How a night out laughing at funny felines is raising money for a Cardiff animal rescue shelter
CAT videos are a popular diversion on our phones, but an upcoming film is offering the chance to watch these comical animals on the big screen, and raise money for them in the process.
Screening around the world, Cat Video Fest will be shown at Odeon Cardiff on February 17, with 10 percent of ticket profits going to a small rescue shelter in Rumney.
Tucked away behind a decorating shop, the team at Anna’s Cat Rescue had never heard of the film until they received an email just a few weeks ago offering some financial help.
“It just came out of the blue,” said volunteer Deveney Lucas, who plans to watch the film on Monday.
“It’s nice to go and just spend 75 minutes laughing at cats and it’s nice that someone’s thought about us and is prepared to give us a cut of the proceeds.”
The shelter depends on fundraising to keep going, so Mrs Lucas says any donations, no matter the size, go a long way in support their work.
“It’s a couple of car boot sales that I don’t have to do at 6am on a Sunday morning. Our vet bill last year was £62,000. That’s a lot of car boot sales.”
Now retired, Mrs Lucas can spend more time volunteering at the shelter, which rehomed 700 cats last year, and is often at full capacity.
“Last July, we had 100 kittens in here with their mummies because over Covid many people got cats and didn’t bother neutering them.”
Part of Cat Video Fest’s mission is to support local cat rescue centres wherever the film is shown.
“The DNA of Cat Video Fest is that we don’t put the show on anywhere where there’s no beneficiaries,” said director Will Braden, speaking from Seattle.
Having first gained popularity in the US and Canada in 2016, this is the first year the film has had a wide release in the UK, outside of a few one-off screenings.
“This is the first time where we’ve really been able to go out to dozens and dozens of theatres to try to spread it out.”
Mr Braden now uses the film to support smaller shelters, rather than bigger charities.
“For a local little shelter in a little town in Texas, getting $1,000 makes a huge difference.”
He hopes that when the film partners with a shelter, it will benefit every year when the new version of the film is released.
Working on next year’s instalment involves watching around 15,000 cat videos but Mr Braden says the call for video submissions is still open.
“If anybody sees the film in Cardiff and has a great time, there’s still plenty of time to be in next year’s reel”.
- Cat Video Fest will be shown at Odeon Cardiff on Monday, February 17. To submit a cat video for next year, got to catvideofest.com.
- More details about the work done by Anna’s Cat Rescue can be found on their website.
