Programming curated by Keltie Duncan, Montreal, Canada
ASIFAC, Atlanta, GA
Animaze Montreal International Animation Film Festival, Canada
San Diego Underground Film Festival, San Diego, CA
Raindance Film Festival, London, UK
Slamdance Film Festival 2021, Park City, UT
GLAS Animation Festival 2021, Berkley, CA
Atlanta Film Festival 2021, Atlanta, GA
Ottawa International Animation Festival, Ottawa, Canada
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Indie Memphis Film Festival, Memphis, TN
New Zealand International Film Festival
Nashville Film Festival, Nashville, TN
Athens International Film and Video Festival, Athens, OH
Festival of Animation Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Melbourne International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Australia
Florida Animation Festival, Tallahassee, FL
RiverRun International Film Festival, Winston-Salem, NC
Detroit International Festival of Animation, Detroit, MI
Athens Animfest, Athens, Greece
DC Independent Film Festival, Washington, D.C.
Cardiff Animation Nights, Cardiff, Wales, UK
The Magnolia Independent Film Festival, Starkville, MS
VOID International Animation Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Animattikon Project 2021, Attikon Cinema, Paphos, Cyprus
Thomas Edison Film Fest Tour,Hoboken, NJ
London International Animation Festival, London, UK
Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival 2020, Baltimore, MD

In the disorienting wake of loss, an artist begins to question his identity and beliefs.  Strange experiences – windows that open themselves, phantom dogs on the highway, and all of the brief dog-lives that chaptered an upbringing in rural Arkansas – frame this exploration of grief, mental illness, and family connection.



“...Pretty much amazing.”
- Film Pulse Podcast


“A Family that Steals Dogs left a deep impression on me...” - Nancy Denney-Phelps, Animation World Network

“A Family that Steals Dogs uses sound to enhance an already visually compelling portrayal of the loneliness of grief and the consequential chaos in the mind. The comforting sounds of fire crackling and rain falling make us feel more isolated while the otherworldly tones are hauntingly soothing, reinforcing the tension between the protagonist’s conflicting thoughts and emotions as we become familiar with the unfamiliar and vice versa.”
- Jury Comment, Ottawa International Animation Festival

“...This is what set A Family That Steals Dogs apart from most animation that I’ve seen this year. The raw nature of Kelley’s dialogue, as well as the animation style. He opted for hand-drawn, and not hand-drawn that is converted to look like traditional animation, the film looks like a first draft of animation, and the film is elevated to another level because of this...”
“...I loved what this film had to say. Kelley is clearly a new voice but his raw talent cannot be denied and should be celebrated”.
- Alexander Reams, Drink In The Movies

“In this intricate and deft animated story, Kelley’s self-recorded voice embodies the hauntings that reveal themselves to him as phantom dogs and barks after the death of his brother.”
- Nick Price, Reel South on PBS

“...A Family That Steals Dogs by John C. Kelley deploys animals as animals to explore a kind of delicate psychopathy at the heart of the collective human cast of the film. It gets harder and harder to know what to trust or believe as the journey descends into what often appears to be dark rabbit holes of the mind and the wobbly memory of the narrator.”
- Malcom Turner, London International Animation Festival


“...A fascinating memoir told in intriguing form, “A Family That Steals Dogs” is heartrending in its formal simplicity that stands in for that most awful of human experiences.”
- Eric Althoff, Alchemical Records

“...Built from a series of sparse animations and a delicate, disorienting sound design, Kelley’s patchwork autobiography raises complex questions of artistry, mental illness and the complexities of family and home.”
- AEON.co