The annual CatVideoFest is back for 2025, and this time, the cats are getting even crazier. IndieWire can unveil the trailer for this year’s festival, which will debut in theaters across the U.S. courtesy of distributor Oscilloscope Laboratories.
CatVideoFest 2025 is a compilation of the latest and best cat videos curated by founder Will Braden. Local theaters screening the festival will donate proceeds to cat-focused charities, animal welfare associations, and shelters, with a portion of ticket from every show going directly to cats in need. The 2024 edition made history since Braden’s iteration of the festival began in 2016: Last year crossed the million-dollar mark at the box office for the first time ever. (The annual video event launched formally in 2019 with Oscilloscope distributing and has raised more than $170k for charities since then.)
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Will Braden, the founder and curator of the annual compilation, told IndieWire that the 2025 reel has more than 200 clips in it, with a runtime of approximately 75 minutes. This year includes animated clips, music videos, montages, and mini-documentaries, with 25 to 30 percent of clips from fan submissions. Braden sourced and curated the majority of the clips.
“I watch over 12,000 cat videos a year! It’s a fun job but it’s a big one,” Braden said. “The original goal of CVF was simple but kind of radical: to bring people together in a shared space to collectively enjoy something most people usually consume alone: cat videos. It quickly became clear that this wasn’t just a novelty, that there was something joyful and communal about laughing together at cats being cats. Over time, that grew into a mission-driven project to use the power of cat videos to raise money for shelters and animal welfare organizations.”
The CatVideoFest works closely with select indie theaters to support local animal shelters and rescue groups, with certain theaters even hosting adoption events. “It’s decentralized by design,” Braden said of the charitable component. “Even though it would be easier to just write one big check to a national organization at the end of the year, staying community driven is the best way to help cats and keep the screenings special.”
Braden continued that independent theaters are a “natural fit” for the festival. “They thrive on community engagement and unique programming, and they’re always looking for events that bring people in for something joyful and unexpected,” he said. “We started with a handful of theaters that were curious, and it just grew from there. Word spread quickly in the art house community and that led to a partnership with Oscilloscope for distribution. There aren’t many events that are family friendly, appeal to every demographic, and are charitable all at once. It ends up being a win-win: they get packed houses, we get to raise money and awareness, and everyone has a great time!”
As for the market for curated viral videos within Hollywood, Braden has big ideas about both where CatVideoFest and other viral cinematic movements can go.
“Even as streaming grows every year, there is still a huge appetite for the theater experience,” Braden said. “Even though it’s full of cat videos from the internet, the experience of watching CatVideoFest in theaters can’t and won’t be replicated anywhere else. We don’t reproduce the videos online, we don’t sell DVD’s. It’s a must-see theater experience, and that will never go out of style. That said, if there was a formula for making things go viral, someone would have cracked that code by now. You never know which videos will take off!”
And that now-iconic marketing move for the 2024 festival, tied to the attempted diss at “cat ladies” by Vice President J.D. Vance, only helped bolster the impact of CVF. “Anytime someone tries to mock or marginalize people (especially women) for loving cats, it immediately backfires,” Braden said. “Cat lovers are passionate, and they’ve helped turn the stereotype of the ‘crazy cat lady’ into a badge of honor. While we haven’t had any major celebrities go on the record publicly in response to those kinds of comments, we’ve seen a lot of support from influencers, comedians, and even filmmakers who recognize the joy and legitimacy in what we’re doing. There’s nothing weird about loving animals and sharing that joy with others.”
The CatVideoFest will be in theaters August 2 from Oscilloscope Laboratories. Tickets will be on sale in select theaters at www.catvideofest.com. Check out the trailer below.
