We’re Opening A Special Cat Cafe To Celebrate ‘Kedi’ At Video Junkee 2017
This film is a must-see if you love cats.
Catch YouTube screenings, panels and more at Video Junkee.
Cats don’t have a great reputation in Hollywood. They’re usually depicted on film as megalomaniacs threatening to take over the world, or sitting creepily in the arms of some bad guy who’s doing the same. Meanwhile dogs are befriending everyone and literally saving people’s lives.
As Glenn Dunks wrote for us earlier this year, “history is littered with heroic cats, but instead we get 11 Lassie movies, two Lassie radio plays, and 13 Lassie television series. Get over yourself, Lassie!”
In the new film Kedi, the tables are finally turned. So we’re bringing both the film and a celebratory cat cafe to Video Junkee 2017.
The critically-acclaimed documentary, now released through YouTube Red, follows the real-life cats of Istanbul who bring joy into people’s lives. The film tracks the city through the eyes of several cats and has been described by director Ceyda Torun as “a love letter” to both the cats and Istanbul itself.
Though Kedi has had a small festival run around the world, it’s now a pretty cute fit for YouTube (a site that has no shortage of cats). The streaming platform has acquired the indie film in a move similar to Netflix’s recent headline-making exploits; it’s a promising development for a movie that never got wide general release in Australia.
If you’re not subscribed to YouTube Red yet, you can catch a screening of Kedi at our inaugural Video Junkee festival this month. The film will be screening at Carriageworks on July 29, and there will also be a special cat cafe on-site for the duration of the festival (July 28-29). You can come along, pet the cats, help yourself to turkish refreshments, and learn a thing or two about the future of video.
The broader Video Junkee program includes talks with Yael Stone from Orange Is The New Black, BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob Waksberg and more, along with another YouTube Red screening of This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous.
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Grab a ticket to Kedi here. Check out the full Video Junkee program here.