You can now stream Block Dog for free on CBC Gem! (Canada only)
Click the image below (you may need to scroll down to the bottom of the page)
Tree Planter Dog Documentary BLOCK DOG Premiered on CBC Gem April 19, 2024
The 44-minute CBC Absolutely Canadian feature follows a crew of loyal dogs in a remote BC tree planting camp.
The documentary, from tree planting cult doc One Million Trees director Everett Bumstead, follows the daily lives of eight loyal but mischievous dogs in a remote tree planting camp in Quesnel, British Columbia. Filmed during the sweltering summertime, the 44 minute doc chronicles the highs and lows of forestry industry practices through canine eyes. Visually, the film pushes the human world to the periphery: Dogs beg for scraps of camp food or snooze in the shade while tree planters work in the background. But throughout, the dogs (and the audience) overhear snippets of conversation about the internal politics of the camp and the environmental realities of the forest industry in BC.
At the heart of it all is Olive, a twelve-year-old skiborder mix who acts as the matriarch of the camp. Small and a little grumpy, Olive is an unexpected force who saved her owner from a harrowing bear attack. She wanders through camp, is adored by the whole crew, and serves as a symbol of the unbreakable bond between block dogs and their people.
Block Dog is a charming experience filled with canine misadventures that will delight the whole family. But though telling moments of tension and suspence, the current context of the tree planting industry is revealed: oppressive heat takes a toll on the crew, a few planters quit halfway through, and partiers keep the rest up all night.
The film comes from the same crew as One Million Trees (2020), a culture-defining film about what it means to be a tree planters, and Forest for the Fires (2024), a music-driven forestry opus that challenges contemporary forestry practices. Block Dog was co produced by CBC with the participation of Creative BC and the Canada Media Fund. Block Dog was filmed on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Lhtako Dene Nation.