Dog Warriors is about South Korean markets that sell dog meat. It explores the dog farms that slaughter the animals in inhumane ways. And yet, director Andrew Abrahams assures viewers the film is not as traumatizing as the description makes it sound. At Deadline’s Contenders Documentary event, Abrahams told Matt Carey how he balanced presenting the subject matter so that viewers would actually stick with the film and learn about the issue.
“On one hand, we want to show the reality,” Abrahams said. “On the other hand, we don’t want to scare people away. One of the principal issues around this film is that people love dogs so much that they don’t want to see them suffering. Even the thought of them suffering is too, it’s almost too much for them. They can see people being killed or other animals, but dogs, it’s way too close to home.”
Abrahams said he did take out some of the goriest scenes he captured. Nevertheless, the subject matter makes it a hard sell.
“We get a lot of people who are afraid to see the film, and we hear that a lot,” Abrahams said. “We’ve heard that from distributors, even — that they’re afraid that people will be afraid to see the film. I call it ‘the must-see film you thought you couldn’t watch,’ that it’s something that you’re afraid of watching, but it’s not that difficult to get through.”
Your mileage may vary, however.
“I did see it at a film festival recently,” Abrahams said. “Somebody walked out of the film at one particularly more difficult section.”
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Janette Warren alerted Abrahams to the practice. He wanted to make a film to make viewers aware about it, but did not just want to make “an issue film.” A group of combat veterans aiming to save as many dogs as possible proved a way in.
“I don’t wanna make advocacy films,” Abrahams said. “I like that a film is nuanced. I want the viewer to come away to make their own decisions. I want them to struggle with the complexities of an issue. As much as it’s sort of clear where my sympathies lie, my sympathies also lie with the dog meat farmers. This has been their trade for their whole life. They don’t know anything different. So it will affect their livelihoods. I have sympathy for that. It’s not black and white.”
As Dog Warriors is released into the world following its premiere at the 2024 Raindance Film Festival, things are changing in South Korea. Independent of the film’s subjects, the government has banned the sale and consumption of dog meat, which will go into effect in 2027.
“There’s a lot of pushback from the Dog Meat Association,” Abrahams said. “They’re threatening to cause all sorts of mayhem if that law goes through. But it did pass. It didn’t happen because of our veterans, although we’d like to think they played a part, that all the people came together to make that change happen.”
Check back Tuesday for the panel video.
