Feline lovers will be able to enjoy clips from over 200 cat videos in a 70-minute long film screening this weekend at the Seattle International Film Festival’s Uptown theater.
Will Braden is the curator of the annual CatVideoFest. He became a connoisseur after his own series of film noir-style videos, featuring his mom’s French-speaking cat Henry — better known as Henri, le Chat Noir — went viral.
Braden created the first "Henri" video when he was a student at the Seattle Film Institute and procrastinated on an assignment. He was supposed to do a profile of someone, and chose his mom’s cat…Henry. The French-speaking tuxedo-colored cat plagued with existential angst earned him an "A" and was a hit.
"Years later, I just started making more of the videos, and it went viral," Braden said. "And that's why I ended up at the first internet cat video festival in Minneapolis. That was 2012."
Braden took over CatVideoFest in 2016. Each year he pores over thousands of submissions for the festival.
"Some of them are just sort of like, this is my cat Mitzi and Mitzi sleeping on a bed and I go, 'You know, Mitzi seems like a cool cat, but she is just sleeping,'" Braden said.
Braden said there are two kinds of “good” cat videos. The ones that capture a moment of spontaneity and those that are produced.
"People are like, this is something really funny, my cat does. Let me see if I can somehow enhance it," Braden said.
CatVideoFest is now in over 200 cities across the country partnering with independent theaters. A portion of the proceeds go to local animal shelters. In Seattle, the festival has partnered with PAWS.
It's not lost on Braden how surreal his job is. He makes a living off of what most people do to relieve stress, watching cat videos all day long.
"When I tell people that, half of people are like, 'Why would you do that?' And then half of people are like, 'Are you hiring?'" Braden said.
Braden said he edits the compilation of cat videos together so it maximizes laughs. He wants people to laugh nonstop for all 70 minutes of the reel.
"One of the things about this, why it's successful is that there aren't that many things that, you know, a six-year-old and a 60-year-old can both enjoy," Braden said. "I mean, yeah, there's Taylor Swift, but our tickets are a lot cheaper."
CatVideoFest will screen a total of six times at SIFF Uptown.
