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This last year, our world has been facing incredibly difficult times, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and important social and political issues. COVID-19 lockdowns have hindered our collective ability to experience film the way it was intended, in a cinema, shoulder to shoulder with other filmgoers and cinephiles. We have lost the ability to take our seats and let the experience that is cinema wash over us. There has been no more excitement when the lights dim, signaling the start of the show. There have been no more concessions enjoyed or horrible moments where you must shush the people sitting

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There are two sides to every film, the artistic and the commercial. The artistic side consisting of the directors, writers, cinematographers and so on, while the commercial consists of the producers and the studio, anyone involved with the money. Typically, these two sides of the film should work in tandem to create the best possible film for both parties, an artistic film, one that spreads the message of the ones who made it, and a profitable film, for those who paid for it all to happen. This is typically how it is done, and for the most part, it works.

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Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner are a part of our Award-Winning Animation series curated by the experts at FACETS Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF). Films in the series are also available for virtual Field Trips. Check out our Field Trips page for more info. Animated films are longstanding staples in family-friendly entertainment, and with recent additions to the canon like Isle of Dogs, My Life as a Zucchini and the recent Pixar hit, Soul, animated films have become more mature and have begun to tackle content that is not only beneficial to kids, but teens and adults alike. In addition to the recent surge

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Elizabeth Lo’s “strangely beautiful” (Screen International) exploration of Istanbul’s street dog population, Stray, opens Friday, March 12 at FACETS Virtual Cinema. In anticipation of the film’s release, we’ve curated a list of arthouse canine flicks that are shaping the future of the genre as we know it. People really love dogs, that’s just how it is, how it’s always been, and how it will remain. Taking a look back through our shared cinematic history, this seemingly universal appreciation for canines has been a mainstay. Often a staple of the “family movie night” category, films like Lassie, Balto, Old Yeller, Homeward Bound,