Underdogs
Alex Astrella
United States, 2020, 15 min.
In English.
Includes adult language.
Underdogs Final Trailer from Alex Astrella on Vimeo.
At the California Men’s Colony in Central California, a special connection forms between dogs and their inmate handlers who train them to become fully operational service animals.
Director's Statement
Underdogs highlights the way in which the special connection between humans and dogs helps ease the experience of being incarcerated in a state prison. The pride and joy that the inmates have in caring for their pet over the course of the two year training program allows them to identify the various ways in which they were hurting. The work with the dogs turns the pain and hurt into something meaningful.
Category: Documentary.
Sunday, April 24
The Screening Room
12:00pm
Filmmaker in Attendance
More in Documentary
-
Becoming Benjamin Lay
Tony Buba
United States, 2026, 55 min.In the documentary Becoming Benjamin Lay, director Tony Buba and historian Marcus Rediker explore the life and ideas of an unknown radical Quaker... more ›
-
Voyage of the Handala
Jim Koenigsaecker
United States, 2025, 29 min.Voyage of the Handala is an independent documentary film about an international group of peace activists and aid workers sailing from Europe to Gaza to raise... more ›
-
Middle Grounds
Kevin Smokler & Christopher Boone
United States, 2026, 27 min.A documentary short about Bison Coffeehouse, a Northeast Portland hub for coffee, community, and conversation — things that unite us when so much divides... more ›