Purrr-fect feline fix with cat video festival in Detroit
Cat videos will be sharing space with Van Gogh's and other masterpieces, as 80 minutes of lovingly-curated, hand-selected videos play inside the Detroit Institute of Arts this weekend.
CatVideoFest 2020 will bring together a compilation reel of the latest and best cat videos, selected from hours of unique submissions.
"The CatVideoFest existed for years as what you'd call a pop-up event. It wasn't formally placed in theatres, but this compilation would show up in different parts of the United States at non-profit organizations," said DIA film curator Elliot Wilhelm.
"But last year, for the first time, an American film distribution company decided to put the festival on the road ... and it turned out to be a smashing success."
CatVideoFest's initial screening last year drew more than 4,000 people to the DIA, according to Wilhelm. He added even though some of the feline films run no longer than 20 seconds, there's still a "shape in their little stories."
Tap on the player below to watch the official trailer for CatVideoFest2020:
The idea of featuring cat videos in an art institute may seem pedestrian for some. While Wilmhelm calls that "nonsense," he admits the concept was something he needed to be "eased into."
"It was one of those biases, I suppose, about videos on the Internet. You look at them, but you don't think of them as something that you're going to look at on the big screen," he said.
"In the case of these, since they are curated and assembled with great care by people who love these things, what you end up with is an experience on the big screen that transforms what you see and transforms these relationships between animals and each other and animals and their owners."
He added while many of the films may just be centered around "one moment of tension" resolved between two cats, or a cat and its owner, that's just as worthy of being featured at the DIA as "scripted works of art."
Screenings of CatVideoFest 2020 will take place all over the world in a host of venues, raising money for cats in need — often through partnerships with local cat charities, animal welfare organizations and shelters.
