Cat Film Festival at The School of Visual Arts 2017

Rejoice New York City cat lovers! Lucky for us, the first annual Cat Film Festival happens December 9, 2017 at The School of Visual Arts in New York City. But not to worry if you can’t attend the festival, here’s a peek into sharing our love for cats at the NY CFF. The festival is organized into two programs, screening documentaries, fiction, and fun quirky films.

WHERE: The School for Visual Arts Theatre – 333 West 23rd Street (Between 8th & 9th Avenues)
WHEN: Saturday, December 9th 2017 at 3:00 PM & 4:30 PM

• 3:00 PM “Nobody Owns a Cat” (70 minutes)
• 4:30 PM “Little Works of Art” (68 minutes)

  The two programs screen completely different films – each program a medley of films celebrating the cats we love so much, in varied environments and situations.  To have the full Cat Film Festival experience you’ll want to see both programs – which are appropriate for everyone in the family.

PROGRAM #1 “NOBODY OWNS A CAT”  (70 minutes)

Pure Fluff (5:00) Sean Skelton’s documentary sketch of a professional cat groomer, who shows how it’s done.
Winter Break (5:00) Rick Hamilton
Enjoy this funny story of a preschool teacher who has only her cat for company during winter break.

Jetty Cats (56:00) Sheila O’Rourke
A sweeping overview of cats throughout human history, while exploring the contemporary debate about Trap-Neuter-Return as the best management for community cats by looking at a long-surviving feral cat colony on a seaside jetty in Southern California. Here is a 3 minute 38 second trailer for Jetty Cats

 

Amleto (2:00)
Jeff Malmberg’s visual “poem” to the morning ritual of a Tuscan cat.

 

 

 

 

PROGRAM #2 “LITTLE WORKS OF ART” (68 minutes)

Rescue (2:00) Lava Sheets

 

Ms. Sheets self-portrait of the isolation and depression of being disabled, imagining the consoling thoughts of her devoted kitty, Apple Brown Betty.

 

 

 

Akamatsu the Cat (10:00) Ian Christopher Goodman

Documentary about life with a disabled kitty cat,
Akamatsu, who was hit by a car and paralyzed
but went on to live another 4 vibrant years with the use of a wheelchair.

 

 

 

 

Portrait of a Cat Fighter (4:00) Graceann Dorse

Portrait of a Catfighter from Graceann Dorse on Vimeo.
Ms. Dorse’s mockumentary spoof gives a funny peek at what a New Jersey “cat fighting ring” run by mahjong-playing old ladies might look like. (who run their own non-profit cat rescue in Los Angeles) examined the community cats living in the iconic Buenos Aires Recoleta cemetery, and what became of the cats removed by well-meaning American rescuers.

Gus the Cat (5:00) Lisa Donato

Ms. Donato’s quirky film about Gus, who seems to think he is a cat and can hide his identity from others, although the people around him can see right through his mask.

Mittens from Kittens (4:00) Kim Best
This documentary showing how one woman’s nusiance cat fur is another woman’s inspriation to spin and knit it into useful items.

Scaredy, the Cat (8:00) Markie Hancock’s heartwarming documentary about a very shy cat who avoids everyone where she was adopted – at the tennis courts in NYC’s Riverside park- except for a few choice people whom she eagerly greets.

Little Works of Art (13:00) Also by Kim Best.
Ms. Best looks at  Harold “Cat Man” Sims’ and his self-styled American Museum of the House Cat in Sylva, NC, which houses over 10,000 cat-related objects and honors cats as “little works of art.”  In addition, it supports Sims’ own no-kill, open space cat shelter and adoption efforts.

NY Cat Film Festival™ was founded by Tracie Hotchner, a nationally acclaimed pet wellness advocate.

 

NY CFF is “an exploration through film of the fascinating felines who share our lives, creating a shared audience experience that inspires, educates and entertains.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tickets for the NY CFF are $15 for each program
The NY CFF will give back to the animal welfare groups that keep cats protected and healthy. In New York in particular, the NY CFF will be giving back to a program of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, the NYC Feral Cat Initiative.
NY Dog Film Festival happening the next day, December 10, at the same SVA Theatre, with showings of two films at 2:45 and 4:45 pm.