Whether you are lost in Paris or busy running errands, the yellow cat will suddenly appear and smile down on you. Unlike the Cheshire cat, the cat does not talk to you.
Yet, you will ask yourself: A cat? Who is the painter? How did they paint a cat on dangerous roofs and in public spaces? When did the painter draw them?
Some of the cats eventually came down and made their ways to the street levels, giving the same grin at the passengers nearby.
These cats greet tourists and city dwellers from railroad stations to bridges from tree barks to store walls. This grin became a gate to different parts of Paris, opening a new door to a different part of the city.
This Ovid.tv Film THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT Takes Us to Streets of Paris in 2001
Some newspapers picked up the “army of cats invading the city.” Yet, we do not have clear answers to endless questions. As they got closer to the people, they also became more vulnerable, the narrator says. One cat appeared on a church wall. Within a month, the cat was erased.
This 2004 film explores Paris in search of answers to these intriguing cats. We walk through metro stops where street performers get standing ovations and where the young and the old, the rich and the destitute, and the natives and the tourists share the same space. THE CASE OF THE GRINNING CAT also narrates the headlines of Paris in the early 2000s: a competitive presidential election in 2002 and subsequent demonstrations on the street against Jean-Marie Le Pen.
