Mike Keegan and Jay Wertzler, the organizers behind The First (and Probably Last) Feline Film and Video Festival for Humans, assure us they are not a) making fun of cat videos or b) trying to piss off PETA. Keegan says the festival is actually meant to indulge what seems to be our collective need to look at kittens. Wertzler adds: “Let’s be honest; those of us with desk jobs spend a good four to five hours a day…[watching] cat videos online. There’s absolutely no shame in that. Our aim is to create a safe space where fellow cat lovers can indulge in the eye candy that is a fluffy newborn kitten.” He says the festival is in line with PETA’s goals. “We do not condone the clubbing of baby kittens…and regard PETA as an ally in this sense.”
Among the festival’s highlights is a tuna commercial made by cats and a peek at a feline actor’s audition tape. At least two frames from each entry will be screened at the festival. The length of the clips isn’t due to a lack of quality, Wertzler tells us, but rather the videos’ leisurely sense of pacing. “A human’s attention span simply cannot match the lackadaisical attitude of the feline.”
7:30 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse — Vintage Park, 114 Vintage Park. For information, call 832-559-5959 or visit drafthouse.com. $12.
Thu., Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m., 2014
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2014.