AND ... ACTION!
Meet the local stars of the Quarantine Cat Film Festival
Most people have never seen a naked cat running inside a washing machine. If you need a good laugh, watch the video of Yoda, an 8-month-old sphinx kitten, looking like a hamster on an exercise wheel.
Yoda and 487 other cats star in the 2020 Quarantine Cat Film Festival, produced and edited by Brian Mendelssohn of Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville.
Yoda lives in Hampton, and he’s not the only naked cat caught on video. There’s also Noodle, another sphynx from Hampton. What are the odds of that? The nearly hairless cats — their skin has a light dusting of peach fuzz — are a rather rare breed.
Yoda, Noodle and Klaus, who lives in Shadyside, aren’t just in the video. They are winners. Yoda finished third in the bravest category for his “cat wash” stunt. In the most loving category, Klaus, a domestic shorthair, finished first and Noodle was second.
Cat lovers from around the world submitted 1,300 amateur videos of their cats doing cute, funny and amazing things. Mr. Mendelssohn spent 80 hours viewing videos and winnowing them down to produce the 75minute Quarantine Cat Film Festival.
In past years, the fest was screened at Row House Cinema. But in a time when everyone is supposed to stay 6 feet apart during the coronavirus pandemic, the festival is available online for $12.
You can see Yoda spinning in the sneak preview at https://rowhouse.online. That’s also where you go to see the official trailer and to buy tickets.
Yoda lives with child psychologist Ali Miller, her husband, Nathan, an attorney, and another sphynx named Dobby, 1. Getting into the washing machine was Yoda’s idea, Ms. Miller said.
“In fact the video we submitted was the first time Yoda did that,” she said.
He still does it when the mood strikes him, and he’ll run in the drum for several minutes at a time. Being a cat, he won’t do it on command.
Her cats are affectionate, funny and playful, jumping on and off high objects.
“When visitors come to the house, Yoda and Dobby are happy to see them,” Ms. Miller said.
Noodle’s owner said sphynx
cats have dog-like personalities. Noodle lives with Samantha DeCecco, a pediatric ICU nurse, her son, Malcolm, 7, Daniel Bryniem, a medical school graduate who is starting his residency in July, and Soup Louie, 2, a red tabby sphynx.
“Both of the cats love it that Daniel has grown a beard” while working on a research project at home during the coronavirus pandemic. “I shot the video of Noodle snuggling and rubbing up against Daniel’s beard.”
Noodles and Soup often visit stores and relatives with their people. In the car they wear harnesses and leashes as well as sweaters or T-shirts to keep their hairless bodies warm even in the summer when the air-conditioning is on.
Four of the cat videos submitted by Chris and Sarah Lu are in the film festival. Klaus, 8, won special recognition as most lovable in a video where the blue-gray cat snuggles with Mr. Lu and hugs him.
In another video, Klaus is kneading his feline “brother” Tigs, 15, a brown tabby. “They cuddle together,” Ms. Lu said.
“Klaus is really the most loving and affectionate cat,” Mr. Lu said. When the couple saw him at an adoption event, he reached his paw out of the cage.
While Mrs. Lu has been working as a pharmacist at a Veterans Administration facility, Mr. Lu, a mental health therapist, has been working from their Shadyside home. Klaus sometimes shows up uninvited in videoconferences Mr. Lu has with clients.
“Fortunately, the clients love it,” Mr. Lu said. “I think Klaus would make an excellent therapy cat.”
Festival ticket sales support Row House Cinema and 100 other independent theaters across the country, Mr. Mendelssohn said. When you go to http://rowhouse.online, you can pick a theater, and that venue gets half of your ticket purchase.
“Cats are saving independent theaters,” Mr. Mendelssohn said.