Up in Shamattawa, Manitoba, Pete Scriver’s family is going to the dogs. Pete has 14 mutts, or some number in that ballpark, as Endless Cookie sees his half-brother Seth jet up north to collect his stories. Among the many yarns explored in Endless Cookie is that the branch of the family tree accounting for Pete’s many pooches.
In a new clip from Endless Cookie, which opens in theatres June 13, Pete’s daughter Simone introduces the family dogs to her uncle Pete. The litter includes Boris, Cheech, Chong, Langford, Sheldon, Ugly, Nutty, along with a few other pooches she can’t quite remember. The canine companions highlight the offbeat animation style of Endless Cookie as Simone’s dogs range from various shades of blue to tabby cat orange, while their wonky noses illustrate Scriver’s sense of humour in bringing the family stories to life. And yes, Ugly sure lives up to his name!
The aside about Pete’s dogs is one of several rabbit holes through which Endless Cookie explores the playful nature of storytelling. Directed by Seth and Pete Scriver, the film offers a surreal, inventive, and totally whacked-out odyssey through the creative process of bringing personal narratives to screen for all to enjoy.
The animated yarn about the two half-brothers–one Indigenous, one white–premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Back at the festival, POV spoke with the Scriver brothers about their zany and personal film: “Pete had a beautiful thing he said, that it’s like dinner table stories that you don’t usually tell anyone,” said Seth. “But we recorded them and made an animation.” Endless Cookie had its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs where it won the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature and recently opened imagineNATIVE before its theatrical rollout. In our review of Endless Cookie, POV said, “This film illustrates the pleasure to be found in nostalgia and the importance of passing down stories by generations.” Endless Cookie opens in theatres June 13.
