Finally it’s time to celebrate all of the hours spent at your desk consumed by kitten videos; fingers poised to click that window closed should your boss happen to saunter by.
Walker Arts Center would like you to know that you are not alone; there are others like you, and on August 30—at the first Internet Cat Video Film Festival—you can squeal with excitement while watching amazing, adorable, hilarious cat videos TOGETHER!
The festival will be held at Minneapolis’ Walker Arts Center as part of their Open Field festivities—and here are a few words with the festival’s creator, Katie Czarneicki.

How were you able to convince Walker Arts Center that the Cat Film Festival fit into the mission of Walker Arts Center, and more specifically into the Open Field festivities?
Open Field wholeheartedly supports these ideas behind #catvidfest of connecting with a new community, doing a social experiment, playing and having a good time together. This would not be possible without this specific programmatic context. The Walker is an art center, and as such, it’s very open to new ideas, addressing cultural phenomena, the Internet, public engagement and social practices. This is not coming from a curator in the film department. This is coming from the community programs side of things, and as such, providing a new access point to a community of online cat-video viewers that might not otherwise come to the Walker. Open Field is what we make together and #catvidfest epitomizes this ideal.

What do you think will be the most positive aspect of watching these videos as a group, as opposed to the solitary way they are generally viewed?
I’m not sure – this really is an experiment. But I think that joy can be as contagious as laughter and hopefully there might be some sort of cathartic release watching these silly videos all together in a big open space on a big screen. Normally I feel as though you muffle your laughs or hide your surprise when watching these at your desk at work, so hopefully this open celebration of them will allow for more open expression and a positive shared experience.

How does one go about nominating a video that they want played? And are there any specific cats/videos you’ll be nominating?
You can nominate your favorite cat video here, through July 30. We will also be having a “Best Picture” award that you, the public, can vote for online (www.walkerart.org/catvidfest for details and link) in the first week of August. The winner will be revealed at the end of #catvidfest on Aug. 30.
I’ve actually chosen not to nominate any videos myself since I’ve been spending all of my time watching videos (over 7,000 and counting!) that everyone else has nominated. We want this to truly be a community project – be it an online community and/or the real live community that will show up on Aug. 30. And, most of my personal favorites have already been nominated!

Do you have any of your own feline stars at home?
My husband and I have two cats, Max and Ron, but they have yet to appear in a cat video. I’m not much of a videographer or filmmaker. The cats do, however, appear quite often on instagram… #catlady4eva.

How is this event going to be structured exactly?
We are setting up a large movie screen at the base of the Open Field hill so people can bring blankets and chairs and set up all over. We are dividing the videos into CATegories (sorry, I really can’t help it) similar to those you might find at a film festival like comedy, documentary, foreign, etc. And they will be played one category after another with a “catnap” in the middle and concluding with the reveal of “Best Picture”. #catvidfest will start just after dark, at about 8:30pm, and last an hour or so. It is also the last activity of our Open Field end-of–summer celebration, Harvest Party. So actually there will be other programming happening leading up to #catvidfest!

So on a serious note, who is your favorite Internet cat…and why?
Oh, I couldn’t pick a favorite– it’s too hard! They are all so cute and hilarious. I love ‘em all, I really do. (Just don’t tell my Max and Ron that I’ve been seeing other cats online!)

More information about this event can also be found via Walker Arts press release located here, or by visiting Walker Arts Center’s blog.