Out today in the Irish Film Institute and Light House Cinema in Dublin and the QFT in Belast is acclaimed documentary Kedi. The documentary, which tells the story of the many stray cats that live in Istanbul, will soon embark on a nationwide tour, including a stop at the 29th Galway Film Fleadh on Saturday, July 15th.
Hundreds of thousands of cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich. Claiming no owners, these animals live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame – and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could.
One of the most remarkable things about the build-up to the film’s release has been the number of people who have been sharing pictures of their cats on social media. That being said it’s not hard to encourage most cat-owners to post pictures of their cats! But this time there’s a good excuse, as both QFT and Light House cinema are running competitions asking people to send in pics of their cats to win tickets to the film.
Making Kedi proved to be a true technical challenge. The cinematographers constructed a special rig for filming the cats at street level. The filmmakers worked with local residents to get access to continue filming some of the cats when they moved from public to private property. The director and crew initially selected thirty-five cats that the movie might focus on. They filmed nineteen of them, then chose seven to be featured in the final cut of the film.