The Bulldogs

SLAMDANCE ’26: Documentary Feature

Title: The Bulldogs (2026)
Director: Noah Dixon // Ori Segev
Writer: Noah Dixon // Ori Segev
Studio: Loose Films

IMDb Plot: Following a catastrophic train derailment, The Bulldogs follows the residents of a small rural community in East Palestine, Ohio as they navigate an uncertain path to recovery.

Joe Says: Beautiful and immersive.

East Palestine might be Small Town, Ohio, but is as relatable as Small Town, USA. The high school football team’s dreams are bigger than scoreboard results. The marching band’s beat is a half-second off. But pizza delivery is on time. The local chiropractor has warm hands. And generally people are happy – even while dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy. The indie documentary The Bulldogs is less about what happens to a town once the news cameras leave and more about the long echo that follows.

The Bulldogs Slamdance Documentary Feature directed by Noah Dixon and Ori Segev

In February 2023, a Norfolk Southern train derailed, releasing more than a million pounds of vinyl chloride into the air, soil, and water. The EPA descended. The media cycle churned. Then the national gaze shifted. Directors Noah Dixon and Ori Segev, both Ohio natives, turn their lens to what remains: unease, resilience, and unsettled questions. The film stands as both tribute and testimony as well as becoming a facilitation for healing.

There is no guiding narration. No tidy thesis. Dixon and Segev plant the camera and let East Palestine unfold in widescreen stillness. A taxidermist at work. A hairstylist mid shift. A football coach diagramming hope onto a whiteboard. A fitness instructor recording a podcast while worrying about the water. The ordinary hums along, but a dark spectre hangs over the town. What is in the soil? What is in the sky? What is in the body? The town’s Halloween parade plays with grim irony.

The Bulldogs Slamdance Documentary Feature

Dixon and Segev document the daily. The Bulldogs is committed to the lives and the passion shown, but does not come in for a landing with answers. There is no sweeping confrontation, no cathartic reckoning. Political frustration flickers at the edges but – thankfully – only dives into partisan theatrics once.

The result is beautiful and immersive yet wholly unresolved. The Bulldogs captures a town suspended between endurance and uncertainty. Yet this movie, too, just feels like a short visit. There is no closure because East Palestine has not been granted any. The credits roll, but the questions remain. And perhaps that is the most honest ending of all.