[Frameworks] cat films

Sat Aug 16 20:36:59 UTC 2014

Burroughs' short book, "The Cat Inside" is a wondrous and touching
elaboration of his relationships with and to cats...

Steve Polta
On Aug 16, 2014 1:23 PM, "Andy Ditzler" <andy at andyditzler.com> wrote:

> George Kuchar's cat Blackie plays the crucial role of confessor in the
> video diary Rainy Season (1987). George's grief at losing his beloved cat
> is the subject of Season of Sorrow (1996).
>
> William Burroughs was quite fond of cats, and I believe he lived with many
> at his final home in Lawrence, Kansas. Perhaps there is a documentary with
> footage of this?
>
> Brakhage's film Pasht is quite striking.
>
> Andy Ditzler
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Gene Youngblood <atopia at comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>   Cats are featured prominently in 27 of George Kuchar’s diaries, some
>> of them pretty surreal. My favorite is “Kitty Porn” (1996).
>>
>>  *From:* Ronald Gregg <ronald.gregg at yale.edu>
>> *Sent:* Saturday, August 16, 2014 11:44 AM
>> *To:* Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Frameworks] cat films
>>
>>  And Felix the Cat as well:
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxailD4Ofq4
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 1:22 PM, <nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Nice titles for 'Jonesy', like the ones for Pierrot le Fou.
>>>
>>> There are also hundreds of episodes of Top Cat to consider!
>>>
>>> Nicky.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Francisco Torres <fjtorrespr at gmail.com>
>>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
>>> Sent: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 16:53
>>> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] cat films
>>>
>>>  here kitty...
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo0c8FnjW0k
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014-08-16 5:19 GMT-04:00 <nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net>:
>>>
>>>> Bell Book and Candle,
>>>>
>>>> The Incredible Journey (Disney film abut three pets on a 200 mile
>>>> journey. Includes a swimming siamese cat).
>>>>
>>>> Nicky.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Benjamin Leon <benj.leon at gmail.com>
>>>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
>>>>  Sent: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 9:19
>>>> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] cat films
>>>>
>>>>  *Fuses* of course ! And* Plumb Line* (1968-1972) by Carolee
>>>> Schneemann too.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 2014-08-16 9:49 GMT+02:00 <nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net>:
>>>>
>>>>> Gummo and Withnail and I have cats in them, albeit briefly.
>>>>>
>>>>> Nicky
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Peter Mudie <peter.mudie at uwa.edu.au>
>>>>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
>>>>> Sent: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 5:48
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Frameworks] cat films
>>>>>
>>>>>  It's an odd question, really - looking for films with/about cats. If you
>>>>> get onto YouTube and type in a search for 'cats', 'wacky cats' and/or
>>>>> 'awesome cats' you will find something around 2 billion choices to build
>>>>> your exhibition around - none of them worthwhile. Do a search (with the
>>>>> same criteria) for 'chipmunks' or 'hamsters' and you'll find less, but
>>>>> about as discerning as the 'wacky cats' list. Any exhibition that results
>>>>> from a deep curatorial insight about cats will probably leave you in the
>>>>> same zone as all the YouTube ones.
>>>>>
>>>>> If someone asked me what my favourite film was that had a cat within it -
>>>>> that is, different from 'a hard-boiled cheap detective getting away from
>>>>> the grips of a femme fatale' or 'a Joe-Bob Mr America saves the world from
>>>>> certain destruction' scope of subjects (which I guess isn't all that
>>>>> dissimilar to 'wacky chipmunk' or 'look what a hamster can fit in his
>>>>> mouth' videos) - I would have to say Nightcats (by Brakhage).
>>>>>
>>>>> Peter
>>>>> (Perth)
>>>>>
>>>>> >> What else could we shown in a Cat Film Fest?
>>>>> >
>>>>> >As Ekrem mentioned, there's Cat Cradle and Fuses. Dunno if the amount of
>>>>> >kitteh-kontent is high enough for a feline fest, but the presence of the
>>>>> >pussy... er, scratch that [Meow!] I mean the context of the cat, is the
>>>>> >unraveling intertextual ball of string tying the two works together, or
>>>>> >maybe being batted away from StanCat by CaroleeCat, or maybe the mirrored
>>>>> >meowser is Schneeman's way of saying, 'my little furry pet is purring
>>>>> >because she just pounced on some wee bit of pickle, and by the way, did
>>>>> >you know that cats are independent creatures who do their own thing
>>>>> >instead of licking their masters fantasy boots, and cats have really
>>>>> >sharp claws they can dig into your untutored eye if you piss them off by
>>>>> >mixing up which human is owned by which cat, and somehow indicate you
>>>>> >think you own even one cat much less two, so go pine in the pines with
>>>>> >your poor putrefying pooch and leave my kitty alone!"
>>>>> >
>>>>> >....
>>>>> >
>>>>> >You could show Marker's 'Case of the Grinning Cat' which also might be a
>>>>> >little light on actual kitty-kontent, but again the cat-concept is pretty
>>>>> >important, and any excuse to show Marker is always a good excuse.
>>>>> >
>>>>> >....
>>>>> >
>>>>> >Or you could go conceptual rather than representational:
>>>>> >
>>>>> >I read somewhere that felines large and small are "creatures who spend
>>>>> >most of the time sleeping between brief bursts of activity."
>>>>> >
>>>>> >So I'm thinking you could show all 5 hours and 21 minutes of "Sleep", in
>>>>> >a room filled with sofa and actual cats, so after puzzling over what do
>>>>> >do with themselves for awhile, instead of getting annoyed and heading to
>>>>> >the box office in angry mass protest to The Management, the viewers would
>>>>> >figure they can emulate the cats and sooner or later pretty much the
>>>>> >whole audience would be sleeping along with John Giorno, curled up on a
>>>>> >couch like Giorno, but with cuddling kitties, sometimes coming and going
>>>>> >but mostly sleeping as cats mostly do. Taking the cat cues, they might
>>>>> >conclude that 'Sleep' is not the title of a 'movie' you 'watch' but might
>>>>> >be a gentle imperative, like a Yoko Ono instruction, to stage the most
>>>>> >simple and mundane action as a form of Art. Or not. Either way, they're
>>>>> >in cat-mode, so it's basically nappy time whenever they feel like it no
>>>>> >matter what else is going on in the room, and from time to time they'll
>>>>> >wake up, yawn, stretch, look around a little bit ‹ maybe watch the screen
>>>>> >for awhile, maybe watch the other people sleeping, maybe think about how
>>>>> >many hours John Giorno has spent sleeping since 1963, maybe wonder how
>>>>> >many hours of sleep they'll have before they join Warhol in eternal
>>>>> >slumber, maybe think about what a room of people sleeping because a
>>>>> >silent black and white film of a man dozing on a couch can't keep them
>>>>> >awake means in light of Warhol's claimed intent of documenting sleep for
>>>>> >historical purposes since no one slept anymore due to the miracles of
>>>>> >modern chemistry. But, being cat-people for the evening, they wouldn't
>>>>> >think about those things too long or too hard before slipping back into a
>>>>> >REM state with a dreamy revelation that the proper nouns 'Walter' "White'
>>>>> >and 'Warhol' all begin with a 'W'. Then, maybe 90 minutes later, they
>>>>> >wake up since the man-cat on the next couch is shattering the silence
>>>>> >with loud irregular apneas and hypopneas because he didn't think to bring
>>>>> >his C-PAP to a film screening, only, on awakening, they don't dig out
>>>>> >their cell phones to check how much longer the film is going to run, they
>>>>> >just realize they're hungry, and the smell of chicken and fish is coming
>>>>> >from the lobby. So they amble out of the screening room and over to the
>>>>> >concessions area set up especially for the screening, where they get
>>>>> >served sashimi and/or poulet kabobs, (or Tuna hot dish if it's at The
>>>>> >Walker), and at this spot there are benches set up by big picture windows
>>>>> >where they can sit awhile and watch birds fly back and forth from the
>>>>> >feeders outside, but the benches aren't that comfy so they head back to
>>>>> >the couches in the screening room soon enough, tummies full and fall back
>>>>> >into the rhythm of "Sleep"s sleep. When they wake up again after a big
>>>>> >orange Maine Coon cat licks some hot-dish off their cheek, they sit up,
>>>>> >the cat hops onto their lap and starts to purr, they reach down to pet it
>>>>> >without thinking about it. Then it dawns on them that since they're doing
>>>>> >the stroking and not getting stroked, their personal cat analogy is
>>>>> >breaking down, and they start thinking like a human again, but still
>>>>> >retaining a kind of felinious disposition. Some thoughts that might
>>>>> >follow: Andy Warhol was like some kind of mutant future-cat, since he
>>>>> >maintained a feline indifference and inscrutability while never sleeping
>>>>> >and working constantly; "Sleep" is celluloid-projection-as-cat since it
>>>>> >has 'bursts of activity' mixed in with the sleeping, and combining the
>>>>> >two is pretty much the only way to make it from beginning to end (though
>>>>> >'sleeping' might be more figurative than literal); why am i able to look
>>>>> >at the screen now for awhile without getting annoyed?; "Sleep" is
>>>>> >celluloid-projection-as-cat since it's indifference to you is
>>>>> >nevertheless amiable enough; hmm, I notice most of the other people are
>>>>> >watching now too, I wonder what they're thinking?; and so on. The film
>>>>> >ends. The lights come up, and the audience makes its way out through the
>>>>> >lobby, passing posters with cat adoption info from the local shelters and
>>>>> >half a dozen monitors of different types and sizes playing the Turn Down
>>>>> >For What Cat Video on an endless loop.
>>>>> >(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfGA6pBFVI) Once the last patron has
>>>>> >gone, and the program committee is emptying the litter boxes and rounding
>>>>> >up the cats and putting them back in their carriers, someone will say,
>>>>> >"Folks, I think we've just set the all-time record for the most people
>>>>> >who began a screening of 'Sleep' being present at the end." And someone
>>>>> >else might reply, "Yeah, but Andy might ask 'What fun is that?'" Then
>>>>> >they get distracted by a tuxedo fighting with a tortie screaming bloody
>>>>> >murder while a midnight black long-hair rubs against their legs. And when
>>>>> >they return to the question later, they hear the question Warhol might
>>>>> >have asked in the deadpan tone with which he would have asked it, which
>>>>> >wasn't a tone expecting an answer, or maybe suggesting that any answer
>>>>> >would do. "Sleep" doesn't tell you how to watch it, because it doesn't
>>>>> >care how you watch it, or how you watch it, or what you think about it,
>>>>> >or anything else. It just presents you with an experience you probably
>>>>> >can't process within the headspace you brought into the screening room.
>>>>> >There must be SOME metaphysical significance to what happens after that,
>>>>> >but I'm too tired to think about it, and this activity burst has come
>>>>> >t...   zzzzzzzzz.
>>>>> >
>>>>> >_______________________________________________
>>>>> >FrameWorks mailing list
>>>>> >FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
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>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>  *Benjamin *
>>>>
>>>>  * Benjamin Léon*
>>>> Ph.D Candidate in Film Studies
>>>>  benj.leon at gmail.com
>>>> (Fr) + 33 (0)6 28 07 18 00
>>>> (US) + 1 (646) - 812 - 0692
>>>> Skype : benjil75
>>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
>
> Andy Ditzler
> www.filmlove.org
> www.johnq.org
> Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University
>
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