''The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova'' is a Canadian comedy-drama film, directed by

Zack Bernbaum Zack Bernbaum is a Canadian film director from Toronto, Ontario.Julie Crawford, "Filmmaker draws on sibling rivalry for storyline". ''North Shore News'', November 23, 2018. A graduate of the film studies program at Ryerson University, he founded h ...

and released in 2018.Julie Crawford, "Filmmaker draws on sibling rivalry for storyline". ''

North Shore News Glacier Media is a Canadian business information and media products company. It provides news, market information and sector-specific data within North America and internationally. Glacier is headquartered in Vancouver. Its primary operations a ...

'', November 23, 2018. The film stars Katherine Fogler and Douglas Nyback as Sarah and Aaron Cotler, Jewish Canadian siblings who are travelling together to their grandmother's hometown of Dąbrowa Górnicza,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, to fulfill her dying wish of being reunited with the cremated remains of her dead childhood dog.Amy Longsdorf
"'El Camino' brings 'Breaking Bad' to new levels"
''

Courier-Post The ''Courier-Post'' is a morning daily newspaper that serves South Jersey in the Delaware Valley. It is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and serves most of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties. The paper has 30,313 daily paid subscriber ...

'', October 25, 2020. The cast also includes Doroftei Anis, Silva Helena Schmidt, Stefan Vizireanu, Adrian Matioc, Marius Stanescu, Dana Talos, Alexandra Murarus, Boris Melinti, Pali Vecsei, Vlad Robas, Ciprian Scurtea, Valentin Spaeth, Liviu Vlad and Alina Lipovetchi.

Production

Bernbaum acknowledged that the film was inspired by aspects of his own real family life, including drawing from his own relationship with his sister, choosing Dąbrowa Górnicza as the setting because that was his own grandmother's real hometown, and basing its title on his grandmother once saying that his sister's dog was dancing when it jumped up and down excitedly at a family gathering, but stated that the film was not meant to be understood as autobiographical. Despite being set in Poland, the film was shot principally in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, as coproducer and cinematographer Stephen Chandler Whitehead had established professional connections there from prior work.Andres Guzman
"A (Socially Distanced) Conversation with Zack Bernbaum"
''The Underscene'', September 28, 2020.

Distribution

The film premiered on October 27, 2018, at the

Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the ...

, and had its Canadian premiere in the

Borsos Competition The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival. Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried competition presents six awards annually to honour films, actors, screenpl ...

program at the 2018 Whistler Film Festival.

Critical response

Amy Longsdorf of the ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' syndication service wrote that "it takes a while for the picture to get going as filmmaker Zach Bernbaum struggles to get the sad/funny balance just right. But once Sarah and Aaron begin dissecting their complicated relationship, 'Dancing Dogs' finds its groove, allowing audiences to eavesdrop on the secret places in the characters' lives."

Awards

It was screened at the 2019

Canadian Film Festival The Canadian Film Festival, formerly known as the Canadian Filmmakers Festival, is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario. Showcasing a program of Canadian independent films, it is held in March of each year and usually runs for five days. ...

, where the film won the award for Best Feature Film and Bernbaum won for Best Director.Jordan Pinto
"The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova wins best feature at CFF"
''

Playback Playback or Play Back may refer to: Film * ''Playback'' (1962 film), a British film in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' series * ''Playback'', a 1996 film starring Shannon Whirry * ''Playback'' (2012 film), an American horror film by Michael A. N ...

'', March 25, 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dancing Dogs of Dombrova, The 2018 films 2018 comedy-drama films English-language Canadian films Canadian comedy-drama films 2010s Canadian films Films shot in Romania Films set in Poland Films set in Silesian Voivodeship Polish-language films Jewish Canadian films Films directed by Zack Bernbaum