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Sunday, May 11th, 2025

Kedi

First of all: You don’t need to love cats to love this film.  

Cat people have heard all the arguments: Cats are too independent and don’t need people.  This film supports part of this theory.  Cats are indeed very independent, but as in all things, it takes a village to keep them healthy. This Turkish documentary relays the story of the symbiotic relationship between the street cats of Istanbul and the human community that loves and cares for them without claiming to own any of them.

Istanbul is teeming with cat life.  Cats are on doorsteps, awnings, and balconies, and are often seen moving along the sidewalks with their human counterparts.  The cats are feral. They’ve never lived with humans, but they comfortably coexist as community members.

Think about it: When’s the last time you’ve seen a cat leisurely strolling along the sidewalk of a major city?  Or a small town, even?  In our world, cats run, dodge, and hide away.  Not so in Istanbul. There, the citizens make a communal effort to feed these cats, take them to the vet when sick, and get to know the individual cats. They may name them, but they don’t own them, and they rarely make pets of them. The cats are neighbors and friends but are not subordinates.

The documentary is told from the feline point of view as select feline “characters” go about their day, rounding up food, protecting their kittens, hunting for vermin, and very often walking into an open door to take a nap inside a welcoming shop window before sauntering off to make their rounds. The camera was mounted atop a toy car to effectively capture the action from the cats' vantage point.

Kedi was nominated for 16 awards, with 6 wins, including the North Carolina Film Critics Awards. This magical documentary purrs along with good feelings. You never know - you just may find yourself becoming a believer.  

Pawnote:  In preparing these Film Notes, I viewed Kedi for the umpty-umpth time at home.  My two cats' gaze was riveted to my TV screen.  They especially loved the feline cuisine (foreign food!) and the hunting scenes.  They have very good taste and sat there, intrigued. Until they annoyed each other, bopped each other on the head, and split the scene.  That's cats for you!  (KB)

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