The Cat Rescuers – A Documentary Film
ABOUT THE FILM
With over one million abandoned and feral cats, NYC has a serious problem it’s failed to effectively address. In response, hundreds of cat-loving activists have taken to the streets to implement TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), a technique that along with adoptions can humanely control and reduce the population.
THE CAT RESCUERS tells the story of four of these street-smart volunteers, all working in Brooklyn where the problem has exploded in the last decade. Against great odds, and sometimes at great sacrifice to themselves, they are making a difference in dealing with an animal welfare issue that confronts cities nationwide and globally.
The film grew out of Steven Lawrence’s discovery that the Brooklyn house he and his wife moved to in 2013 came with 30+ un-neutered feral cats begging for food. As they contacted animal rescue groups for advice, Steven became aware of the scope of NYC’s street cat problem and the general ignorance of TNR. Believing a documentary could help raise awareness and lead to more support, he reached out to fellow docmaker and cat lover Rob Fruchtman. They decided to join forces and began shooting THE CAT RESCUERS in 2014.
To date Steven and Rob have financed the film out of their own pockets and are now looking for completion funding. Please see the Donate page for how you can help.
ABOUT US
Rob Fruchtman is an award-winning director, producer and editor of documentaries and television programs. He won the Documentary Director award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival for his feature film, Sister Helen, which aired on HBO. He has won three Emmys for his work with PBS. His film, Trust Me, a documentary produced for SHOWTIME, follows Christian, Jewish and Islamic boys at an interfaith camp in North Carolina. Fruchtman directed and produced Seeing Proof in 2007, a film about Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime and its lingering effect on Cambodia’s society, for George Soros’ Open Society Institute. His most recent film, Sweet Dreams, co-directed with Lisa Fruchtman, follows a remarkable group of Rwandan women as they emerge from the devastation of the genocide and create a new future for themselves by opening their country’s first ice cream parlor. Rob’s documentaries have explored the arts, history, world cultures and social justice issues and have aired in festivals and on television around the world.
Steven Lawrence is an award-winning producer-director whose work has often focused on the arts and human rights. Part of the MTV launch team, he served as its senior producer-director of long form programs, creating groundbreaking documentaries about Artists United Against Apartheid and the Soviet underground rock scene, and introducing viewers to world music & hip-hop. After leaving MTV he started Yerosha and produced three films for director Michael Apted: The Long Way Home, about Russian rocker Boris Grebenshikov’s odyssey to the West, and Married In America 1 & 2, an ongoing doc about 9 diverse couples wed in 2001. Steven was also producer/director of VIS à VIS, the innovative PBS doc series that used digital video links between people in different parts of the world to explore timely issues. Among his other productions are The Furious Force Of Rhymes, a global look at hip-hop as protest music, and Sarabah, about the Senegalese rapper Sister Fa’s campaign to end female genital cutting. Lawrence co-founded Link TV: Television Without Borders and served as its vice president of music & cultural programming from 1999-2010. His work has received an IDA Documentary Achievement award, three Cine Golden Eagles for feature documentary, the Special Jury Award from the Locarno Film Festival and the Golden Butterfly from Movies That Matter.