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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Highlights From The Second Annual Minneapolis Internet Cat Video Film Festival


Grumpy Cat Takes The Golden Kitty

Thousands of feline fans gathered on Wednesday night at the Minneapolis State Fair Grandstand, for the second annual Cat Vid Fest, presented by Walker Art Center.

 After attracting over 10,000 fans last year, a reported 13,000 people bought tickets to sit around and watch cat videos together last night, and celebrate internet cat culture in real life. The event was also streamed live online by Animal Planet, for unfortunate souls (like myself) who weren't able to attend in purrson.
The three hour long program kicked-off with a (loooong) two hour introduction that included performances by Twin Cities band Brian Laidlaw & the Family Trade, and quirky dance duo, Koo Koo Kanga Roo. 


Brian Laidlaw

Comedian Julie Klausner served as the night's emcee, introducing appearances by noted feline viral video hit-makers such as Will Braden (Henri, Le Chat Noir), Charlie Schmidt (Keyboard Cat), Chris Torres (Nyan Cat), and Maddie Kelly (Kittens Inspired by Kittens), who all received Hall of Fame awards later in the evening.

 
From l to r; Charlie Schmidt, Maddie Kelly, Mike Bridavsky and Lil Bub, Chris Torres, The Bundesen's and Grumpy Cat, Will Braden.

In celebration of "the Great Minnesota Get-Together tradition," Animal Planet commissioned a butter cat sculpture, inspired by royalty (rumor has it that Tardar Sauce licked its ear).
Tardar Sauce cozying up to the butter cat sculpture.



No pets were allowed on the grounds per fair rules, but spectators were greeted to surprise appearances by some of the most famous cats in the world, including Minneapolis's own Pudge the Cat.
The highlight of the event, however, was an epic meeting of the minds between Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub.
Over 7,000 nominations were submitted for this year's festival, and a team of 70 jurors narrowed the field down to 65+ cat video clips that were shown in categories like Comedy, Drama, Foreign, Animated, and Musical. 

People's Choice award winners included the now classic Cat In A Shark Costume Chases A Duck While Riding A Roomba and Cat Licking Vacuum Cleaner, but the coveted 2013 Golden Kitty Award ultimately went to Grumpy Cat, who took home the Monopoly cat game piece inspired cat-uette, basically just for being her grumpy self.
Go Grumpy!

Of course, no event such as this would be complete without cat fashion, and people had no reservations about letting their feline freak flags fly. 
The night's festivities concluded with a fireworks celebration, which most cats probably would have hated.

 In case you missed it, Cat Vid Fest is hitting the road again this year. The full tour schedule will be posted tomorrow, August 30 on the Walker Art Center website.

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5 comments:

  1. SparkleAugust 29, 2013 at 1:47 PM

    I'm so mad at my human - she could not find where the live streaming was, so we missed it! Maybe next year she will be able to attend in person.

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  2. katsrusAugust 29, 2013 at 5:31 PM

    That sounds like so much fun!
    Sue B

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cat and DOG Chat With CarenAugust 29, 2013 at 7:03 PM

    oh wow you did one AMAZING POST!

    ReplyDelete
  4. CatsparellaAugust 29, 2013 at 7:19 PM

    @Sparkle I feel like they could have publicized it more? I only accidentally found out about the livestream right before it started, and I know both of us are pretty up on our cat news!

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  5. CatsparellaAugust 29, 2013 at 7:19 PM

    @Caren Thank you, my love! :)

    ReplyDelete