Tumwater tabby among the many furry faces in ‘Quarantine Cat Film Fest’

John Mewir of Tumwater is no ordinary cat.

The 2-year-old tabby is, according to human companion Lindsey Rohde, an “adventure cat in training.” He’s also a movie star.

Mewir (named for naturalist John Muir) is one of 480 photogenic cats featured in the online “Quarantine Cat Film Fest,” available for streaming through the Olympia Film Society and the Grand Cinema in Tacoma.

He appears in the segment titled “A-Meow-Zing Talents.” (Filmmaker Brian Mendelssohn, who owns Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh, clearly has a fondness for puns.)

Mewir’s talent? Opening a nightstand drawer. After flailing for a while, he grabs the drawer’s handle and hitches a ride as it glides open.

He’s the only Thurston County cat in the film, which drew 1,300 submissions, including some from as far away as Russia and Brazil. There are also five Tacoma cats featured, including Sushi Cat, who growls as if possessed.

While this is Mewir’s first appearance in an actual movie, he has starred in his share of videos and photos. He has his own Instagram account, Rohde said, adding: “He’s not very tech savvy. He doesn’t post a lot.”

His first big break: a special guest appearance in Rohde’s wedding photos. She and then-fiancé Seth Rohde adopted Mewir just before they married two years ago.

It was bad timing, Lindsey Rohde told The Olympian, but they couldn’t resist the kitten’s star quality.

“One of our friends sent us this picture, and we were like, ‘Oh, we need to go get this cat,’ ” she said. “We picked him up that morning, and that afternoon was when people started coming to town for our wedding.”

Mewir’s name — suggested by Lindsey Rohde’s friend Molly Wilmoth of the Washington State Historical Society — pays tribute to the couple’s love of the outdoors.

“My goal was to make him an adventure cat who would go on hikes and stuff with us,” Rohde said. “He likes to go outside, but he doesn’t like to follow on a leash. He prefers to sit outside and just watch the birds. So he’s about halfway there.”

Mewir and the other filmed felines are helping Mendelssohn raise money for Row House, which keeps 50 percent of the rental fee, and for participating local independent cinemas, which put out the call for videos and offer screenings through their websites.

“After movie theaters closed, we thought of this as an idea to connect with our audience and to raise money for ourselves,” Mendelssohn told The Olympian. “Quickly, our friends who run other theaters heard about the idea, and now it’s screening through over 90 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.”

The compilation is something different than the typical animal video presentation, in that most of the cat clips aren’t complete videos you can watch on the Internet. Rather, they are slices of quarantine life in which cats climb ladders, jump from balconies, confront deer and rats (don’t worry — no one gets hurt) and snuggle adorably.

Mendelssohn and a couple of fellow cat lovers judged the submissions and gave first, second and third place titles to the bravest, cutest, funniest and most loving cats. The most memorable prize winner is Moe, a very large cat drinking from a toilet with such enthusiasm that he drapes himself over it with legs dangling.

‘Quarantine Cat Film Fest’

• What: John Mewir of Tumwater is one of hundreds of felines featured in the online ‘Fest,’ a compilation of cat videos filmed while owners sheltered in place. It’s a fundraiser for independent theaters, including the Olympia Film Society and Tacoma’s Grand Cinema.
• Tickets: $12 for a three-day rental
• More information: http://rowhouse.online/

Fun with cats

• Cat bingo: Row House Cinema, the independent theater that produced the film, offers bingo cards to print so you can play while you watch.
• Cat drinking game: This Olympian reporter noticed while watching the film with a companion that she heard phrases like “Isn’t that one cute?” or “What a fur!” every few minutes. To make it more fun, choose your household’s biggest cat lover’s favorite phrase before you start watching.

This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 5:45 AM.