Vermont Film Premiere of UNDERDOG Screens at Town Hall Theater

The Vermont film premiere of Underdog screens at Town Hall Theater on Saturday, November 6. The film, created by Middlebury College alum Tommy Hyde, profiles the curiously optimistic tale of Doug Butler, a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer who risks losing the only home he's ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska. In the era of the pandemic, the resonance of Doug's journey extends to all who have faced down loneliness, isolation and the struggle to make sense of forces beyond control.

The making of this documentary is a journey unto itself. Director, cameraman, and editor Tommy Hyde met Doug while riding his bike down a country road by his dairy farm. Doug introduced Tommy to his cows, his dogs and his dreams, and soon became the subject of a nascent filmmaker. Meticulously captured over the course of a decade, UNDERDOG paints an intimate vérité portrait of Doug Butler as he puts a curiously optimistic twist on the kinds of family farm tragedies that have so marked American rural life.

The film tackles the demands of being a small-scale family farmer - economically, mentally, and emotionally. Behind the charming cocktail of racy anecdotes and repeated jokes is a darker picture than Doug would like to reveal. And yet, when he trains his team of mutts on the family farm with a dream to compete at the world championships in Alaska, his teenage exuberance seems to erase the tired lines on his sixty-five-year-old face.

Underdog is inspiring and moving viewers as it tours the festival circuit across the nation. The Vermont premiere of the film will be followed by a Q&A featuring Doug Butler, Tommy Hyde, and producer and writer Aaron Woolf. The film was co-produced by Kyra Schaefer, in partnership with Mosaic Films.

Tickets $15 at townhalltheater.org or by calling 802.382.9222.

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