Every year in early August, an independent film called "Cat Video Festival" will be released in theaters across the United States to meet the majority of cat lovers. This year is already the ninth year of this special "carnival". Compared with previous years, the latest film was screened on a larger scale. A total of US$281,000 worth of tickets were sold on 106 screens across the United States on August 3 and August 4, setting a new high in nine years. If calculated based on the average number of admissions per game, it even exceeded the new movie "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and other theater movies released during the same period.
"Cat Video Carnival" (2024) poster
In fact, all the directing, editing, soundtrack, production, etc. of "Cat Video Carnival" that is released every year are all done by Will Braden One person handles it. He graduated from Seattle Film School in 2006. In order to complete his graduation assignment, he made a short film called "Henri, le chat noir" (Henri, le chat noir), about a "melancholy French existentialist cat". The story unexpectedly became popular after being posted online. In 2012, the Minnesota Walker Art Center held the "Internet Cat Video Carnival", and Will Brydon won the Golden Cat Award for his contribution to "Black Cat Henry 2".
Will Brydon's work "Henry the Black Cat"
Since 2015, Bryden has taken over the event himself, collecting cat video submissions from all over the world, and then cut it into a collection movie, which will be jointly broadcast in theaters from all over the world. Screened on the screen, the proceeds are also used to raise funds for animal shelters and cat welfare organizations.
In a recent interview with "Variety", Braden said that about one-third of his time each year is spent on independently operating the preliminary activities of "Cat Video Carnival", including collecting video clips and obtaining content creators' support. Permission etc. Then, another third of the time is spent editing and producing these collected videos. The last third of the time is spent coordinating screenings with film distributors and doing media promotions. "So, this is my full-time job. My business card says: I am a full-time cat video watcher."
All the directing, editing, scoring, and production of "Cat Video Carnival" are done by Will Brydon runs
by himself. Bryden also revealed that he watches about 15,000 cat videos every year and selects about 200 of them to make the final video. Take this year's 73-minute work as an example. It's just 73 minutes of uninterrupted cat videos. There is no story continuity between the clips, and even the picture format is not uniform - some are vertical screens. Some are in landscape orientation; some images are in high-definition format, and some are at home video quality. Moreover, cats’ situations are also different. Some are grumpy, some are docile and clingy, some are helpful, some can play the piano, and some like to annoy dogs...
"In this more than an hour, the audience You can see videos from different countries, and even exclusive cat videos that you can’t see anywhere else.” Braden emphasized that this is only possible if the works are attractive enough and coupled with the fun of watching them with a large group of peers. Attracting people to enter the theater and willing to pay for tickets.
The box office revenue of this year's "Cat Video Carnival" hit a new high in nine years
The box office revenue of this year's "Cat Video Carnival" has already doubled compared to last year. Due to the film's unexpected success, including the IFC Center Cinema in Manhattan, New York More than 100 theaters have decided to extend the screening period. According to Bryden, this may also be related to the words of US Republican vice presidential candidate Vance before condemning the United States as "ruled by a group of child-loving cat women."
Braden said, "That comment demonstrates an outdated way of thinking that is not just for women who like cats, but can actually be used by someone who wants to target people who like any kind of thing. The result. However, he very stupidly activated the Catwoman Army. They are a huge group, and they are not willing to fight back against people who hate cats.I'd be lying if I said Vance's comments didn't help our box office this year. "
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