Pets offer us unconditional love, loyalty and companionship…and we benefit tremendously by sharing our homes and lives with them. They are more than just animals – they are vital members of our families.
When we lose our pets due to old age and/or illness, we find solace in home videos, photographs and other items to remember them by. This is the foundation of our Petumentaries service, making it an invaluable personal investment.
Petumentaries is a service offered by River Fire Films, that makes your pet the star of a short documentary film, where you (and your friends and family) get to tell his or her life’s story.
We’re firm believers that everyone has an interesting and important story to be captured and told. Like a photograph, it’s a snapshot in time that is digitally preserved. Petumentaries does that and more, capturing the soul of your pet in ways a photograph cannot.
My name is Jeff Theman, and I am the human behind River Fire Films, LLC. For over 45 years there have been two main constants in my life – an inherent love for dogs and the arts.
For centuries of the human-canine bond, dogs have accompanied our ancestors in performing a variety of tasks. They assisted in working roles – such as hunting, herding of livestock and the guarding of property. And, they also offered general companionship.
However, in the case of pit bull dogs, their evolution is oftentimes muddied with controversy and uncomfortable conversations about the purpose of their creation.
Nevertheless, one thing is clear – the ancestry of the American Pit Bull Terrier is the byproduct of crossing an Old English Bulldog with a variety of terriers. This produced offspring that possessed the desired traits of both in one complete package.
These half bulldog-half terrier crosses – often referred to as bull-and-terriers or half-and-half’s, were the foundation that will later become the Pit Bull Terrier.
Most historians of the American Pit Bull Terrier acknowledge the majority of the originating stock of dogs came to the United States with their English and Irish immigrant families during the 19th Century, who fled their country sometime before the Civil War.
Even though most states outlawed dogfighting by the 1860s, interest in the activity continued to grow. This led to a well publicized match in 1881 between Lloyd’s Pilot (28 lbs) versus Kreiger’s Crib (27.5 lbs.) that has been largely identified as the turning point in the popularity of dogfighting.
After several decades of somewhat obscurity, news stories about pit bull dogs and their association to dogfighting began circulating in the mid-late 1970s. By the beginning of the 1980s, reports of pit bulls and their violent tendencies became national news.
In 1980, Hollywood, Florida passed the country’s first legislation targeting pit bull dogs. It was quickly struck down in court due to violations of constitutional rights, but by the close of the decade – breed specific legislation spread rapidly like wildfire across the country and around the world.
On the late morning of April 25, 2007, news quickly spread about NFL star quarterback, Michael Vick, suspected of running a dogfighting operation.
Federal agents and humane investigators raided his rural Virginia property, finding dozens of pit bull dogs and evidence of dogfighting. Again, this horrified the general population who were given their first glimpse into the world of animal fighting.
River Fire Films founder – Jeff Theman, is a competent indie filmmaker and proven story-teller with a passion for being able to showcase the human-animal bond.
Having worked on multiple full feature documentary film projects, as well as producing other video content in both short-form and long-form, he brings that same documentary-style of filmmaking to this Petumentaries service.
The first step is choosing between one of two packages:
Total runtime of completed video is between 2-3 minutes. Allows for one (1) pet’s story to be told. For more information, go to Petumentary Lite
Total runtime of completed video is between 6-8 minutes. Allows for up to three (3) pets story to be told. For more information, go to Petumentary Plus
For those on the fence or hesitant to make a commitment, you can schedule an appointment to discuss further in-depth by filling out the contact form that follows this section.
Once a package is purchased, a follow-up email will be sent with further instruction, which includes:
Each Petumentary – regardless of which package you choose, includes the following:
To request more information, fill out the below form to discuss the Petumentaries service more in-depth, and answer any questions you may have about this invaluable investment that will last a lifetime.
The idea for this service – Petumentaries, was hatched after my own dog, Preston, had his first health scare with seizures after he became anemic in early 2019. I didn’t know how much time I had left to be with him, and before his eventual passing on March 16, 2020, I knew my next film project (see “Once In A Lifetime“) would be dedicated to Preston and his impact on my life as an advocate of dogs, a filmmaker and a human being.
Being a documentary filmmaker whose work is greatly influenced by dogs, it felt natural to offer the public an opportunity to have their own dogs (and/or other pets) story also told – hence how the Petumentaries service was born.
When Preston passed in early 2020, I officially made this service available through River Fire Films, and Terri was the first one to inquire, as she (at the time) lost Hannah a few months prior on November 22, 2019, and wanted something to remember all three of them by while they were together.
I’m a big believer that dogs make us more social with other human beings. They’re good conversation starters, for one – especially on walks at the park with complete strangers doing the same, and they allow for the potential of future dialogue that can build into genuine friendships.