Brooklyn Cat Cafe and Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC) are excited to announce our second annual Feline Film Festival!

BBAWC and Brooklyn Cat Cafe have worked to rescue and adopt over 600 cats from the cafe since opening in May of 2016. As Brooklyn’s first Cat Cafe and the only cat cafe run and operated by a non-profit in New York City, we are proud of the outreach and education we provide to animal lovers and those interested in helping animals in our community. We know that a film festival celebrating cats, animal rescue and the impact each of these topics has will be amazing.

“When looking back to the earliest days of cinema, it wasn’t much of a surprise to learn that cats have been popping up and used quite regularly (and consistently) throughout film history. It’s interesting to see how filmmakers have (at times) struggled with and creatively innovated ways to capture and portray cats in their films.”^ Who knew cat videos started back in 1894 by Thomas Edison? Help us celebrate the wide range of portrayals of cats in film with all activities raising money to help Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition (BBAWC) and the Brooklyn Cat Cafe’s animal rescue efforts. The festival will kick off with an award gala on March 25th, Films will be screened March 26th-29th.

^https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/famous-cat-in-film-history/

Awards & Prizes

Winning clips will be screened on during our Feline Film Festival, March 26th-29th in Brooklyn, NY. Prizes will be announced and awarded at a reception at Brooklyn Cat Cafe, Wednesday March 25th. Winners and honorable mentions will be screened at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe the weekend of March 26th.

All submitted videos will be juried, then the selected films and videos will be screened at the event.

The judging panel will award a cash prize, which will be announced at a later date, to the top clip of the evening, and award various prizes to second and third place clips in each category.

Film Artists of official selections will receive two invitations to the Wednesday night reception and two tickets to the screening block in which their film will be presented. Additional festival tickets can also be purchased in advance.

The judging panel will be announced on Feline Film Festivals website: www.felinefilmfestival.com.

Rules & Terms

Those interested in participating must submit clips that meet the following criteria:

- Run a maximum of twenty minutes for short film submissions and five minutes for cat videos, including credits (no minimum running time).

- All conceivable approaches – including experimental and narrative – are acceptable. The clips can be shot in any film or video format, in either color or black-and-white.

- Clips must be an authentic, original works created by the contest entrants as the videographer.

- Filmmaker must have secured rights to any music, words, or images used in the work.

- Filmmaker will retain ownership rights to submitted works, but by submitting a clip to the competition, the owner grants Brooklyn Cat Cafe and BBAWC the right to screen the work and use for future Brooklyn Cat Cafe or BBAWC purposes.

-Submission of a clip does not guarantee its use.

- All films must be submitted using FilmFreeway with a secure online screener link. An entry fee of $35 is required for film submissions ($25 for early submission) and $15 ($10 early submission) for cat video submissions. All proceeds will help support animal rescue.

-Early submission due by December 13th

-Regular submission due by March 6th

-Officially selected films will be notified on or before March 20th.

-All officially selected films must submit at least 1 high-resolution still for use in festival publications.

-All submission fees must be paid in US funds. All submissions are final, no refunds will be issued.

- By submitting to the Feline Film Festival, submitter gives permission to the festival to allow the film to be shown to attending press, at festival parties and at other festival related events.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
The individual or corporation (entrant) submitting the film to the Feline Film Festival hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening. Please ensure if you are submitting a film that contains copyrighted material by anyone other than yourself, that you have obtained festival clearance for that material used. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Feline Film Festival, its organizers, judges, sponsors, and partners, individually and collectively, from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees, and costs of the court) which may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to submitted material. The burden of determining that any material is not protected by copyright, trademark, rights of privacy, publicity or any other proprietary rights rests with the entrant. The entrant shall bear the sole liability for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from such a submission. If your work is accepted into the Feline Film Festival you agree to allow us to use all or a portion of your film (including images, sound and clips) within our promotions and screenings; and you allow us to provide your film to media in promotion of your film and the festival. We may, at our discretion, transfer all or a portion of your submitted work to a compilation for festival screening which may be used for festival promotional purposes. You have read and agree to our general rules and terms and conditions. You agree that failure to adhere to any of the general rules or terms and conditions may result in disqualification for which no refund for entry fee(s) is due.