Here at Untapped Cities, we love to keep tabs on New York City’s feline residents, so we are excited to announce the New York City premiere of the award winning documentary The Cat Rescuers, which shines light on one of New York City’s long-standing issues – the estimated 500,000 abandoned and feral cats that roam the streets, and the passionate volunteers working to save them. The Cat Rescuers recently made its world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival where it won the Zelda Penzel “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” Award, and will make its New York City debut this weekend at DOC NYC, a documentary film festival running November 8th through November 15th.
Image courtesy of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence
The Cat Rescuers highlights the efforts of four diverse, full-time professionals who live in Brooklyn and dedicate their free time to saving the feral cats of the city. Sassee, a rapper turned legal investigator, Claire, an award-wining painter and graphic designer, Tara, a nurse and health care administrator, and Stu, an electronics engineer, all started out with little experience in the field of felines and soon learned the tricks of the trade while discovering the large scale of problem. There are no official policies in place to aid the abandoned animals or curb their growing population. The film follows these four animal welfare activists night and day as they hit the streets, backyards and alleys of Brooklyn to save the city’s cats. As the film unfolds, it shows the extraordinary skill, resilience and humor these passionate urban heroes bring to this challenging work, and how it has changed their lives.
Image courtesy of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence
The Cat Rescuers was directed by the award winning directors Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence. Fruchtman is a director, producer and editor of documentaries and television programs. He won the 2002 Sundance Film Festival Documentary Director award for Sister Helen, which aired on HBO, and has won multiple Emmys for his work with PBS. Lawrence is a producer-director whose documentaries have appeared on PBS, MTV and A&E. He’s produced three films for director Michael Apted including Married in America, an ongoing documentary about nine marriages. In their careers, Fruchtman and Lawrence’s work has brought attention to various issues concerning human and animal rights and the arts.
Image courtesy of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence
You can check out the trailer for The Cat Rescuershere and see a two clips from the film below. In the first clip, volunteer rescuer Claire tends to two new kittens. In the second, Tara digs her cat shelters out of the snow following a terrible storm. To attend a screening of The Cat Rescuers, head to DOC NYC website to secure your tickets for the November 10th at the SVA Theatre or the November 15th screening at the IFC Center.
Image courtesy of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence
Nicole Saraniero is the Insider-in-Chief at Untapped New York, leading our Untapped New York Insiders membership program. Nicole graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Science in Televis
Image courtesy of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence
