Six Cat Videos by Icons of Experimental Film

Cat videos are the currency of the attention economy, the bedrock of the Internet. Even before the invention of film, people were compelled to make pictures of cats move. Cat lovers are simply freaks driven by an unstoppable drive to collect footage of their darling companions, and these prestigious experimental filmmakers are no exception. Here are six short cat films you can watch right now, each an intimate study of our feline friends through the eye of a different great artist. 

And if you can’t get enough of cats, Hyperreal Film Club is putting on our own experimental screening of the so-bad-it’s-good classic Cats (2019) this Valentine’s Day. This once-in-a-lifetime event will be an over-the-top 4D dinner-and-a-show extravaganza. See you at the Jellicle Ball! 

Zip-Tone-Cat-Tune (1972, Bill Brand)

Anthology Film Archives darling Bill Brand is an experimental video artist and activist famous for one of the top public works in the United States: the Masstransiscope subway zoetrope in New York City. His material-minded approach is highlighted in Zip-Tone-Cat-Tune, where a home movie of a cat is reprocessed through Zipatone, a brand of thin plastic film that creates a halftone dot screen effect. This delightful short is packed with color and movement, and reminds me of the warm dark starbursts you see when you rub your eyes.

Cat’s Cradle (1959, Stan Brakhage)

Stan Brakhage is one of the giants of 20th-century experimental film. His work has influenced a wide variety of artists, including Sonic Youth, Martin Scorsese, and South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Brakhage’s massive body of short films is expressive and lyrical, employing techniques such as collage, handheld camerawork, and painting and scratching celluloid. Cat’s Cradle is a classic example of his poetic style, cutting home video footage of him and his wife together with clips of their cat Max watching them fight and make up. Cat owners know the intimate role our pets play in our personal relationships, bearing witness to our highs and lows but offering no solutions.

Cat Food (1967, Joyce Wieland)

Joyce Wieland is a Canadian mixed media artist and experimental filmmaker who rose to prominence in the second-wave feminist movement. She was originally a painter, and her art came to incorporate a wide range of materials and media, such as fiber arts, collage, sculpture, and film. Cat Food is a 13 minute short of a cat going absolutely bananas on a whole fish, enhanced by some artful editing. Very enjoyable for those of us with the brain parasite that makes us stare slack-jawed at our cats all day. 

Tribute to Zgougou the Cat (2002, Agnès Varda)

The grandmother of French New Wave, Agnès Varda, is known for her heartfelt, personal, and DIY approach to film. She was also a great lover of cats, and they are featured in many of her works. Tribute to Zgougou the Cat is a sweet two-minute homage to the cat she shared with fellow Left Bank icon and husband Jacques Demy. Varda’s soothing voice narrates relatable stories of cat stubbornness, and fans of the artist will enjoy this glimpse into her charming personal life. 

Cat Listening to Music (1990, Chris Marker)

Chris Marker is another Left Bank New Wave figure, the film essayist behind classic experimental works such as La Jetée (1962) and Sans Soleil (1983). Marker is an elusive and bohemian leftist whose work has taken him all over the globe. Cat Listening to Music is the first film in Bestaire, a trilogy of animal shorts Marker describes as haikus. It features his beloved cat, Guillame-en-Egypt, sleepily listening to a piece of music while lying on a piano.

The Private Life of a Cat (1946, Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid)

Ukrainian-American avant-garde trailblazer Maya Deren was an experimental choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, writer, and photographer. Her short films Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) and At Land (1944) inspired many of the other artists on this list, and The Private Life of a Cat is the oldest cat short featured here. Like Meshes of the Afternoon, this project is a collaboration with her husband Alexander Hammid, one of the most influential experimental filmmakers in American history. Deren’s signature dream logic, informed by gestalt psychology and symbolist poetry, is not present in this fairly straightforward piece on the life of house cats. But given that this was released in an era before the widespread availability of cute cat videos, I think Deren and Hammid were simply providing a vital service for the cat lovers of their time.