"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals" - Immanuel Kant

Our vision is to produce a beautiful and moving short film about finding love and acceptance for who you are, even if you’re a dog with deformed legs. This is a warm hearted, universal story that we hope to share with the world.

FOSTER DOG

One dog's journey to find love, acceptance and a forever home is thwarted by his congenital disability.

This fictional short film about a young, disabled dog who is forced to overcome his insecurities, with the help of his older, wiser foster brother, in order to become more adoptable is told through the eyes of dogs.

The idea for the short was “fostered” from a love of animals and a desire to help with overpopulation and the millions of unwarranted deaths in kill shelters.

Finnigan is a disabled dog who portrays our main character, Henry, and like his character, he had to win over hearts at the shelter to avoid the gas chamber and find his forever home, now he's giving back to his peeps. 

***UPDATE***

We have been able to shoot some footage for the short with the funds we've raised thus far. However, we still have more to go and also have the hurdle of post production. 

We still greatly need your support to finish the film in time and enter it into the Fall Film Festival Circuit. 

Below is a teaser of some of the footage captured for the short film. 

Risks and Challenges

As with any fund raising project, the challenge of attaining the desired goal is spreading the word of the cause or project in the appropriate amount of time. 

What are the risks of not reaching the Indiegogo goal? An extra 5% will be deducted from the contributions. However, we will continue to raise money after the Indiegogo deadline if needed.

We are already planning additional fund raising events to help us reach our goal to finish the film. 

Also, there are some people who chose not to donate via Indiegogo due to lack of internet access, technological challenges or other varied reasons and have opted to send a check instead. An account has been set up for anyone preferring to donate via check or money order instead. 

What We Need & What You Get

By contributing, you can help us seriously make an impact not only in the lives of the animals, but also in the lives of all the people who volunteer for the grass roots rescue groups and foster programs.

We have a great team assembled and ready to take action! It takes a village to raise a child and sometimes it takes a community to make a film. Join our community and be apart of creating this heart warming tale that we intend to share with the world!

Below is a breakdown of our budget. Please help us with a piece of the pie.

By throwing us a bone with your support, we'll give you some Foster Dog mementos.

(See sidebar)

Qualifications

Our team is uniquely comprised of NYC professionals who have not only been in the industry for years, but also are animal lovers at heart. 

Lisa Alonso Vear
Writer/Director/Producer

Lisa moved to NYC more than 7 years ago and has since worked on 30 plus feature films, corporate videos and short films. Her own short film, Layla's Millstone, was accepted into the Short Film Corner at the 2010 Cannes Festival. Her passion for working with animals was the inspiration behind Foster Dog. 

Laurie Rud
Producer

Laurie lived in both LA and London but chose to pursue her film career in New York City. Laurie has produced a variety of her own short films, a feature and currently has a feature in development. Aside from her varied NYC productions, for several years Laurie has fostered animals through NYC's Mayor's Alliance and recently adopted her last foster kitty. 

Minos Papas
Director of Photography

Minos is a London born Greek Cypriot filmmaker who has been working in the indie film industry of New York for the past ten years. His first independent feature film, Shutterbug (2009), was released theatrically in 2010 in New York and Los Angeles. Minos' most recent documentary 'A Short Film About Guns' which examines the unregulated arms trade was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival 2013 where it won the Best Online Short audience competition. His second feature film, Behind the Mirror, is currently in post production. 

Jason Booth
Production Supervisor

Jason  has been a NYC fixture on both TV (White Collar, Flight of the Conchords, Naked Brothers Band) and Film (The Wrestler, Duplicity, Cop Out) sets for many years. 

Jason is also a dog lover at heart and he and his wife are currently looking to provide a forever home for some lucky dog.

Christa Artherholt
Editor

Christa is an editor, producer, and tech nerd specializing in all things post production.  One of her first films consisted of her golden retriever, Abby, destroying a Lego town when she was 8.  Since then, Christa has worked on the Academy Award-winning short documentary, Strangers No More, as well as shows for HBO, MTV, NBC, HGTV, and Travel Channel.  Editing credits include: Are You Afraid of the '90s?, One World Trade Center, Meka, and Clean Energy, Clean Conscience.

Kat Scicluna
Animal Wrangler/Animal Massage Therapist

Kat is an actor and entertainer trained in improvisational comedy through the long form program at Upright Citizens Brigade. She has combined her professional training in improv, vocals and dance in a variety of mediums including theater, film, and television. Kat is also a Licensed Canine and Equestrian Sports Massage Therapist trained to work with horses, canines and exotics on-set through wrangling, massage and reiki. 

Kat previously has taken care of the horses as a groomer, wrangler, and an ECSMT in the Cinemax mini-series The Knick. She has generously offered her services to help our dogs feel comfortable on set.

Rebecca Almond
Singer/Songwriter

Rebecca Almond is long time animal lover and enthusiast. She is a tremendously gifted singer and songwriter based in Memphis, TN. Her first album was released in January 2012, and has been described as an alternative country artist with bluesy undertones, and has been compared to a mixture of artists, such as the Cowboy Junkies, Gillian Welch, and Patsy Cline.

Below is a video clip with music from the wonderfully talented, Rebecca Almond. Some of the footage is for the actual short film from a preliminary shoot. 

Impact & Outreach

Aside from creating a heart warming family film, we want to bring awareness to the existence of various organizations that strive to help companion animals, especially those that are less fortunate due to illness, age or disability.

With Henry’s help, we hope to show that animals with disabilities have as much love to give as “normal” pets and can be a great addition to the family. We also want to bring awareness to the foster programs that exist in many cities. Sometimes a foster home for just a few days can make all the difference in the world for a dog or cat.

We hope to affect lives by opening people’s mind to adopting a disabled pet when they wouldn’t have thought of it before or enlighten people to the idea of fostering. We can’t make the impact in the lives of the dogs and cats without your support.

Are we pulling on your heart strings yet? Do you want to help us save all the sweet puppies, kitties, and Tiny Tim’s of the animal world out there? Don’t they deserve love too? Do I have to say it? For every dollar you don’t donate, a kill shelter murders a puppy. And not just any puppy, but a stumpy one, one that could inspire disabled children around the world like Faith, the 2-legged wonder dog, or Finnigan, our lead actor!

Ways to Support Us

The most effective way to support us is by contributing your hard, earned money. However, times are tough for some and there are others means of support that will help us reach our goal with your assistance.

Other ways you can help is by spreading the word about our project. By making this campaign a worthy news item on Facebook and Twitter feeds and any other social media resource you and your friends use. 

Your support, whether by way of funds or word of mouth, means a world of difference not only to myself, but also to my fellow collaborators. We can’t wait to show the world our film and we hope you can join us on our journey! Remember every pledge, no matter how modest, gets us closer to making our vision a reality.

We will keep you up to date throughout the project via Facebook, Twitter and our website, www.fosterdogfilm.com. Please share!

"Some of our greatest treasures we place in museums. Others we take for walks"

We will also be pitching in money of our own because we're willing to put our money where our mouth is but, as The Beatles sang,

"We'll get by with a little help from our FRIENDS!"