Spectacle

INTERACT 2026

In may 2025, Spectacle and The Film-Makers’ Cooperative joined forces to revive INTERCAT: The International Festival of Cat Films, founded by Pola Chapelle in 1969. This month, we’re ecs-cat-ic to present a new lineup of feline films for INTERCAT 2026!

THURSDAY, JUNE 18 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 21 – 5:00PM

Chapelle (known, according to a 1976 Boston Globe article, as “The Cat Woman”) was one of the founding members of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. INTERCAT remains one of her most endearing and prophetic creations, forecasting the virality and ubiquity of cat-related audiovisual media in the digital age.

This year’s festival offers an exciting new lineup of twenty cat films spanning from the 1950s to the 2020s. Join us for a purrrrfect time at the movies.

HOW TO DRAW A CAT

Dir. Pola Chapelle, 1973.
 States. 3 min. 16mm.

CATFILM FOR KATY AND CYNNIE

Dir. Standish Lawder, 1973.
United States, 3 min. 16mm.

CAT OF THE WORM’S GREEN REALM
Dir. Stan Brakhage, 1997.
United States. 5 min. 16mm.

CATWALK

Dir. Abbott Meader, 1972.
United States. 5 min.

CAT ON TV

Dr. Guy Sherwin, 1977.
United Kingdom, 3 min.

TAYLOR MEAD’S CAT

Dir. Gary Weis. 1973.
United States. 5 min
CLOSE QUARTERS

Dir. Jim Jennings, 2004.
United States. 9 min. 16mm.

EMMA

Dir. Peter Von Ziegesar, 1976.
United States. 6 min. 16mm.

CATS-SNOW-MAGIC

Dir. Peter Von Ziegesar, 1975.
United States. 6 min.

NOTE TO ERIK

Dir. Saul Levin, 1968.
United States. 4 min.

CAT

Dir. Guy Sherwin, 1998.
United Kingdom, 3 min.

UNDERTOW

Dir. Larry Jordan, 1955.
United States. 7 min. 16mm.

PASHT

Dir. Stan Brakhage, 1966.
United States. 5 min. 16mm.

NINE LIVES (THE ETERNAL MOMENT OF NOW)

Dir. Jay Rosenblatt, 2001.
United States, 1 min. 16mm.

NEKO

Dir. Maximilien Luc Proctor, 2021.
Germany. 5 min.

GEM

Dir. Lily Sarosi, 2026.
United States. 3 min.

CATS AMORE

Dir. Martha Colburn, 2000.
United States. 2 min.

CAT’S CRADLE

Dir. Stan Brakhage, 1959.
United States. 6 min. 16mm.

NISSAN ARIANA WINDOW

Dir. Ken Jacobs, 1969.
United States. 14 min. 16mm.

Michael Glover Smith, 2026
United States. 89 mins.
In English

MONDAY, JUNE 8 – 7:30 PM (Q&A with director and co-writer Michael Glover Smith and star and co-writer Elizabeth Stam, moderated by filmmaker Paula Gonzalez-Nasser)

Midwest indie stalwart and regular Spectacle guest Michael Glover Smith returns with his latest, a self-reflexive tribute to the endless hustle of artists who move through American cities like blood through their veins. Set over one hectic day in Chicago, HEKLA explores how ambition, identity, and vulnerability collide when you’re chasing something as personal, and uncertain, as an acting career. Narrated by the great Wendy Robie (Nadine on Twin Peaks), HEKLA has something of Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire’s depictions of an actress’s psyche fragmented and scattered across competing roles, but embedded in a lovingly and affably rendered everyday, and grounded by a sincere and charismatic lead performance by cowriter Elizabeth Stam. Stam plays Hekla Gudmunsdottir, a determined Chicago actress, who races through four auditions in a single day before performing Macbeth in a barroom that night, juggling a breakup, new and old friendships, and her self-doubt. Shot across Chicago’s cafés, pubs, and bookstores, and offering a colorful cross-section of the city’s theater scene, HEKLA is the story of a life lived creatively, told with humor and headlong momentum.

HEKLA

Michael Glover Smith, 2026
United States. 89 mins.
In English

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

MONDAY, JUNE 8 – 7:30 PM (Q&A with director and co-writer Michael Glover Smith and star and co-writer Elizabeth Stam, moderated by filmmaker Paula Gonzalez-Nasser)

Midwest indie stalwart and regular Spectacle guest Michael Glover Smith returns with his latest, a self-reflexive tribute to the endless hustle of artists who move through American cities like blood through their veins. Set over one hectic day in Chicago, HEKLA explores how ambition, identity, and vulnerability collide when you’re chasing something as personal, and uncertain, as an acting career.

Narrated by the great Wendy Robie (Nadine on Twin Peaks), HEKLA has something of Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire’s depictions of an actress’s psyche fragmented and scattered across competing roles, but embedded in a lovingly and affably rendered everyday, and grounded by a sincere and charismatic lead performance by cowriter Elizabeth Stam. Stam plays Hekla Gudmunsdottir, a determined Chicago actress, who races through four auditions in a single day before performing Macbeth in a barroom that night, juggling a breakup, new and old friendships, and her self-doubt.

Shot across Chicago’s cafés, pubs, and bookstores, and offering a colorful cross-section of the city’s theater scene, HEKLA is the story of a life lived creatively, told with humor and headlong momentum.