Felidae

Felidae takes us into the mysterious world of cats. The main character, Francis, is a very special and headstrong cat with a pretty cynical view of people. However Francis is not without charm and a sense of humour. His wandering owner, an archeologist, goes under the name of ''the tin opener''. When it is time to move once again Francis is naturally forced to follow his master. They move into an old house which seems to have quite a few secrets to hide. At night Francis hears heart-rending screams from cats which are both scary and confusing. He decides to look around in his new neighbourhood and try to find out what is going on. It doesn't take long before he finds the answer to the nights screams in the night in the shape of a mutilated cat corpse. Francis bumps into Bluebeard the cat, a real tough guy who knows the law of the street and has scars to prove it. How' ever there is a heart of gold hiding behind Bluebeard's macho attitude and he becomes one of Francis' closest allies in the hunt for the cat killer. The ruthless murderer leaves new victims behind. The investigations of Francis and Bluebeard point toward a cat rather than a human being behind the killings. The couple is drawn deeper and deeper into a world of lies, mysterious sects and bestial murders. In their search for the truth Francis meets a lot of colourful individuals who all have their own theories about the murders, not least the neighbourhood cat-gangster Kong and his cronies Herman and Herman who do not like newcomers. The wise and computer-literate Pascal and the blind beauty Felicity are also some of the multifaceted characters who appear during the course of the adventure. Francis' journey through the mystery's labyrinth, lined with ever more gruesome discoveries from mass graves to gene manipulation, subconsciously leads our thoughts to our own history of mankind and today's speculative everyday life. Felidae's felines are far from both Fritz the cat's (1972) drinking and smoking cats and The Aristocats' (1970) cuddly family pets with their much more naturalistic behaviour. They have sex, hunt, pee and all in all behave like real animals, expect forthe fact that they speak a human language. Felidae (Latin for cat) is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by the young writer Akif Pirinicci, who is based in Germany. The adaption for the screen is that rare thing, an animated thriller for adults. It invites reflection as well as entertains with an original narrative technique and an intelligent screenplay, without clichés and stereotypical Disney characters. MT

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
Animation: Producent
Hanno Huth: Manus
Martin Kluger & Akif Pirincci, based on the novel by Pirincci: Foto
Werner Loss: Musik
Anne Dudley