Thanks for making Athens’ first internet cat video festival a success!

Last Sunday, 2 February, the 1^st Athens Internet Cat Video Festival made its debut. Created by Nine Lives Greece and the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis, U.S., the festival included over an hour of hilarious cat videos and featured many cat stars of the web, such as Lil Bub and Grumpy cat. It was held at the trendy event space Six D.O.G.S in Monastiraki.

Despite chilly temperatures and the threat of a rainstorm, the event was a roaring success! Both screenings were filled to overflowing and much merriment was had by all. The loudest giggles, of course, were heard from the the little ones of the crowd. This was a great event for the family.

Each screening was introduced by the VJ from MTV Greece, Jenny Theona, a cat lover who herself cares for 10 cats. She not only described the videos that were about to be shown, but also explained how the event was tied to the opening of World Spay Month and the importance of spaying both our pets and the enormous stray cat population here in Athens. MTV covered the event and interviewed some of our staff. They plan to air their report next week.

A room next to the screening room provided viewers with a chance to learn about Nine Lives Greece and a few of our sponsors who gave out free samples of their products. Purina, the pet food company, had  adorable tote bags containing small sample packages of cat food and coupons. Emi’s Bakery served beautiful and delicious mini cupcakes and Popy’s dispensed free samples of their gourmet popcorn. This room was bustling!  It was so popular that at times it was as packed as a New York City subway at rush hour. Nine Lives sold some of their branded merchandise and cat toys and was able to accumulate a nice sum of Euros, absolutely all of which will go towards feeding and neutering stray cats as well as for vet bills for treating wounds, infections, etc.

Tera one of the many cats rescued and re-homed by Nine Lives enjoying her free tote bag from Purina!

As one of the volunteers who helped organized the event, working closely (well, actually from a distance of 5,000 miles!) with our partners at the Walker Art Center, plus creating a short video trailer to promote it, your current blogger was extremely gratified to hear the laughs,  see the success of our event and to know that at least a few stray cats here in Athens will have better lives because our efforts. Purrrrr!