Dallas VideoFest is bringing cat videos back to the big screen at the Texas Theatre this August to kick off a new format for the long-running festival, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The festival, an inclusive selection of documentaries, narrative films, experimental shorts, and other media reflecting the eclectic tastes of founder Bart Weiss, will now roll out as a series across two months, rather than the weeklong format used in the past.
Here’s what that will look like, per a press release:
- August 24: Dallas VideoFest presents 2nd Annual CatFest aka #DallasCatFest at Texas Theatre
- September 7: New season starts Dallas VideoFest presents Frame of Mind on KERA-PBS, channel 13
- October 5-8: Dallas VideoFest presents DocuFest (documentaries)
- Oct. 14: Dallas VideoFest presents Kovacs Award at Alamo Drafthouse – Richardson
- Nov. 2-5: Dallas VideoFest presents AltFiction (narrative films and TV)
A quick glossary may be necessary here. CatFest is the sequel to last year’s Internet Cat Video Festival, itself a spinoff of an event conceived at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center. A feature-length reel of cat videos chosen by VideoFest, it replicates the communal experience of watching funny things on the internet with your friends on a grand scale. Cat video submissions are open until Aug. 1, making this your shot to turn your cat into a superstar. Proceeds from CatFest will benefit Operation Kindness.
Frame of Mind is the series of independent Texas films aired on KERA. This will be the program’s fourth season. The Kovacs Award, named for television pioneer Ernie Kovacs, is given to similarly visionary names in the world of video. DocuFest seems self-explanatory, as does AltFiction, after a little bit of thought.
From the press release, here’s Weiss on the format change.
“With so much going on in Dallas these days, it made sense to present Dallas VideoFest in separate parts over a few months – in one theater, in one auditorium. We will have one screen at one theater for the long weekend series inside the larger umbrella of Dallas VideoFest. This way, you don’t have to choose between 2 or 3 screenings going on at the same time. You can see all that the Festival has to offer (and, I can be in each screening to introduce them all, which is something I love to do!).”
Badges to all of the above are on sale now, and cat video submissions are open.
