Film-maker Costa Botes describes film festivals as an oasis of good films that haven't a hope of getting a distribution deal.
The Last Dogs of Winter director said the New Zealand International Film Festival, in Masterton until October 31, brings people back to what film-making should be.
"It should be about the value of the film-making, about the emotional connection, about stuff that matters rather than stuff that sells."
Mr Botes' latest documentary tells the story of Brian Ladoon who, in a remote corner of Canada, has spent 40 years trying to save the indigenous Eskimo dog, the Qimmiq.
The Wellington-based director is always on the lookout for a good story and character, so when he bumped into old friend and actor Caleb Ross and heard he had just spent four years working on Mr Ladoon's project, he knew he'd got lucky.
Mr Botes said while there were a few technical hurdles to overcome, the great unknown was how he would work and live where it's often below zero.
"There are certain things you can do in a warm room but you can't do in minus 20 degrees with a cold wind blowing in your face."
Mr Botes said the six-week shoot had some unique challenges: having to shoot out of a truck for safety, being in a totally new environment, and being around "large animals that could eat you".
"It's no joke, every day we had wild polar bears around, we were working in the midst of them, in the middle of winter around a dozen polar bears."
Watching the bears and dogs play and fight together gave the director a new perspective.
"It broke my sense of what [dogs] are, and consider the relation we have with them as a species, what we owe them and what they did for us."
Mr Botes said without the Eskimo dogs people would not have survived in the harsh far North American environment.
"They did so much for us and then we dumped them, that's the tragedy, that's the background of the film, there's a strong strain of bittersweet."
The Last Dogs of Winter, Regent 3 Cinema in Masterton, Sunday at 5.45pm, Monday at 8pm and Tuesday at 1pm.