Go behind the scenes of the stirring film, Dogs on the Inside—a documentary presenting a most unique story of rehabilitation, while revealing the generosity of the human spirit in the unlikeliest of places.
Co-directed by Brean Cunningham and Douglas Seirup, this award-winning documentary tells the emotional story of the strong bonds that are formed between inmates of a correctional facility and the rescued stray dogs they help train to prepare them for potential adoption.
With the number of abandoned dogs overwhelming shelters in the Southern United States, a program was created by the nonprofit organization Don’t Throw Us Away to rescue stray, abused and abandoned dogs from kill shelters and have them undergo an 8–10 week program of obedience training by select inmates at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner, Massachusetts.
The aim of the program, as the film powerfully shows, is to allow inmates and dogs to work together on a second chance of building a better life. By bringing the dogs into prisons, hardened inmates are reminded of their own humanity and capacity for caring. Intimate interviews with the prisoners reveal how the companionship of their dogs raised their own confidence in their abilities to affect positive change. The long-term success of the program, for both the adopted dogs and the inmates who re-enter society, is nothing short of remarkable.
Dogs on the Inside won the Viola M. Marshall Audience Choice Award, Rhode Island International Film Festival as well as earning the Best Feature Documentary at the Rockport Film Festival.
Brean Cunningham is a documentary filmmaker and co-director of Dogs on the Inside. He was also a cinematographer on Crystal Lake Memories, a behind-the-scenes documentary anthology about the making of the Friday the 13th films.
Douglas Seirup is co-director and editor of Dogs on the Inside. Doug discovered his passion for making documentaries when he co-founded Expect Miracles Productions. His experience includes working as a production manager on commercials and in the editing department for the film Righteous Kill.
Welcome to the Scientology Network Documentary Showcase
Fundamental to Scientology is a humanitarian mission of extraordinary scope, now extending to some 200 nations. Included therein are programs for human rights, human decency, literacy, morality, drug prevention and disaster relief.
For this reason, the Scientology Network provides a platform for Independent filmmakers who embrace a vision of building a better world.
