'The Year of the Dog' goes digital

A Montana-made film that had a special early screening in Havre is up for sale online today.

Montana-made independent film “The Year of the Dog” will be releasing digitally today after a successful theater debut last year and overwhelmingly positive reviews.

The film tells the story of Matt, played by Rob Grabow who also produced and co-directed, a socially isolated recovering alcoholic struggling to maintain his sobriety and a talented rescue dog Yup’ik, played by rescued Siberian husky Caleb, and the bond they forged.

The film initially played in theaters in Montana towns including Havre, and after a successful test run was released in 100 theaters across the U.S. where it outperformed expectations and was praised for its authentic portrayal of alcoholism and recovery, including from Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges who called it a skillfully made film about extremely important subjects.

“I imagine we’ll be hearing a lot more from Rob Grabow,” Bridges said in an interview about the film.

For his part, Grabow said, he’s ecstatic that the film has done as well as it has but the response he’s heard from addiction and recovery counselors has been the most powerful for him.

He said at one of the first showings of the film in Livingston he met a counselor who was brought to tears by the film and told him what she thought the impact of it would be, which was overwhelming to him as a director and actor.

“She said she thought this film would save lives,” he said. “... That almost short-circuited my entire system.”

Grabow said that wouldn’t be the last time he heard that, and it’s a testament to every actor in the film who not only brought their skills as performers, but also their experiences as people, which allowed the film to depict complex issues with humanity.

He said when people have struggles like substance abuse or mental health issues society rarely depicts them in their totality as people and when media portrays these issues ineffectively it can cause people pain regardless of the media’s intention.

However, he said, working with so many people who’ve experienced these issues in their own lives, helped him depict aspects of human experience he hadn’t personally known, so everyone on the team is responsible for the film’s success and how affective it has been.

“We were able to work off of each other,” he said.

Grabow said another aspect of the film he’s proud of is that they were able to use it to help local animal rescue facilities.

The film focuses on the bond between the protagonist Matt and his rescue dog Yup’ik, Grabow said, and he donated some of the money each showing made during its 100-location release to local shelters.

He said a lot of shelters are still in a tough spot after so many people were forced to return to work after the worst of the pandemic, having to give up the animals they got during that time.

Grabow said he’s focusing on making the digital release of the film as successful as possible, but he does have another Montana-focused script in the works that he’s excited to continue work on.

If the digital distribution of “The Year of the Dog” goes well, he said, they may also go to one of the streaming services like Netflix but at this point they are mainly focused on making this release as successful as they can.

Grabow said anyone who sees the film is welcome to get in touch with the team to provide feedback, which they are always interested to hear.