From cats in film to ones you can hold, the Manship Theatre and Cat Haven have partnered up once again to bring the New York Cat Film Festival to Baton Rouge.
Cats are amazing creatures that grace millions of homes. They have wholly special bonds with the people they live with that are hard to put into words. Pet wellness advocate Tracie Hotchner recognized this and decided to shed a light on these feline families.
In 2017, Hotchner debuted the first ever NY Cat Film Festival. This festival brings together short films of all kinds from across the globe. In attendance, one can see 21 documentaries, scripted films and animations featuring a variety of cats and their owners.
This eighth annual festival marks its return to Baton Rouge at the Manship Theatre. After taking a few years off, it is back in full force, partnering with local non-profit shelter Cat Haven. Film programming manager Kelly Swift has a personal tie with Cat Haven, as she adopted her cat Lemon from the organization. This, combined with a good cause, is what has Swift bringing back this event.
“We wanted to bring it back, especially because we love Cat Haven and supporting them,” Swift said, “and a portion of the ticket sales go directly to Cat Haven to support their operations.”
Cat Haven has given shelter to over 21,000 kittens since opening in 1999. Before, during and after the screening, there were three cats there for whoever was willing to adopt — a very vocal Russian blue named Baloo, a sleepy tabby named Boo Boo and a black foster cat with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus named Kepler.
Unfortunately, these guys were not taken home by any patrons. However, Cat Haven volunteer Ewa Rainey urges everybody to consider adopting a cat, whether that be at Cat Haven or elsewhere.
“There’s a lot of myths about cats that I learn are not true. They are very social animals; they are not as independent as we may think,” Rainey said. “I encourage people to go to Cat Haven or any other rescue group instead of buying a cat, because there’s so many homeless cats in the need of loving homes.”
To see the impact cats have on people’s lives or vice versa, look no further than the very film festival this event celebrated. The audience alone was proof. It was not a large crowd, but it was full of love. So many people there were wearing cat cardigans and earrings or flashing their cats on their phone backgrounds.
Before the screening even started, one could hear a few patrons meowing in the darkness between trailers. It was almost as if Baloo made it out onto the theater floor.
Tracie Hotchner delivered a pre-recorded message in the lead up to the shorts. She reiterated the importance of this festival and emphasized the power of these films.
The films ranged from absurdist sketch comedies to powerful documentaries to a truly beautiful animation. One could get whiplash going from a Sherlock Holmes parody starring cats to a testimony about how a woman’s loss of her cat taught her how to deal with her father’s death.
It would be remiss to not bring some tissues.
Regardless of the genre or the medium, it was clear that there was true passion from these creatives for their cats. Swift hopes this enthusiasm bled through and made an impression on the audience.
“We’re so lucky to be able to live with cats and have them as pets, and if this festival can do anything, I hope that it showcases how special cats are, how well they work on the screen in these short films, they’re stars,” Swift said.
Information on submitting for the next NY Cat Film Festival can be found on its website. If you would like to visit or donate to Cat Haven, its hours and contacts can be found on its website as well.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lsureveille.com ’
