#CatVidFest 2012 Draws 10,000!

Remember Henri? He’s the somber star of Henri 2, Paw de Deux and several other inventive, thought-provoking and mind-boggingly brilliant cat videos. Well, now he’s not only a moviestar, but a decorated one at that.

More than 10,000 feline movie buffs gathered together last week at the Walker Art Center’s Open Field in Minneapolis for the first ever Internet Cat Video Festival and bestow the people’s choice award, the Golden Kitty, to Will Braden, creator of Henri 2, Paw de Deux. 

Now Henri and his creator are hitting the big time—Animal Planet. The film will be played during the season finale of My Cat From Hell on September 8 at 8 pm. 

Braden, a filmmaker from Seattle, makes his living from Henri, or le Chat Noir—there’s an online store dedicated to selling Henri-themed T-shirts, mugs, posters, laptop skins, etc., which makes $1,000 a week! 

In addition to the Golden Kitty winner, there were more than 10,000 online nominations submitted from around the world. The categories included comedy, drama, foreign, animated, musical, documentary, art house and more. 

Watch the other nominations from the festival, follow Open Field on Twitter @OpenField and check out their Facebook.

Congrats Henri!

—Morgan Gibson, Editorial Assistant

#CatVidFest 2012

Feline fanatics of the world—unite! The first ever Internet Cat Video Festival will celebrate the funny, forlorn and just plain cute videos of the furry, stealthy creatures at the end of next month in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The festival has already received 7,000 submissions—7,000!—since they opened nominations a little less than a month ago. You have just three more days to nominate your favorite Internet cat video. For inspiration, watch our favorite feline film, Henri 2, Paw de Deux (above).

For more info, follow the festival’s venue, Walker Art Center’s Open Field, on Twitter @OpenField and check out their Facebook. We can’t wait to see the winners!

Fin.

—Morgan Gibson, Editorial Assistant