Last night, I was able to go to the
Annies with a couple of friends from my MFA 3 class at CalArts, and found that a LOT of films are out this year that have a human and a dog character establishing a heart-warming contact with each other...
This film is directed by
Minkyu Lee, and apparently consulted with
Glen Keane?
This was a nominee that didn't win but was in the same category: Best Short Subject.
The Girl and the Fox by Base 14.
And after researching on the latter film, I find a really SIMILAR storyline to mine already published and made into a film... Should I just give up on my thesis now..............?
The Fox and the Child summary:
A young girl of about 10 years lives in a farm house in the Jurassic mountains in eastern France. One day in autumn, when she walks to school through the forest, she observes a hunting fox. Of course, the fox escapes, but the girl yearns to meet the animal again.
She spends most of her free time in the forests trying to find the fox during the following months, but she doesn't meet the fox again until winter comes. During the winter, she follows the fox's tracks far across the fields. Suddenly she compares her hand to the size of the tracks near to those she is following and discovers they are relatively fresh wolf tracks; she is alarmed as a wolf pack begins howling near her. She runs away panicked, falls and hurts her ankle.
The ankle heals very slowly, so that she has to stay at home during the winter reading a book about animals of the forest and foxes.
When spring arrives, the girl is looking for fox holes and waits for a fox. The fox has young babies and moves holes because of her observations; therefore the girl decides to observe the fox from a greater distance.
She finds the fox again and tries to get the animal accustomed to her. She feeds it with meat. Later she can even touch the fox and is led to the new den. Finally, the fox arrives at her house and she lets it inside, wanting to show it her bedroom. But the fox becomes distressed at not being able to find a way out and escapes by jumping through the closed window breaking the glass. The fox is hurt badly, but survives and the girl learns that she cannot keep wild animals as pets at home.
Years later she tells the whole story to her son, as seen at the end of the film.
