Nine Lives of the Avant Garde

Experimental Cat Films

Given the lack of avant-garde films in the Cat Movies collection currently featured on the Criterion Channel—a cat movies program with no Carolee Schneemann?!—I thought I would curate a supplementary program focused exclusively on experimental works. I tried to balance canonical works with lesser known classics and contemporary artists. Many thanks to the people who suggested some of these films, and especially to the artists who made their works available. Some of these films were not available publicly before today, and may not be available past the next two or three weeks, so please watch them soon!

I’ve uploaded a number of these films to a Google Drive where you can stream or download them. Those not in the drive have links below. I would’ve liked to write more fully about each of these films, but it was a choice between that and getting this posted in a timely way. The films are mostly quite short, and I hope can speak for themselves. I’ve included some brief comments and recommendations for what to watch next if you’re new to these artists. They’re listed chronologically.

Cat’s Cradle (Stan Brakhage, 1959)

A classic from Brakhage’s early period. Watch on Vimeo. Watch next: Window Water Baby Moving (1959), Mothlight (1963), The Dante Quartet (1987).

The Cat (Johan van der Keuken, 1968)

A cute cat, and some thoughts on rebellious filmmaking from a political documentarian. Watch in the drive. His film The Palestinians (1975) is especially timely.

Ophelia / The Cat Lady (1969)

Cosmic kitty horror. Watch in the drive. (Note that these are two films in one file, both around a minute or less.)

Zip-Tone-Cat-Tune (Bill Brand, 1972)

A home movie of a cat subjected to formal processing to create a sort of musical structure. Watch in the drive. See also Brand’s Rate of Change (1972).

Kitch’s Last Meal (Carolee Schneemann, 1976)

The only feature length film in this program, and its centerpiece. Schneemann’s cat Kitch features in many of her films, including her best known work, Fuses (1967). This one is a freewheeling meditation on feminism and avant-garde film and on the companionship of a cat over many years. Watch in the drive.

If This Ain’t Heaven (Roberta Cantow, 1985)

A beautiful and experimentally structured documentary portrait of a man and the cat he found and adopted. Watch in the drive.

Cat Listening to Music (Chris Marker, 1990)

Marker’s love for cats appears throughout his filmography, both through their explicit presence and metaphorically, as in his 1977 masterpiece A Grin Without A Cat which explores the revolutionary politics of the late 60s and early 70s and the ultimate disappointment of socialist hopes. Here a cat sits on a piano and enjoys some music. Watch in the drive.

My Cat, My Garden, and 9/11 (Anne Charlotte Robertson, 2001)

Robertson is best known for her monumental and intensely personal diary film, Five Year Diary. This short standalone film is in the same style. Watch in the drive, but note that the file includes a number of Robertson’s shorts; this one starts at 37:20.

Close Quarters (Jim Jennings, 2004)

A major artist (if sometimes unheralded) in the NYC avant-garde, Jennings passed away in 2022 and his family has worked to restore and preserve his films. Many are available on his website, but this one is also in the drive. This may be my favorite of his works, but I also love Wall Street (1980), Painting the Town (1998), and many others. Please explore the ones available on his site!

Poem (Dan Browne, 2015)

Available on Browne’s Vimeo. See also Palmerston Blvd. (2017).

Back Yard (Arlin Golden, 2020)

Arlin Golden’s neighbor has some pretty disturbing ideas, but the cats don’t seem to care. Some NSFW language in this! Watch here.

Fur Film Vol. 1: I don’t own a cat (Erica Sheu and Tzuan Wu, 2021)

Erica Sheu has made some of the consistently strongest work on the recent festival circuit—I especially recommend Transcript (2019)—and I have reviews of a couple of her most recent films forthcoming in Tone Glow. I’m not familiar with the other work of Tzuan Wu, but I intend to change that soon. Watch here.

Neko (Maximilien Luc Proctor, 2021)

Proctor is one of the editors of Ultra Dogme, an essential resource for anyone interested in experimental film (you should subscribe and get access to great writing as well as a monthly program of streaming works). He’s also made many wonderful films, including this one about his cat, Emma. Watch it here.

Chuncho (Orange Tabby) (Jimmy Schaus, 2022)

Learn more about Jimmy’s work on his website. I also enjoyed his film Fuego Rápido (2022) which played at last year’s edition of Light Field. Check out Chuncho here.