Just finished watching ZEF - The Story of Die Antwoord and it is brilliant. I love them (and Roger Ballen) so much. Phenomenal art and if you cannot see these are loving, caring people, you are just stupid. The house cats at the end were so funny! (:
@cowboycatranch Speaking of cats — have you watched Kedi?
I highly recommend it.
Hundreds of thousands of cats have roamed the metropolis of Istanbul freely for thousands of years, wandering in and out of people's lives, impacting them in ways only an animal who lives between the worlds of the wild and the tamed can. Cats and their kittens bring joy and purpose to those they choose, giving people an opportunity to reflect on life and their place in it. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to ourselves.
@jeff Can you please tell me now they do put in effort to sterilize the cats, otherwise I won't be able to handle watching it.
@cowboycatranch I don’t recall that in the film (it has been years since I saw it), but some digging shows there was legislation in Turkey in 2021 that would mandate exactly that:
“[The] law mandates sterilization of all stray animals in three or four years, assigning municipalities with this job, including the establishment of animal shelters, providing rehabilitation services and administering vaccinations.”
I don’t know if it was ever passed, though.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-long-awaited-animal-rights-legislation-underway-165399
@cowboycatranch If I had to guess, I’d say that you probably won’t like it, unfortunately.
The cats are treated with great affection in the film, but western standards for feline sterilization — which aren’t that great in and of themselves, really — haven’t taken off everywhere, Turkey included.
@cowboycatranch And the film was before that law would have taken effect, if it was passed.
Hopefully they’re making inroads on the problem.
CCR Feline Research Center
Jeff C. 🇺🇦🇬🇱