Life Features

We’ve heard of some strange or stupid festivals in our time, but surely one revolving around funny cat videos takes the biscuit.

Admittedly, festivals dedicated to strange pursuits such as baby jumping or wife carrying are nearly as bad, but they’re a whisker away from being as bizarre as the Cat Video festival that took place in Minnesota earlier this week.

According to AFP, 10,000 people made their way to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis late on Thursday evening for the festival, which is thought to be the only one of its kind – we’d be fairly certain of that – in the world.

Because of the sheer amount of people entertained by that sort of thing, there are hundreds of ‘funny’ cat videos on YouTube and there were over 10,000 entries in the competition to win a prize known as the Golden Kitty.

After an online voting process, 70 were put forward for screening at the festival and the gong eventually went to a short film entitled "Henri 2, Paw de Deux", made by Seattle filmmaker Will Braden, who has really landed on his feet with this award.

Shot in black and white with a moody soundtrack, the film focusses on the contemplation of his existence by star of the show Henri, his thoughts transmitted via a voiceover which runs throughout the two-minute piece.

The clip (which you can see below) has already garnered nearly three and half million views and although it’s far from purr-fect, it’s worth a look, if you’re feline up to it of course.