Companions
Where's Mary Pat's cat? Find out as the filmmaker takes her camera along on the hunt for her lost, twenty-year-old, blind companion, the melodramatically named Survival. Twenty two days and 900 "Have You Seen My Blind Cat?" flyers later, Kane rediscovers not only her fickle feline but also her quirky South Philadelphia neighborhood and its passion for pets. Companions is both a touching and funny tribute to the strength of the human-animal bond. Since its release in 1992, the video has been broadcast on DUTV, made several appearances at VCA's Cat Hospital of Philadelphia, and been screened several times as part of grief counseling classes taught at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine.
Mary Pat Kane is a photographer, storyteller and performance artist who currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. In September 2004, Kane made her first Philadelphia performance in over a decade whe she starred in her two-part one woman show, The Night I Spoke to Judy Garland, Well Sort Of and Winter Depressionat the Philly Fringe Festival. She returned to the Fringe one year later to perform a spoken word/poetry piece, KLM Blue and Side by Side.
February 8, 1993 - "Expressing Themselves," by Ann Kolson, The Philadelphia Inquirer
August 9, 1999 - "New Program Takes Films Out of Theaters And Into the Streets," by Daniel Rubin, The Philadelphia Inquirer
August 24, 2000 - "Films About Communities Delight Water Tower Audience," by Gary Kramer, Chestnut Hill Local
Summer 1994 - Shown as a looping video all summer at Charles A. Wustum Museum (Racine, Wisconsin)
August 16, 1999 - Part of Street Movies screening at Dickinson Square Park (Philadelphia, PA)
August 17, 2000 - Part of Street Movies screening at Water Tower Recreation Center
(Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA)