This year, the most unusual guests of the Festival program are guide dogs. Five films about our friends who accomplish amazing works with the training they have and make life easier for us are included in the Guide Dogs section.
Pick of the Litter directed by Don Hardy Jnr and Dana Nachman which tells the story of the pups trained to be guide dogs; Buddy directed by Heddy Honigmann dealing with the deep bond between 6 different guide dogs and their owners; Scott & Julia which witnesses the story of Dexter, a puppy who helped 15-year-old Scott who can no longer walk because of an accident in his struggle for independence; Bruno Simões’s short animation Pip, where he tells the difficulties of the dog going to school to learn how to become a guide dog; and a sequel to Bill Plympton's Academy Award-winning Guard Dog, Guide Dog will be in the selection.
Q&A session with Guide Dogs Association
On the Istanbul part of the festival, a Q&A session will be held with the Guide Dogs Association, which aims to improve the mobility of visually impaired individuals and improve their quality of life. Lawyer Nurdeniz Tunçer, the founder and head of the association, will share information with the audience about how the guide dogs are raised and what are the criteria for adopting guide dogs.