The Films

Director: Pargol Zareisefiddashti

Country of Origin: Iran

Runtime: 4:30

Synopsis:

Director Bio:

Pargol Zareisefiddashti is an Iranian filmmaker who often focuses on women's issues in Iranian society. She studied film directing at Sepehr University of Esfahan. Throughout her career, she has participated in several Iranian film festivals, particularly in the short film and experimental film categories. Notably, she won the Best Short Film prize for her film "Self-Portrait" at a short film festival in Iran in 2014. Between 2017 and 2023, she continued to participate in local film festivals. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, she is also a film college teacher and actively works to support and promote talented female filmmakers.

Director: Maya Ali Ezzeddine

Country of Origin: United States

Runtime: 1:25

Synopsis: A cat hears noises coming from a box and decides to investigate.

Director Bio:

My name is Maya Ezzeddine, and I am a recent graduate from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. As a filmmaker, my goal is to highlight underrepresented stories and create a space where they can be heard. But in my free time, I enjoy creating animation shorts, especially those featuring my little feline friends! For behind-the-scenes insights on how these shorts were made, please check out my Instagram film page: @directedbymayaa

Director: Maya Ali Ezzeddine

Country of Origin: United States

Runtime: 0:56

Synopsis: An animation short film about a cat trying to get their owners attention by attacking their laptop.

Director Bio:

My name is Maya Ezzeddine, and I am a recent graduate from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. As a filmmaker, my goal is to highlight underrepresented stories and create a space where they can be heard. But in my free time, I enjoy creating animation shorts, especially those featuring my little feline friends! For behind-the-scenes insights on how these shorts were made, please check out my Instagram film page: @directedbymayaa

Director: Francine Louise Dulay

Country of Origin: Canada

Runtime: 10:33

Synopsis: The heartwarming story of “Cleocatra Café," a cat cafe run by Vietnamese owners who serves a good cup of coffee, and makes a difference in the lives of stray cats. Explore their unique journey as they work with “Tails of Freedom” to rescue and provide a loving space for these cats to find their forever homes.

Director Bio:

Francine Dulay is a Filipino-Canadian filmmaker based in Winnipeg. Recently, she graduated from the Digital Film and Media Production course at RRC Polytechnic. Her filmmaking journey began with the Sisler CREATE program, where she worked with a small team on a short docu-series for Bell Fibe TV1. In addition to acting in a few short films, her most significant works include directing a short documentary about a local business, Cleocatra Cafe, and a short thriller titled “Outside Looking In.” Francine is a filmmaker with a passion for creating compelling and impactful stories through narrative filmmaking.

Director: Anita George

Country of Origin: United States

Runtime: 7:30

Synopsis: In a house covered with papery flowers, a woman with white hair, two cats and a tiny wolf songstress learns a valuable lesson about the enduring power of love.

Director Bio:

Anita George considers herself to be very fortunate, indeed, to be able to write and direct short films in collaboration with wonderfully gifted artists both in front of and behind the camera.  Projects among her favourites are “The Gift of the Magpie” (starring Helen Slayton-Hughes – Ethel Beavers from “Parks and Recreation”), “Field Trip”, the Holocaust-themed “Winter Rose”, the animated short “In the House of Paper Flowers” and the “Time Capsule” segment for the Emmy-nominated Los Angeles County “Holiday Celebration”.

Anita is an avid gardener and founding member of the Pasadena Saxophone Quartet.

Director: Kim Best

Country of Origin: United States

Runtime: 5:50

Synopsis: A cat given to daytime napping is woefully misunderstood, but doggedly seeks a solution.

Director Bio:

Kim Best worked for 20 years as a science/medical writer and editor for daily newspapers and an international nonprofit. She earned her Certificate in Documentary Arts in 2010 from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham, NC (USA). In short films, she shares the work and successes of worthy causes and individuals; and tells off-beat and often comedic tales.

Director Bio:

Jasmine Carpentier is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in 2D and stop-motion animation. Their artistic journey began with music lessons at Ozias-Leduc High School, where they learned the clarinet and developed a particular attachment to it. Despite their love for music, they maintained a strong interest for visual arts as well as cinema. Their style would come to fruition during their time at the Cégep of Drummondville to complete their double DEC in visual arts and music. After multiple trials and errors, they realized that the best way to bring all of their interests together was to progress into the animation industry. Now a student in fine arts (with a major in film animation) at Concordia University, she created several animated short films such as Have A Good Day, Blind Date and Les Bons Moments. They’re involved in each step of their films and collaborate with a vast number of artists from several specialties.

Director Bio:

As the co-owner of the nonprofit cat sanctuary, Purradise Ranch in Phoenix, AZ, since 2011, Priscilla Dean discovered a creative outlet with this work: the cats themselves.

By filming the sanctuary kitties on a green screen and incorporating them into short parodies of movies and TV shows, she created unique, cat-pun entertainment for the whole family. This endeavour led to winning the “Best Editing” award at the 2023 Old Towne Film Festival for her film, “Adventures in Purradise.” With the help of professional voiceovers, Priscilla completed the writing, videography and editing of each of the stories, which are designed to integrate a pawsitive message to the viewers.

The “cast” of over 60 cats are all rescued kitties who call Purradise Ranch their furever home. Priscilla is honoured that her feline humour is able to lend a helping paw to our furry neighbours at Cats Manitoba!

Director Bio:

Bridget Connell is a filmmaker based in New York who loves telling stories that center on women and sometimes cats (: She has a professional background in analog filmmaking with 16mm film and a variety of credits from the camera department to post-production. Bridget is currently working on a variety of film projects as well as a play about feminism in the new age of technology.

Director Bio:

Jessie is drawn to sharing unique and distinctive stories through documentary film. She has been a documentary filmmaker for over 10 years and premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as a producer (Gaviota: The End of Southern California, 2017). She grew up in Santa Barbara and is a graduate of the Masters of Visual Anthropology (MVA) program at USC. Jessie currently leads the video production team at Madecraft in Santa Barbara, CA and volunteers at the Santa Barbara County Animal Services Shelter.

Director Bio:

Kim Best worked for 20 years as a science/medical writer and editor for daily newspapers and an international nonprofit. She earned her Certificate in Documentary Arts in 2010 from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in Durham, NC (USA). In short films, she shares the work and successes of worthy causes and individuals; and tells off-beat and often comedic tales.

Director Bio:

Joan Gratz is an Academy Award winning director of animated short films and commercials. Her films range in content through painterly expressions of poetry, improvised abstraction, and animated social documentary. The technique she pioneered is “Claypainting.” Working directly before the camera, she applies bits of clay, blends colors and etches fine lines to create a seamless flow of images.

Director Bio:

Born in 1978., Budapest, Hungary. Attila studied film-theoretical studies at ELTE University between 1999-2003. During his education period, he produced several award-winning short films. Since then, he has become a full-time film editor.

In 2017, he was nominated for "The Best Editor" for his first Long Feature Film editing: #Atfirstsight / #Sohavégetnemérős, by the Hungarian Film Week.

Director Bio:

"I have a BS in Digital Cinema from UVU, and I have worked professionally doing videography for four years. Wildlife and conservation are passions of mine, and I wish to educate and inspire others through the stories animals have to share.

This film is important to me. It is the result of a year-long journey of learning on this subject. The involvement doesn't stop with this film for me, and I hope others are inspired to get involved with cat rescue after watching it."