ALESSANDRO MAGANIA
THERE WERE ALWAYS DOGS NEVER KIDS
A documentary film by Alessandro Magania and Max Tannone
Directed, produced, and edited by Alessandro Magania & Max Tannone
Interview photography Pacino Bing
Interview production sound mixer Mike Reilly
Additional photography Alessandro magania & max tannone
Original song "Cats Can't Rewind" by Max Tannone
Colorist TJ Seiler
Post-production facility Subvoyant
Coloring facility Off Hollywood
Distribution Indie Pix Films
As strange and stubborn as New York itself, Alan’s Alley video store had managed to keep up with changing times paradoxically by not changing much at all. Flickering its neon proudly since 1988 on a block of Manhattan’s West Chelsea, this madcap cluster of bizarrely arranged movies, falling down tags and candy machines was equal part archive, conversation salon, and cabinet of wonders, featuring a collection of 40,000 titles and serving a devoted clientele that spanned from movie stars to local prison inmates.
THERE WERE ALWAYS DOGS NEVER KIDS is a 24 minute documentary about New York City's legendary video store Alan's Alley. The movie was shot and initially edited before the store was forced to move out of its original location in 2014, and eventually close down. The movie captures the store and its charismatic owner Alan Sklar in the fall of 2012, as the increasing popularity of streaming media made its very existence a matter of survival. And despite Alan’s Alley subsequent closing - due to soaring real estate prices - THERE WERE ALWAYS DOGS NEVER KIDS is a testament, and ode to the spirit of interaction that still characterizes so many communities in New York City.
Special mention prize, documentary section, Milano MIX Festival 2012.
Review CINEMA ITALIANO -June 2012 (It)
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Directors’ statement
We set out to make the movie purely out of a desire to capture the experience we both had the first time we went inside Alan’s Alley. The soundscape, the piles of VHS boxes, the stuffed chairs, those amazing handmade tags. We weren’t long standing customers - we just both happened to discover the place around the same time, a few months before we decided to make the movie.
In fact we first approached Alan with the idea of making a film of DJ the cat going around the store (to which he agreed without qualms). But as soon as we began spending more time in the store we realized none of the aspects that made it unique to us meant anything without him at the center. Alan had created the perfect outlet for what made him the happiest: sharing his passion for movies. And because of that the store had become a gathering place for a community of people - cinephiles and non - who like him enjoyed film, above all, as a way to connect to others and exchange opinions. By the time we were shooting the documentary the store stood as a celebration of resilience; going there was an act of mistrust in practicality and having what you want when you want it without the intervention of chance and exchange. Everyone knew it wasn’t gonna last long, Alan better than anyone.
When home-video first took to the market a lot of people must have seen it as a threat to the aspect of social interaction and community gathering that movie theatre represented for many (and hopefully that is still part of the discussion around VOD releasing, not just the screen size and quality aspect). Now that the industry is basically extinct we hope our documentary will show an example of how it had in fact come to be shaped by some into a medium of interaction, and maybe vouch for the indelible power of nonconformity.