It’s “purr-fect, a-meow-zing and totally fur-tastic.” It’s the Quarantine Cat Film Fest, a 70-minute compilation reel available for online viewing courtesy of Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville.

Row House is no stranger to cute cat videos, having previously screened the national CatVideoFest and its own Pittsburgh Pretty Kitties festival, a 2017 compilation of local cat videos.

With the theater closed due to the covid-19 pandemic, owner Brian Mendelssohn was pondering ways to stay connected with theater-goers and once again turned to cute kitties.

“I think you can make the claim that the internet exists because of cats,” he said on the Film Threat podcast hosted by Chris Gore.

Mendelssohn said his wife suggested filming their cats and asking others to film their own felines. He reached out to 80 independent movie theaters across the country and Canada that, in turn, reached out to their audiences — resulting in about 1,300 video submissions.

“One thing led to another, and we realized that the engagement this generates could benefit struggling moving theaters across the country,” Mendelssohn said.

Mendelssohn and two other judges spent about 80 hours collectively viewing videos, weeding out those that were “cute but not cinematic” and ranking their choices by category.

Categories include bravest, funniest, most loving and cutest cat.

“We approached it like a film, not just a collection of videos put together,” he told Film Threat.

The judges also picked 12 cash prize winners.

Mendelssohn said there were many recurring themes among the submissions, including cats scratching mirrors or windows, cats playing fetch, vocal cats, sleeping cats, cats and dogs and cats and squirrels.

“Cats and squirrels are huge this year,” he said.

The $12 ticket to view the film can be purchased via a list of participating theaters at rowhouse.online. The selected theater receive get 50% of each ticket sale.

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