[Frameworks] cat films

Sat Aug 16 21:44:23 UTC 2014

and one of the favorites. The Edison Co.'s 1894 film. "Professor
Welton's Boxing Cats"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qre61opE_g

-Eric

On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 2:36 PM, Steve Polta <steve.polta at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>>> Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2014 11:44 AM
>>> To: Experimental Film Discussion List
>>> 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
>>>>>> >https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> 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
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FrameWorks mailing list
>>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Andy Ditzler
>> www.filmlove.org
>> www.johnq.org
>> Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> FrameWorks mailing list
>> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
>> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks at jonasmekasfilms.com
> https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
>