Gummo and Withnail and I have cats in them, albeit briefly. Nicky
-----Original Message----- From: Peter Mudie <peter.mu...@uwa.edu.au> To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks@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@jonasmekasfilms.com >https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
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