LBV adore le Cat film festival. Miaouh.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

32 SECOND AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10003; (212) 505-5181 fax (212) 477-2714

For Immediate Release September 29, 2009

Contact: Stephanie Gray at publicity@anthologyfilmarchives.org

PETIT LOUP AND LES FILMS DU SIAMOIS PRESENT:

CHAT D’ŒUVRES: THE FIRST NEW YORK CAT ART FILM FESTIVAL

October 23 - 24

Dear Fellow-Cats and Cat Lovers,

My name is PetitLoup (‘Little Wolf’ in English). I’m a Siamese cat from New Orleans, and as such am bilingual – this explains the title of my festival: CHAT D’ŒUVRES is a pun in French, whereby ‘Chef-d’œuvre’, or ‘masterpiece’, is turned into a Chat (cat), since many cats have been the subjects of artists’ œuvres.

I’ve gathered a selection of films/videos made by artists from Europe and the US that feature the feline species. We have to thank my friends at Anthology Film Archives, great cat lovers, who are still mourning the passing of their own Maxi, who was quite a super-star there. You’ll be glad to see her again in one of her best screen performances, in a film by no less than Jonas Mekas.

This exciting program includes a number of original, never-released shorts, vignettes, and homages; for I received such enthusiastic responses from cat lovers, artists, and filmmakers that many of them turned their cameras on their favorite feline(s) and made a special film for this first edition of CHAT D’ŒUVRES. Thus, we will premiere Annette Messager’s ONLY MY CAT UNDERSTANDS ME (what a wonderful title, don’t you think?), as well as Michel Auder’s CHELSEA CATS and Tracey Emin’s SHOWING ME THE WAY TO HEAVEN.

We’ll see you on October 23 & 24!

Miaou / Meow

PetitLoup

Les Films du Siamois Executive Director / President-in-Chief

Very special thanks to the non-profit, all-volunteer cat rescue and adoption group KittyKind for their generous support of CHAT D’ŒUVRES. Visit Kitty Kind’s website (kittykind.org) and blog (friendsofkittykind.wordpress.com) to see how you can be a part of this rewarding mission.

PROGRAM 1:

Stan Brakhage NIGHTCATS (1956, 8 minutes, 16mm)

Stan Brakhage CAT’S CRADLE (1959, 6 minutes, 16mm)

Stan Brakhage PASHT (1965, 5 minutes, 16mm)

Stan Brakhage MAX (2002, 4 minutes, 16mm)

Pola Chapelle INTERCAT ’69 (1969, 15-minute excerpt, 16mm)

Alexander Hammid & Maya Deren THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A CAT (1944, 22 minutes, 16mm)

Joyce Wieland CATFOOD (1968, 13 minutes, 16mm)

Total running time: ca. 80 minutes.

–Friday, October 23 at 7:00.

PROGRAM 2:

Samantha Anderson NOBODY REALLY LIKES SURPRISES (2009, 8 minutes, video)

Michel Auder CHELSEA CATS (2009, 5 minutes, video)

Martha Colburn CATS AMORE (2001, 2.5 minutes, 16mm)

Annette Messager ONLY MY CAT UNDERSTANDS ME (2009, 3 minutes, video)

Tania Mouraud CATS AND DOGS (2007, 1.5 minutes, video)

Brigitte Cornand CHATBIRD (2009, 4 minutes, video)

Tracey Emin No Love You are not Alone (2009, 3 minutes, video)

Ernst Caramelle UNTITLED CAT (2009, 1 minute, video)

Nancy Holt KARUNA (2009, 4 minutes, video)

Jonas Mekas FATHER AND DAUGHTER (2001, 3 minutes, video) + FATHER AND DAUGHTER, (2007, 10 minutes, video)

Carolee Schneemann FUSES (1964-66, 30 minutes, 16mm)

Carolee Schneemann INFINITY KISSES – THE MOVIE (2008, 9 minutes, video)

Carolee Schneemann VESPER’S POOL (1999-2000, 8 minutes, video)

Su-Mei Tse & Jean-Lou Majerus EASY DANCING (2001, 2.5 minutes, video)

Rob Wynne 1975 (1975 - 2009, 1 minute, video)

David Weiss & Peter Fischli KITTY / BÜSI (2001, 6 minutes, video)

Plus a couple other, hot-off-the-presses works – check www.anthologyfilmarchives.org for more details.

Total running time: ca. 105 minutes.

–Friday, October 23 at 8:45.

PROGRAM 3:

Chris Marker

THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT / CHATS PERCHÉS

2004, 58 minutes, video.

One of the most famously cat-happy of all great filmmakers, Chris Marker gave his love of the species perhaps its fullest expression in this 2004 film, a typically wide-ranging essay on 21st-century politics and culture which takes as its point of departure the cartoon cats that began mysteriously appearing on Paris’s buildings, Metro walls, and other public surfaces in November 2001.

This program will also feature a variety of surprises, including classic TV, animation, and a dash of YouTube!

–Saturday, October 24 at 7:00.

PROGRAM 4:

Blake Edwards

THE PINK PANTHER

1963, 115 minutes, 35mm. With Peter Sellers, David Niven, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale.

With this screening of Blake Edwards’s comedy classic, CHAT D’ŒUVRES pays tribute to one of the most famous big cats of all, making his first appearance, accompanied by Henry Mancini’s unparalleled theme song, in the animated title sequence.

–Saturday, October 24 at 9:00.