Mar 29, 2024
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Front Page, Industry News

CBC gets a little CAT CRAZED

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

The first recorded examples of cat worship occurred almost 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt. From the time of the Pharaohs, human beings have lived closely with cats, the only animal on earth to be domesticated voluntarily. The relationship may have began as a way to control vermin, but it has blossomed into the most popular human-animal association in the world. Millions of us keep cats close to us and admire them for their beauty, grace, and loving nature, but there is one documentary that tells us that it’s time to get our collective head out of the clouds of fluffy kitten fur.

Cat Crazed is an irreverent take on the world’s most popular pet and an exploration into stray cats and cat overpopulation. Some 100 million cats, domestic and wild, roam the North American landscape, killing an estimated 1 billion birds a year – and forcing well-meaning humans to take sides in a bitterly polarized cat-bird war. 

Why do millions of cats live, quite literally, in the lap of luxury, while tens of millions more are abandoned to lead short, miserable feral lives, foraging for food and shelter?

Filmmaker Maureen Palmer crisscrosses North America in search of a few answers and meets up with more than a few eccentric characters on both sides of the fence, from a visit to the world’s largest no-kill shelter in Richmond, BC to Texas where strays are shot. Adding his well-known animation style to the film is Canada’s own lovable alleged cat-hater, Cordell Barker. Barker made his first film, The Cat Came Back, in 1988. The short, in which an irate cat owner tries to get rid of his unwanted cat in all manner of ways until they both end up dead, was a huge audience favourite and garnered 16 awards in addition to picking up an Oscar nomination. Today it is one of the NFB’s Top Ten downloaded films. 

“Anyone who has seen my first film, The Cat Came Back, may find it hard to believe I’m a cat lover. But I am. Ever since I made that film more than 20 years ago, I’ve seen the problem of abandoned cats grow exponentially. But we humans tend not to change our behavior when hammered over the head with a message. I think social satire and humour can accomplish so much more,” says Barker from his Winnipeg studio.

It’s become clear that we don’t have a cat problem, we have a human problem. The species at the top of the food chain needs to be accountable for the situation and get a grip on practical, humane solutions that can save the lives of both cats and birds. The film lands upon a simple and, so far, successful solution that is changing the animal rescue world: license cats the way we do dogs.

While Cat Crazed does not have as many amusingly wacky cat-ladies as some cat documentaries released in the past year, it does have its humorous side. The addition of 17 separate animation segments to the journalistic news-hour format makes for an entertaining piece that has our pet’s best interest at heart, even if it doesn’t seem very cat-friendly at the beginning.

Maureen Palmer’s new CBC TV Doc Zone project, Cat Crazed, will air first up in the new season tonight, Thursday, January 6th at 9 pm and will get two additional showings on sister network CBC News Network, Friday, January 7 at 10 pm ET/PT, and on Sunday, January 9 at 5 pm ET/PT.

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Front Page, Industry News

CBC gets a little CAT CRAZED

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

The first recorded examples of cat worship occurred almost 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt. From the time of the Pharaohs, human beings have lived closely with cats, the only animal on earth to be domesticated voluntarily. The relationship may have began as a way to control vermin, but it has blossomed into the most popular human-animal association in the world. Millions of us keep cats close to us and admire them for their beauty, grace, and loving nature, but there is one documentary that tells us that it’s time to get our collective head out of the clouds of fluffy kitten fur.

Cat Crazed is an irreverent take on the world’s most popular pet and an exploration into stray cats and cat overpopulation. Some 100 million cats, domestic and wild, roam the North American landscape, killing an estimated 1 billion birds a year – and forcing well-meaning humans to take sides in a bitterly polarized cat-bird war. 

Why do millions of cats live, quite literally, in the lap of luxury, while tens of millions more are abandoned to lead short, miserable feral lives, foraging for food and shelter?

Filmmaker Maureen Palmer crisscrosses North America in search of a few answers and meets up with more than a few eccentric characters on both sides of the fence, from a visit to the world’s largest no-kill shelter in Richmond, BC to Texas where strays are shot. Adding his well-known animation style to the film is Canada’s own lovable alleged cat-hater, Cordell Barker. Barker made his first film, The Cat Came Back, in 1988. The short, in which an irate cat owner tries to get rid of his unwanted cat in all manner of ways until they both end up dead, was a huge audience favourite and garnered 16 awards in addition to picking up an Oscar nomination. Today it is one of the NFB’s Top Ten downloaded films. 

“Anyone who has seen my first film, The Cat Came Back, may find it hard to believe I’m a cat lover. But I am. Ever since I made that film more than 20 years ago, I’ve seen the problem of abandoned cats grow exponentially. But we humans tend not to change our behavior when hammered over the head with a message. I think social satire and humour can accomplish so much more,” says Barker from his Winnipeg studio.

It’s become clear that we don’t have a cat problem, we have a human problem. The species at the top of the food chain needs to be accountable for the situation and get a grip on practical, humane solutions that can save the lives of both cats and birds. The film lands upon a simple and, so far, successful solution that is changing the animal rescue world: license cats the way we do dogs.

While Cat Crazed does not have as many amusingly wacky cat-ladies as some cat documentaries released in the past year, it does have its humorous side. The addition of 17 separate animation segments to the journalistic news-hour format makes for an entertaining piece that has our pet’s best interest at heart, even if it doesn’t seem very cat-friendly at the beginning.

Maureen Palmer’s new CBC TV Doc Zone project, Cat Crazed, will air first up in the new season tonight, Thursday, January 6th at 9 pm and will get two additional showings on sister network CBC News Network, Friday, January 7 at 10 pm ET/PT, and on Sunday, January 9 at 5 pm ET/PT.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Front Page, Industry News

CBC gets a little CAT CRAZED

By TO411 staff writer Daisy Maclean

The first recorded examples of cat worship occurred almost 5000 years ago in ancient Egypt. From the time of the Pharaohs, human beings have lived closely with cats, the only animal on earth to be domesticated voluntarily. The relationship may have began as a way to control vermin, but it has blossomed into the most popular human-animal association in the world. Millions of us keep cats close to us and admire them for their beauty, grace, and loving nature, but there is one documentary that tells us that it’s time to get our collective head out of the clouds of fluffy kitten fur.

Cat Crazed is an irreverent take on the world’s most popular pet and an exploration into stray cats and cat overpopulation. Some 100 million cats, domestic and wild, roam the North American landscape, killing an estimated 1 billion birds a year – and forcing well-meaning humans to take sides in a bitterly polarized cat-bird war. 

Why do millions of cats live, quite literally, in the lap of luxury, while tens of millions more are abandoned to lead short, miserable feral lives, foraging for food and shelter?

Filmmaker Maureen Palmer crisscrosses North America in search of a few answers and meets up with more than a few eccentric characters on both sides of the fence, from a visit to the world’s largest no-kill shelter in Richmond, BC to Texas where strays are shot. Adding his well-known animation style to the film is Canada’s own lovable alleged cat-hater, Cordell Barker. Barker made his first film, The Cat Came Back, in 1988. The short, in which an irate cat owner tries to get rid of his unwanted cat in all manner of ways until they both end up dead, was a huge audience favourite and garnered 16 awards in addition to picking up an Oscar nomination. Today it is one of the NFB’s Top Ten downloaded films. 

“Anyone who has seen my first film, The Cat Came Back, may find it hard to believe I’m a cat lover. But I am. Ever since I made that film more than 20 years ago, I’ve seen the problem of abandoned cats grow exponentially. But we humans tend not to change our behavior when hammered over the head with a message. I think social satire and humour can accomplish so much more,” says Barker from his Winnipeg studio.

It’s become clear that we don’t have a cat problem, we have a human problem. The species at the top of the food chain needs to be accountable for the situation and get a grip on practical, humane solutions that can save the lives of both cats and birds. The film lands upon a simple and, so far, successful solution that is changing the animal rescue world: license cats the way we do dogs.

While Cat Crazed does not have as many amusingly wacky cat-ladies as some cat documentaries released in the past year, it does have its humorous side. The addition of 17 separate animation segments to the journalistic news-hour format makes for an entertaining piece that has our pet’s best interest at heart, even if it doesn’t seem very cat-friendly at the beginning.

Maureen Palmer’s new CBC TV Doc Zone project, Cat Crazed, will air first up in the new season tonight, Thursday, January 6th at 9 pm and will get two additional showings on sister network CBC News Network, Friday, January 7 at 10 pm ET/PT, and on Sunday, January 9 at 5 pm ET/PT.

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Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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