Gates of Heaven is a 1978 American independent documentary film produced, directed, and edited by Errol Morris about the pet cemetery business. It was made when Morris was unknown and did much to launch his career.
Production
After a trip to Florida where he tried and failed to make a film about the residents of the town of Vernon, Errol Morris read a San Francisco Chronicle article with the headline: "450 Dead Pets Going to Napa Valley." This story about dead pets being exhumed from one pet cemetery and reburied in another became the basis for Gates of Heaven. For financing Morris borrowed money from family and friends, and the film was shot throughout the spring and summer of 1977, with the total budget estimated at $125,000. Production was difficult at times, with Morris frequently clashing with his cinematographer over the film's visual style. Morris ultimately ended up firing three cinematographers before finally settling on Ned Burgess, with whom he would work again on his second film Vernon, Florida. Morris had a falling out with his sound-woman when one of his subjects, Florence Rasmussen, said "Here today, gone tomorrow, right?" and she said "Wrong." Morris couldn't decide which had offended him more, that his sound-woman had interrupted Rasmussen or that she had said she was "Wrong."
Release
Gates of Heaven had its premiere at the 1978 New York Film Festival, and would play at various other festivals around the world before being picked up for a limited theatrical run by New Yorker Films in 1981.
Synopsis
The film, like Morris's other works, is unnarrated and the stories are told purely through interviews. It is divided into two main sections. The first concerns Floyd "Mac" McClure and his lifelong quest to allow pets to have a graceful burial. McClure's business associates and his competitor, a manager of a rendering plant, are interviewed.
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