Benji is the name of a dog who has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the Benji franchise. The eponymous canine character is a ...

When studios wouldn’t bite, director Joe Camp raised financing for his movie, told from a dog’s-eye view, and even formed his own distribution company to release it — creating a beloved canine star.

He made and distributed the first film about the scruffy dog on his own and found great success. “We got it by depicting what the animal was feeling, not what the animal was doing,” he said. By Mike ...