PRESS RELEASE

ILLUMINATE and Sedona International Film Festival Present Laurie Anderson's HEART OF A DOG

Sedona, Arizona – December 3, 2015 – It is rare that a film finds an audience among dog-lovers, Buddhists and Laurie Anderson groupies.

HEART OF A DOG, a film by Laurie Anderson is presented by Sedona International Film Festival in partnership with ILLUMINATE at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, 2030 W State Route 89A, Ste A-3 Sedona, Arizona on December 11-17, 2015.

"Hello, little bonehead. I'll love you forever." So begins HEART OF A DOG, creative pioneer Laurie Anderson's wry, wondrous and unforgettable cinematic journey through love, death and language.

Centering on Anderson's beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, HEART OF A DOG is a personal essay that weaves together childhood memories, video diaries, philosophical musings on data collection, surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, and heartfelt tributes to the artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who inspire her.

"A dog is at the heart of this film," writes Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal, "but there's room for all manner of extraordinary insights about finding love and giving love, being canine and being human.

Fusing her own witty, inquisitive narration with original violin compositions, hand-drawn animation, 8mm home movies and artwork culled from exhibitions past and present, Anderson creates a hypnotic, collage-like visual language out of the raw materials of her life and art, examining how stories are constructed and told — and how we use them to make sense of our lives.

Throughout HEART OF A DOG there are quotes, images and stories from other writers and artists, including Anderson's late friend the sculptor Gordon Matta-Clark, the philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Søren Kierkegaard, and author David Foster Wallace, whose evocative line "Every love story is a ghost story" was an initial working title for the film. Anderson's late husband Lou Reed — to whom she dedicates HEART OF A DOG — provides a coda to the film with his song "Turning Time Around," which plays over the closing credits.

"A ticket to this film will give you much to chew on, and not just if you're a dog." - National Post

Check the Sedona International Film Festival website www.sedonafilmfestival.org for show times and tickets.

ILLUMINATE, the world's premier film festival for conscious cinema, will host its annual festival June 1-5, 2016.

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