Gates of Heaven is a 1978 American independent[1] documentary film produced, directed, and edited by Errol Morris about the pet cemetery business.

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."

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.

Noted director Werner Herzog pledged that he would eat the shoe he was wearing if Morris's film on this improbable subject was completed and shown in a public theater.

[5] In an interview on the Criterion DVD, Morris recalls that he showed Gates of Heaven to Douglas Sirk at the Berlin Film Festival.

[9] In 2015 The Criterion Collection made it available as part of a new special edition DVD and Blu-Ray that also included Morris's second film Vernon, Florida.