About the Film
After learning that over 20,000 animals are euthanized in Austin, Texas every year, Stacy Schoolfield volunteered to foster abandoned animals in her home. This film chronicles her experience, taking viewers straight to the heart of pet overpopulation’s causes and complexities and examines the costs to individuals and the community. "Rescue Me" invites viewers to meet rescue volunteers, learn what motivates and challenges them, and experience the highs and lows of volunteering – from the satisfaction of matching a foster animal with an adoptive family to the disturbing numbers of adoptable companion animals killed every day due to overpopulation. The subjects, including writer-songwriter-politician Kinky Friedman, all speak to the societal costs of our “disposable” culture’s lack of stewardship toward animals. They point out, that fixing the problem of pet overpopulation and abandonment is bigger than one volunteer, or a small army of volunteers can fix.

Production Notes
Austin filmmaker Stacy Schoolfield’s feature-length documentary on animal rescue volunteers, “Rescue Me” is one of ten projects selected for the “Working Films at MASS MoCA” residency program March 2-6, 2005. The documentary features interviews with a range of animal rescue volunteers and professionals, including Kinky Friedman, the founder of the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in Medina, Texas. It examines the joys and tolls of rescuing abandoned animals, as well as underlying animal abandonment and overpopulation issues. Working Films, a nationally recognized company that bridges high quality documentary filmmaking and serious social change, in partnership with MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), the largest center for contemporary arts in the United States, offers the five-day workshop and residency for documentary filmmakers. Lorie Marsh, Schoolfield’s consultant on “Rescue Me,” attended.

Subjects

	Kinky Friedman runs Utopia Rescue Ranch with the help of Nancy and Tony Parker. The ranch is set on about 40 acres in Medina, Texas. The ranch houses dogs, cats and even a few horses and potbelly pigs who are looking for new homes.
	Cindy Carracio runs the Austin Zoo. The zoo houses over 300 rescued exotic animals: tigers, monkeys, zebras, snakes, birds, foxes and many more. Cindy is the chair of the Austin Animal Advisory Council, a group that works to create a more animal friendly Austin. Emanicipet mobile spay/neuter clinic has brought mobile surgery and shots to communities all over Austin and around Austin. They work to teach responsible pet ownership and make spay/neuter and preventative care affordable.
	Gordon Craig has fostered hundreds of dogs in Austin. He works with almost every rescue organization in town and is known as a specialist in working with shy dogs and dogs that everyone else has given up on.
	Mary Ellen and Raye Lynn Maxwell volunteer with Austin Feral Cats. This group works to reduce the growing number of feral cats in Austin by promoting spay/neuter and managing feral cat populations through a program of trap/neuter/release.
	Beverly Gainer runs German Shepard, Central Texas just outside of Austin. She loves German Sheperd's, they are her breed of choice. She can’t turn her back on the mixed breeds, and finds a place for them, too.