''Sled Dogs'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by

Fern Levitt Fern Levitt is a Canadian-born animal activist, documentary producer and Film director, director. Her films focus on human rights, the Holocaust, discrimination against African-Americans in the US, animal welfare, and socially relevant issues. S ...

and released in 2016. The film explores the

Iditarod The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as The Iditarod (), is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at leas ...

, raising allegations of

animal cruelty Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse, animal neglect or animal cruelty, is the infliction of suffering or Injury, harm by humans upon animals, either by omission (neglect) or by commission. More narrowly, it can be the causing of harm ...

among breeders, trainers and kennelers of the event's

sled dogs A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas ...

. However, at least one dog keeper tried to obtain a legal injunction against the film's premiere at the

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

, alleging that Levitt had inaccurately depicted the actual dog care ethics of sled dog handlers, misrepresenting footage of an unethical commercial pet breeder rather than speaking to or filming companies actually involved in the care or training of sled dogs. A sled dog operator also filed a similar complaint with the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

after the film was broadcast on

Documentary Channel A documentary channel is a specialty channel which focuses on broadcasting documentaries. Some documentary channels further specialize by dedicating their television programming to specific types of documentaries or documentaries in a specific ar ...

in 2017, resulting in a report by CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin.

Awards and Nominations

The film received a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nominations at the

6th Canadian Screen Awards The 6th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 11, 2018, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2017.

, for Best Editing in a Documentary (Frank Cassano), Documentary category,

Alliance of Women Film Journalists The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) is a non-profit organization founded in 2006. It is based in New York City and is dedicated to supporting work by and about women in the film industry. The AWFJ is composed of 84 professional female ...

, and won the World Documentary Award at the Whistler Film Festival.Pat Mullen
"Canadian Screen Awards Preview: Picks and Foolish Predictions"
''Cinemablographer'', March 11, 2018.

References

External links

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Frank Cassano - Editor/Screenwriter - Info at Mandy
2016 films 2016 documentary films Canadian documentary films Documentary films about animal rights 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films English-language documentary films {{2010s-Canada-documentary-film-stub