



film
synopsis

Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become guide dogs for the blind. Cameras follow these pups through an intense two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, these remarkable animals rely on a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high and not every dog can make the cut. Only the best of the best. The pick of the litter.
With deft storytelling skill, directors Dana Nachman and Don Hardy (the two previously co-directed the feature docs The Human Experiment, Witch Hunt, and Love Hate Love) introduce us to a group of unique canine characters along with their human counterparts. Pick of the Litter is a wonderful reminder of the extraordinary relationships we have with our dogs, especially those that we work beside each day.
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past screenings
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Location
Dates
Theater
Website
Los Angeles, CA
Opens Friday, August 31st
Royal Theatre
New York, NY
Opens Friday, August 31st
IFC Center
Encino, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
Town Center 5
Laguna Niguel, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
Rancho Niguel 8 Cinemas
Pasadena, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
Playhouse 7
Portland, OR
Opens Friday, September 7th
Living Room Theaters
Berkeley, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
Shattuck Cinemas
San Jose, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
3Below Theaters and Lounge
San Francisco, CA
Opens Friday, September 7th
Opera Plaza Cinemas
San Rafael, CA
SPECIAL ADVANCE SCREENING ON SEPTEMBER 5th
Opens Friday, September 7th
Smith Rafael Film Center
Ann Arbor, MI
Opens Friday, September 14th
Michigan Theater
Indianapolis, IN
Opens Friday, September 14th
Keystone Art Cinema 7
Kansas City, MO
Opens Friday, September 14th
Tivoli Cinemas
Minneapolis, MN
Opens Friday, September 14th
Uptown Theatre
Cambridge, MA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Kendall Square Cinema
Buffalo, NY
Opens Friday, September 14th
North Park Theatre
Philadelphia, PA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Ritz at the Bourse
Washington, DC
Opens Friday, September 14th
E Street Cinema
Atlanta, GA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Midtown Art Cinemas 8
Austin, TX
Opens Friday, September 14th
Violet Crown Cinemas Austin
Austin, TX
Opens Friday, September 14th
Sky Cinemas Dripping Springs
Glendale, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Laemmle Glendale
Claremont, CA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Claremont 5
San Diego, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Ken Cinema
Palm Desert, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Tristone Cinemas Palm Desert 10
Scottsdale, AZ
Opens Friday, September 14th
Shea 14
Seattle, WA
Opens Friday, September 14th
SIFF Cinema Uptown
Palo Alto, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Aquarius 2
Alameda, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Alameda Stadium 8
Petaluma, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Boulevard 14 Cinemas
Santa Rosa, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Summerfield Cinemas 5
Folsom, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
Palladio 16
Monterey, CA
Opens Friday, September 14th
OSIO Plaza Cinema
Columbus, OH
Opens Friday, September 21st
Gateway Film Center
Grand Rapids, MI
Opens Friday, September 21st
Celebration Cinema Woodland 14
Hanover, MA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Hanover Mall 10
Portsmouth, NH
Opens Friday, September 21st
Music Hall
Rockland, ME
Opens Friday, September 21st
Strand Cinema 2
York, PA
Opens Friday, September 21st
SMALL STAR Art House
Charlottesville, VA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Violet Crown Charlottesville
Winston-Salem, NC
Opens Friday, September 21st
Aperture Cinema
Fort Worth, TX
Opens Friday, September 21st
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Coral Gables, FL
Opens Friday, September 21st
Cosford Cinema
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Opens Friday, September 21st
Gateway 4
Albuquerque, NM
Opens Friday, September 21st
Guild Cinema
Santa Fe, NM
Opens Friday, September 21st
Violet Crown Santa Fe
Santa Fe, NM
Opens Friday, September 21st
CCA Cinematheque
Santa Fe, NM
Opens Friday, September 21st
The Screen
Hollywood, CA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Arena CineLounge – Sunset
Camas, WA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Liberty Theatre
Spokane, WA
Opens Friday, September 21st
Magic Lantern Theatre
Homer, AK
Opens Friday, September 21st
Homer Family Theater
Boise, ID
Opens Friday, September 21st
The Flicks
Anchorage, AK
Opens Friday, September 24th
Bear Tooth Theatre
Chicago, IL
Opens Friday, September 28th
Music Box Theatre
Cleveland Heights, OH
Opens Friday, September 28th
Cedar Lee Theatres
Katy, TX
Opens Friday, September 28th
Alamo Drafthouse LaCenterra
San Antonio, TX
Opens Friday, September 28th
Santikos Bijou Cinema Bistro
El Paso, TX
Opens Friday, September 28th
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Montecillo
Lubbock, TX
Opens Friday, September 28th
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Lubbock
The Villages, FL
Opens Friday, September 28th
Rialto 8
Denver, CO
Opens Friday, September 28th
Chez Artiste
Sedona, AZ
Opens Friday, September 28th
Mary D. Fisher Theatre
Eugene, OR
Opens Friday, September 28th
Bijou Art Cinema
Tacoma, WA
Opens Friday, September 28th
Grand Cinema – Tacoma
Bellingham, WA
Opens Friday, September 28th
PFC’s Limelight Cinema
Wenatchee, WA
Opens Friday, September 28th
Gateway Cinema
Port Townsend, WA
Opens Friday, September 28th
Rose Theatre 3
Modesto, CA
Opens Friday, September 28th
State Theatre of Modesto
Ashland, OR
Opens Friday, September 28th
Varsity Theatre
Salt Lake City, UT
Opens Friday, September 28th
Broadway Centre Cinemas
Tampa, FL
Opens Saturday, September 29th
Tampa Theatre
Boulder, CO
Opens Tuesday, October 2nd
Boedecker Theater – Dairy Center for the Arts
Wilmette, IL
Opens Friday, October 5th
Wilmette Theatres
Waterville, ME
Opens Friday, October 5th
Railroad Square Cinema 3
Pelham, NY
Opens Friday, October 5th
The Picture House
San Luis Obispo, CA
Opens Friday, October 5th
Palm Theatre
Olympia, WA
Opens Friday, October 5th
Capitol Theatre (Olympia Film Society)
Helena, MT
Opens Friday, October 5th
Myrna Loy Center
Hanover, NH
Opens Sunday, October 7th
Hopkins Film Center
Norfolk, VA
Opens Wednesday, October 10th
Naro Expanded Cinema
Pittsfield, MA
Opens Friday, October 12th
Little Cinema / Berkshire Museum
Tallahassee, FL
Opens Friday, October 19th
Tallahassee Film Society @ All Saints Cinema
Delray Beach, FL
Opens Friday, October 19th
Movies of Delray 5
Lake Worth, FL
Opens Friday, October 19th
Movies of Lake Worth
Milwaukee, WI
Opens Saturday, October 20th
Milwaukee Film Festival
Milwaukee, WI
Opens Friday, November 2nd
Oriental Theatre
Fairhope, AL
Saturday, November 10th
Fairhope Film Festival
Toronto, ON
Opens Friday, December 21st
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
past film festival screenings
Location
Dates
Theater
Website
Boulder Film Festival
Saturday, February 24, 2018, 4:30 pm
Sunday, February 25, 2018, 12:00 pm
Sunday, February 25, 2018, 4:30 pm
Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium
Boulder High
eTown Hall
Cinequest
Sat, Mar 3 4:30 PM
Sun, Mar 4 3:45 PM
Fri, Mar 9 7:15 PM
California Theatre, San Jose
Century 20 Redwood City – Screen 2
Hammer Theatre SJ
Omaha Film Festival
Mar 09, 2018 8:15 PM
Village Pointe Cinema
Cleveland International Film Festival
Thursday, April 05, 2018 at 2:35 PM
Friday, April 06, 2018 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 07, 2018 at 9:30 AM
Tower City Cinemas
San Francisco International Film Festival
April 7, 2018 11:30 AM
Victoria Theatre
Phoenix Film Festival
Saturday, April 7 9:00 am
Wednesday, April 11 7:05 pm
American Documentary Film Festival
Apr. 10, 11:00 am
Camelot Theatres, Theatre 2
FREEP Film Festival Detroit
3 p.m. Sat., April 14
Noon Sun., April 15
Emagine Novi
Community Arts Auditorium, Wayne State University
Hawaii International Film Festival
Saturday, April 14, 2018
6:30 PM
Sunday, April 15, 2018
12:30 PM
Dole Cannery C
Dole A
Louisiana International Film Festival
April 22 @ 12:15 pm
Cinemark at Perkins Rowe
The Newport Beach Film Festival
Sunday, April 29th, at 11:45 am
Monday, April 30th, at 3:15 p.m
The Triangle 6
Hot Docs Canadian Documentary Film Festival
Wed, May 2 at 9pm
Fri, May 4 at 1pm
Sun, May 6 at 3:15pm
Doclands
Sun, May 6 12:00 PM
Sun, May 6 4:45 PM
Rafael 1
Rafael 2
Seattle International Film Festival
WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018
4:30pm
MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2018
7pm
Majestic Bay
AFI Docs
Friday, June 15th, 2018, 4:30 pm
Saturday, June 16th, 2018, 8:15 pm
Landmark E Street – Theater 6
AFI Silver – Theater 2
Nantucket Film Festival
Wed, Jun 20, 2018 1:00 PM
Thu, Jun 21, 2018 10:00 AM
Dreamland
Maine International Film Festival
Sunday, July 15, 6:30 pm
Friday, July 20, 3:30 pm
Railroad Square Cinema
Gateway Film Center Festival
Saturday, August 11th
Gateway Film Center
1550 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43201
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Thursday, August 18th
LACMA
Bing Theatre
5905 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Rooftop Films
Thursday, August 23rd 8:00pm
FORT GREENE PARK
Washington Park St, Brooklyn, NY 11205

Dana Nachman
(Director / Writer / Producer)
Dana Nachman is an award-winning filmmaker of both fiction and documentary films. Nachman’s 2018 feature documentary Pick of the Litter was sold within 48 hours of its premiere at the Slamdance festival and will be released later this year by IFC’s Sundance Selects label.
Nachman’s 2015 film “Batkid Begins” was bought and distributed by Warner Bros./New Line Cinema. Previously she wrote, directed and produced the documentaries “Witch Hunt,” which was executive produced by Sean Penn and premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival; “Love Hate Love,” which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival; and “The Human Experiment,” which screened at the Mill Valley and IDFA Film Festivals. She has won a number of awards over the course of her career, including three regional Emmy Awards, The Edward R. Murrow Award, and dozens of Jury and Audience Awards at film festivals.
Nachman’s films have also been seen on various television networks, including MSNBC, The Oprah Winfrey Network and PBS.
In 2017 Nachman was chosen to participate in the American Film Showcase where she traveled as a US envoy with the State Department as a part of this prestigious film diplomacy program.
Born and raised in New York, Nachman graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut with a dual degree in Middle Eastern Studies and International Relations. She went on to earn a Master’s Degree from NYU in Broadcast Journalism.
Nachman is currently on the film festival circuit with three films. In addition to “Pick of the Litter” she is also screening her first two short films. The documentary short “Washed Away” is about a man whose only relief from excruciating chronic pain is to make magnificent sand mandalas that are swept away by the tide hours later. “The Final Show” is Nachman’s first foray into fiction filmmaking and stars Marion Ross who plays a woman who has died at the breakfast table and gets catapulted into The Between where she has to quickly decide which of her loves to take along to eternity. The film has won several audience awards at festivals.
In an effort to showcase strong female protagonists, Nachman is working on a trilogy of romantic comedies. Each short will have a female of a different generation as the lead. Nachman has finished “The Final Show” first which features an elderly woman. In the coming months she will shoot “Hook Up 2.0” and later in 2018 will shoot the third part of the trilogy, which will focus on a middle-aged heroine.

Don Hardy
Director/Producer/
Cinematographer/Editor
Don Hardy is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and storyteller. Don’s new film, Pick of the Litter, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2018 and was purchased by IFC Films/Sundance Selects for theatrical distribution.
Currently, Don is in production on two new feature documentaries: A Band Called Failure about the influential 90’s rock band, Failure and Camp Penn which tells the story of the birth and growth of Sean Penn’s aid organization J/P HRO after a catastrophic earthquake shook Haiti in 2010.
Don’s film, Theory of Obscurity, about the legendary music and art collective known as The Residents, premiered at SXSW in 2015 and was released theatrically by Film Movement in April of 2016.
In addition to his extensive film work, Don also creates high-end brand films for a variety of companies and nonprofits. His work in this realm is as varied as his film work: From Olympic hopefuls to people struggling to survive in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Haiti, Don strives to connect viewers to stories through emotion and humanity. Clients like Adidas, Cisco, LinkedIn, J/P HRO, and Bay Area Music Project choose to work with Don because of his sensitive storytelling approach.
Over the years, he has won numerous awards for his films, photography, and editing including 6 regional Emmys, 3 Edward R. Murrow Awards, 7 Associated Press Awards, the prestigious San Francisco Bay Area Photographer of the Year Award and more than 15 National Press Photographer Association Awards.
Don’s film The Human Experiment was released in theaters by Area 23a and on VOD by FilmBuff in the spring of 2015. Narrated and executive produced by Oscar® winner Sean Penn, the film lifts the veil on the shocking reality that thousands of untested chemicals are in our everyday products, our homes and inside of us.
Don also served as Director of Photography on Batkid Begins, which premiered at Slamdance in early 2015. Batkid Begins was released by Warner Brothers/New Line Cinema in June 2015.
In 2011, Don’s film, Love Hate Love, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film won several film festival awards and had its US broadcast premiere on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2012.
His first film, Witch Hunt, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008 and was broadcast on MSNBC.