[Frameworks] cat films

Sun Aug 17 17:58:25 UTC 2014

Also, not sure if any of you folk are involved in this, but just saw this
on the face machine. Plenty of avant-cats (including an appearance in
Poetic Justice!)

http://omgcatrevolution.tumblr.com/post/94169619350/our-500th-post

On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 5:20 PM, Cathy Crane <ccrane at ithaca.edu> wrote:

>  I named my cat Cleo for the little black ones in varda's film.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Aug 16, 2014, at 5:19 AM, "nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net" <
> nicky.hamlyn at talktalk.net> wrote:
>
>  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.
>> >
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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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-- 
ekrem serdar
austin, tx
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