Feline Film Festival at Brooklyn Cat Cafe
Brooklyn Cat Cafe and Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC) are excited to announce our second (not so) annual Feline Film Festival!
BBAWC began in 2007, we have rescued over 7,000 cats and more than 100 other animals including dogs, guinea pigs, rats, rabbits mice and a chicken. As Brooklyn's first Cat Cafe and the only cat cafe run and operated by a non-profit in New York City, we are proud of the outreach and education we provide to animal lovers and those interested in helping animals in our community. We know that a film festival celebrating cats, animal rescue and the impact each of these topics has will be amazing.
"When looking back to the earliest days of cinema, it wasn't much of a surprise to learn that cats have been popping up and used quite regularly (and consistently) throughout film history. It's interesting to see how filmmakers have (at times) struggled with and creatively innovated ways to capture and portray cats in their films," journalist and filmmaker Jourdan Aldredge wrote in a column celebrating the history of cats in film. Who knew cat videos started back in 1894 by Thomas Edison? Help us celebrate the wide range of portrayals of cats in film with all activities raising money to help Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC) and the Brooklyn Cat Cafe's animal rescue efforts. All films will be screened and awards given out on June 10th at 5pm.
Important Dates:
All proceeds will help support animal rescue.
- Regular submission date: April 27th
- Final Deadline: May 17th
- Notification Date: June 7th
- Event Date: June 10th at 5pm
Purchase tickets for our Gala and Screening on June 10that 5pm: http://catcafebk.com/fff
Short Film Submissions:
All submissions must relate to cats or cat rescue. They should be no longer than 20 minutes. These should be narrative pieces, not just videos of cats. Documentaries, parodies, comedies, film noir, drama or horror - we welcome them all. Show us how integral cats are to the stories we tell in film. As cats speak a universal language, films are welcome in all languages, but please submit them with english subtitles if they are not in English.
Cat Video Submissions:
A cat film festival wouldn't be complete without videos of cats being cats. All submissions in this category should be under five (5) minutes. No cats (or humans or other animals) should be harmed or treated cruelly in any of the submissions. Any submissions that indicate abuse of any kind will be submitted to the appropriate authority.
Winning shorts and clips will be screened and prizes awarded during our Feline Film Festival, June 10th at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe
Awards & Prizes
All submitted videos will be juried, then the selected films and videos will be screened at the event. The judging panel will award some great prizes, which will be announced at a later date, to the top clip of the evening, and award various prizes to second and third place clips in each category.
Film Artists of official selections will receive an invitation to the Saturday night reception in which their film will be presented. Additional festival tickets can also be purchased in advance.
Prizes will include free admission to the cafe and Brooklyn Cat Cafe swag.
Judges
Chris Chan Roberson
Chris Chan Roberson, a 20-year film industry veteran, has been teaching cinematography and editing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts since 1999, was a contributing writer for Comic Book Resources, and has worked with such talents as Sting, Billy Eichner, and Christian McBride. In 2006, Chris won a Telly Award for his work with Robert Small Entertainment, where he edited for Comedy Central, Nick at Nite and The Biography Channel. Magnetic Dragons, a one-man show he wrote and performed, won the Gotham Award and Staff Choice award at the Frigid Festival 2020 as well as Best Feature Length Theater Project by the Theater OnLine Film Festival in 2021. Chris is in post-production for his first feature film, Eleanor Slaughter.
Colleen Dodge
Brooklyn-based filmmaker Colleen Dodge started as a production designer before writing and directing her award-winning short film, Polished, which focused on female rights. She has since produced critically-acclaimed short films such as The Great Fair (dir. Andrew Wonder) and Congratulations (dir. Emma Hall-Martin) and focuses to bring new female and underrepresented voices to cinema. When she's not making films, she enjoys spending time with her rescue cat, Capricornia.
Andrew Wonder
Combining innovative technical tools with an innate human sensitivity, this Emmy, Lion and Pencil award-winning director's passionate approach to storytelling has been embraced by both the ad industry and the indie film world where his debut feature Feral has been praised by critics as an "immersive, well-timed roller coaster." Despite once being afraid of animals, Andrew's life changed forever after falling in love with a rescue named Capricornia. Their love story earned the Brooklyn Cat Cafe $50,000 from Petco Love Stories, which recognizes the powerful bond between pets and their owners.
Rules & Terms
Those interested in participating must submit clips that meet the following criteria:
- Run a maximum of twenty minutes for short film submissions and five minutes for cat videos, including credits (no minimum running time).
- All conceivable approaches, including experimental and narrative, are acceptable. The clips can be shot in any film or video format, in either color or black-and-white.
- Clips must be an authentic, original works created by the contest entrants as the videographer.
- Filmmaker must have secured rights to any music, words, or images used in the work.
- Filmmaker will retain ownership rights to submitted works, but by submitting a clip to the competition, the owner grants Brooklyn Cat Cafe and BBAWC the right to screen the work and use for future Brooklyn Cat Cafe or BBAWC purposes.
- Submission of a clip does not guarantee its use.
- All films must be submitted using FilmFreeway with a secure online screener link.
- All officially selected films must submit at least 1 high-resolution still for use in festival publications.
- All submission fees must be paid in US funds. All submissions are final, no refunds will be issued.
- By submitting to the Feline Film Festival, submitter gives permission to the festival to allow the film to be shown to attending press, at festival parties and at other festival related events.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The individual or corporation (entrant) submitting the film to the Feline Film Festival hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening. Please ensure if you are submitting a film that contains copyrighted material by anyone other than yourself, that you have obtained festival clearance for that material used. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Feline Film Festival, its organizers, judges, sponsors, and partners, individually and collectively, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to submitted material. The burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright, trademark, rights of privacy, publicity or any other proprietary rights rests with the entrant. The entrant shall bear the sole liability for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. If your work is accepted into the Feline Film Festival you agree to allow us to use all or a portion of your film (including images, sound and clips) within our promotions and screenings; and you allow us to provide your film to media in promotion of your film and the festival. We may, at our discretion, transfer all or a portion of your submitted work to a compilation for festival screening which may be used for festival promotional purposes. You have read and agree to our general rules and terms and conditions. You agree that failure to adhere to any of the general rules or terms and conditions may result in disqualification for which no refund for entry fee(s) is due.
Festival Organizers: Anto Parodi, Desiree Pan, Jessica Smith, Tina Susman and Mike Weiss