LA Hosts Internet Cat Video Film Festival

Charlie Schmidt walked onto the stage at the Echoplex Theater to a soft applause. Despite their excitement, the crowd stayed quiet for the star of the show ¬— not Schmidt, but the easily frightened cat in his hands, known to the Internet community as “Keyboard Cat.” Schmidt’s cat was one of many animal celebrities at the second annual Internet Cat Video Film Festival. The travelling film festival concluded in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Echoplex.

The festival showcased 85 of the year’s best cat videos, as selected by the festival’s founder, Will Braden. The “meowvies” were selected from a pool of over 10,000 submissions ranging from seven second Vines to three minute documentaries. Fans could vote on their favourite videos to receive awards in various categories including animation, musical and documentary.

Like Cannes or Sundance, the festival brings together not only the best films, but also their stars. “If cat videos were rock ‘n’ roll, then Keyboard Cat would be Chuck Barry,” Braden said. Stars of equal, if not greater magnitude were also in attendance. Christopher Torres, creator of the Nyan Cat meme, and perhaps the biggest name in cat culture, Grumpy Cat, were both at the venue.

Braden, a cat celebrity in his own right, is known for his webseries, “Henri, le Chat Noir,” which follows the existential musings of his tuxedo cat, Henri. Following Braden’s success, he founded the festival to celebrate cat culture in a communal environment. “It’s not just about watching cat videos,” Braden said. “It’s about watching them together.”

Even though he festival is still in its early years, it has been an overwhelming success. It has sold out every venue, even out-selling Macklemore and Ryan Lewis at the Minnesota State Fair. The line at the Echoplex Theater stretched around the block, with many people unable to get in.

From the outset of the show, it was clear that the event and cat culture as a whole are not for everyone; many, not knowing what they had gotten themselves into, headed for the exits after a few minutes.

Yet the numbers suggest that cat culture, with its videos, Internet memes and apparel, is more than just a small following. Torres’s Nyan Cat has mor than 10 million views on YouTube and Grumpy Cat more than 14 million. The crowd itself represented a wide array of the Los Angeles population with kids, grandparents and everyone in between in attendance. The simultaneous wide-reach and religious following of cat culture is what makes it so unique.

The afternoon’s first attraction was the seven-person band, The Cat Museum. The group, dressed in white lab coats and cat beanies, played a 40 minute set that dragged on a bit. The psychedelic music sounded like a radio caught between the Dubstep and Indian music stations with strange visuals that looked like a cat-lover’s acid trip. The miserable screechings were met with as many boos as cheers; the cat community showed its weird side.

While many were frustrated and put off by the display, unity and positivity returned to the room with the simple image of a kitten nibbling on a slice of watermelon. With the afternoon’s first video, the event got down to what the people wanted to see: cute cats doing funny things, of which there was no shortage in the 90 minutes of video.

For some, the event provided an opportunity to network. Buzzfeed’s “Cat Instagram to Follow in 2014,” Shrampton, and her owner attended the festival to talk to Grumpy Cat’s manager. Other filmmakers had their own booths to scout the local, undiscovered talent. It was the place to be for anyone trying to break into the Internet cat business.

Despite being billed as a film festival, the event was more of a celebration of a shared passion than anything else. Attendees brought their cats, compared gear with one another, and discussed their mutual obsession. People purchased official Nyan Cat or Grumpy Cat apparel at the various booths scattered throughout the venue. Many parties continued their cat endeavours into the evening at the Cat Art Show in Santa Monica. “It’s Cat-urday,” one attendee said.

The most remarkable achievement of the festival is the way in which it took the individual and made it communal. The festival was able to pluck an Internet community from the ether and make it real. “I thought I was just a crazy cat guy,” Braden said. “Turns out I am, but there are millions of others just as crazy as me.”