Aaron Hancox's guest appearances

Aaron Hancox

The Community Cats Podcast

SIFFcast

Michael McNamara

Karen Anderson

Jennifer Smith

Mike Flanagan

Juan Martinez

Todrick Hall

Clea DuVall

Boots Riley

Lynn Shelton

Marco Collins

Sean Baker

Bill Nye

Aubrey Plaza

Kimberly Reed

Anthony Amos

OwlTail

This episode is sponsored in part by Humane Network, Doobert.com, and Maddie's Fund. Stacy connects with documentary Filmmaker Aaron Hancox to discuss how he came to find inspiration from his early documentary Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit that lead him to his latest documentary, Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall. Aaron confides that he initially expected the plight of cats in Cornwall to be a unique occurrence. Through his filmmaking, he has since learned that it is a story playing out in rural and underfunded communities all around the world. Aaron discusses the film’s main characters as they try to reduce the number of un-owned cats in Cornwall. He relates that telling their story looked like a David v. Goliath fight, but yielded insight into possible solutions and community needs in Cornwall and beyond. Much of the progress made was impacted by COVID-19 and the constant need for accessible spay and neuter Arron touches on municipal support, academic support, and private citizen support as being factors in the lives of community cats, as well as the importance of resources and financial support for education and community buy-in. “Sometimes it might feel like you are chasing your own tail when you are doing this kind of work, and I hope that is a wake-up call to people who don’t understand this world.” Watch Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall now on iTunes, Prime Video, Google Play, Microsoft Xbox, VUDU, YouTube, and other VOD platforms. Follow Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Notes:  Visit Tiny but Mighty Cat Rescue in Cornwall, to connect with Mellissa Alepins Visit Cattrap to connect with Mary Jane Proulx Learn more about Markum Street Films 

This episode is sponsored in part by <a href="https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/humane-network" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Humane Network</a>, <a href="https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/fosterspace" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Doobert.com</a>, and <a href="https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/maddies" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Maddie's Fund</a>. Stacy connects with documentary Filmmaker Aaron Hancox to discuss how he came to find inspiration from his early documentary <a href="https://www.markhamstreetfilms.com/catwalk-tales-from-the-cat-show-circuit" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit</a> that lead him to his latest documentary, <a href="https://www.markhamstreetfilms.com/running-wild-the-cats-of-cornwall" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall</a>. Aaron confides that he initially expected the plight of cats in Cornwall to be a unique occurrence. Through his filmmaking, he has since learned that it is a story playing out in rural and underfunded communities all around the world. Aaron discusses the film’s main characters as they try to reduce the number of un-owned cats in Cornwall. He relates that telling their story looked like a David v. Goliath fight, but yielded insight into possible solutions and community needs in Cornwall and beyond. Much of the progress made was impacted by COVID-19 and the constant need for accessible spay and neuter Arron touches on municipal support, academic support, and private citizen support as being factors in the lives of community cats, as well as the importance of resources and financial support for education and community buy-in. “Sometimes it might feel like you are chasing your own tail when you are doing this kind of work, and I hope that is a wake-up call to people who don’t understand this world.” Watch Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall now on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/running-wild-the-cats-of-cornwall/id1582377136" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Running-Wild-Cornwall-Mellissa-Alepins/dp/B09FYNM272/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Running%20Wild%3A%20The%20Cats%20of%20Cornwall&amp;qid=1631627237&amp;s=instant-video&amp;sr=1-1" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Prime Video</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Running_Wild_The_Cats_of_Cornwall?hl=en_US&amp;id=u21GaYWKHnU.P" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/running-wild-the-cats-of-cornwall/8d6kgwxn90zv?activetab=pivot%3Aoverviewtab" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Microsoft Xbox</a>, <a href="https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Running-Wild-The-Cats-of-Cornwall/1859800" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">VUDU</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQLWHXlJrlI" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, and other VOD platforms. Follow Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/runningwildcatdoc" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/runningwilddoc" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/runningwildcatdoc/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>. Notes: <ul> <li>Visit <a href="https://www.tinybutmightykittenrescue.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Tiny but Mighty Cat Rescue</a> in Cornwall, to connect with Mellissa Alepins</li> <li>Visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Cattrap-121339259259845/?ref=page_internal" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Cattrap</a> to connect with Mary Jane Proulx</li> <li>Learn more about <a href="https://www.markhamstreetfilms.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Markum Street Films</a></li> </ul>

Aaron Hancox, Documentary Filmmaker of Running Wild: the Cats of Cornwall

Aaron Hancox and Michael McNamara of Markham Street Films join Stacy in this episode to talk about their documentary,Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, which follows the Canadian competitive cat show world. Aaron is a long-time cat guy whose cat Beau was adopted from a Toronto rescue, but Michael is actually allergic to cats! Aaron stumbled across a local cat show and was surprised and fascinated by how serious and competitive the cat show world was. “If I’m a cat person and I don’t know about this,” he thought, “presumably many people don’t know about this.” And to Aaron, that was the perfect premise for a documentary. During the year-long process, he and Michael followed several cats and their people through the competitive cat show circuit, and learned the complex rules of how cat shows work. In Canada, the cat show season lasts about ten months, and there are shows basically every weekend. Aaron and Michael tell us that cat shows differ from many dog shows in that they are more like beauty pageants, and they tend to be more technical than dog shows—and have more complicated point structures. Aaron and Michael talk about the opportunities for non-purebred cats in these shows, and they look at this film as being just one part of a larger conversation about cats. During the filming of the documentary, they came to understand that the people who participate in cat shows see themselves as part of the solution in terms of issues facing cats, and they do their best to help in many ways, from making sure that shows work only with truly responsible breeders to donating cat show proceeds to rescue groups. For Aaron, the bottom line is that cats bring so much joy to people’s lives in so many different ways that he wanted to share this world with others. “I realized that these animals have such a great power to heal and bring people together,” he tells Stacy, “and anything I could do to spread that joy and love—I’m all for it.” To see Catwalk:Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, you can download it from iTunes, the Google Play store or other streaming services, or you can visit Amazon to buy a copy.

Aaron Hancox and Michael McNamara of Markham Street Films join Stacy in this episode to talk about their documentary,Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, which follows the Canadian competitive cat show world. Aaron is a long-time cat guy whose cat Beau was adopted from a Toronto rescue, but Michael is actually allergic to cats! Aaron stumbled across a local cat show and was surprised and fascinated by how serious and competitive the cat show world was. “If I’m a cat person and I don’t know about this,” he thought, “presumably many people don’t know about this.” And to Aaron, that was the perfect premise for a documentary. During the year-long process, he and Michael followed several cats and their people through the competitive cat show circuit, and learned the complex rules of how cat shows work. In Canada, the cat show season lasts about ten months, and there are shows basically every weekend. Aaron and Michael tell us that cat shows differ from many dog shows in that they are more like beauty pageants, and they tend to be more technical than dog shows—and have more complicated point structures. Aaron and Michael talk about the opportunities for non-purebred cats in these shows, and they look at this film as being just one part of a larger conversation about cats. During the filming of the documentary, they came to understand that the people who participate in cat shows see themselves as part of the solution in terms of issues facing cats, and they do their best to help in many ways, from making sure that shows work only with truly responsible breeders to donating cat show proceeds to rescue groups. For Aaron, the bottom line is that cats bring so much joy to people’s lives in so many different ways that he wanted to share this world with others. “I realized that these animals have such a great power to heal and bring people together,” he tells Stacy, “and anything I could do to spread that joy and love—I’m all for it.” To see Catwalk:Tales from the Cat Show Circuit, you can download it from iTunes, the Google Play store or other streaming services, or you can visit Amazon to buy a copy.

Aaron Hancox & Michael McNamara, Directors of Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit

SIFFcast becomes SIFFcat! We speak with the directors of the new documentary CATWALK: TALES FROM THE CAT SHOW CIRCUIT about some of our favorite furry competitors and the people who love them.

SIFF 2018 - Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit (dir. Michael McNamara and Aaron Hancox)