A kitty with movie star moxie (guest blog)

In September 2007, Anthology Film Archives, downtown Manhattan's prestigious avant-garde repertory cinema, mourned the passing of its beloved mascot, a cat named Max.

The tortie girl, who enjoyed a good game of ping pong, showed up at Anthology's door seventeen years ago. By adopting her, Anthology enabled Max to live the dream of many hardcore cinephiles: being surrounded by celluloid art 24/7.

To mark Max's passing, tonight at 8 p.m. Anthology will screen a selection of cat-centric avant-garde films by Brakhage, Hollis Frampton, Joyce Wieland, Martha Colburn, and Pola Chapelle, including Frampton's "Maxwell's Demon," the film that gave Max her name.

According to Anthology's Stephanie Gray, Max's cinematic tastes were surprising. She was mesmerized by Stan Brakhage's "Dog Star Man," and showed a special interest in any movie with subtitles.

Gray notes that, by the end of her life, "Max had clocked more years at Anthology than any but our two stalwarts, founder and artistic directo Jonas Mekas and librarian and director of collections Robert Haller (and even they tended to go home at night)."

"Come help us give Max the classiest memorial of any cat in the repertory film world," reads Anthology's irresistible invitation. Cats are welcome to come pay their respects, admission free.
See you there >^..^< – Julia Szabo
Julia Szabo manages the Cinematic Dog blog on Fetchdog.com