MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- The Walker Art Center presented the fourth Internet Cat Video Festival this evening and the people’s choice award, the Golden Kitty, was presented to Cat Behavior Finally Explained created by Alana Grelyak and Michael Gabriele.

Chosen by online voting, the Golden Kitty was shown as the finale of the festival and was awarded by Will Braden, Festival Curator, former Golden Kitty winner, and creator of Henri, Le Chat Noir.

Grelyak and Gabriele comment: “The video is part of our CATastrophes Web Series, where funny things happen when cats appear. We focus on adoption and spreading the message that adopting saves lives. Our goal is to use humor to draw an audience that might have otherwise overlooked the topic.

The video was directed and edited by Michael Gabriele, a director in Chicago, Illinois who also happens to be my husband. I am the writer, actor, and composer of all the music. Our friend Kris Flanagan, a Chicago actor/comedian, plays the other lead role in all of our films. We mostly use our own cats as actors but we try hard to include as many adoptable cats as we can in the hopes that they might find homes. This web series has allowed us to donate several thousand dollars and thousands of meals to hungry, homeless cats, and we couldn't be more pleased about that.

We are really proud to have won this award, especially since this video carries with it a clear message of adoption. We hope that this win will allow us to talk more about and do more for homeless cats.

This particular video is slightly atypical of our style, which usually includes carefully scripted dialogue and more cats, where instead we used the CatPaw! toy as our main actor in this one.”

Alana Grelyak
Alana Grelyak is a musician, writer, and actor living in Chicago, IL. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the book Rescued: the Stories of 12 Cats through Their Eyes, and is most frequently seen at CatInTheFridge.com, where she and her cat Crepes humorously write about special needs pet adoption. She is the co-creator of the CATastrophes Web Series, as well as the musical composer, writer, and co-star. She has five cats and a dog, all of whom were adopted or found on the street. You can learn more about her at http://alanagrelyak.com

Michael Gabriele
Michael Gabriele is a director and editor from Chicago, IL. His films have appeared in numerous festivals across the country and won several awards. He is currently a director at Daily Planet and works on the CATastrophes Web Series in his free time. He lives with his wife, Alana, and their five cats and a dog and is known to foster and bottle feed kittens in need. His reel can be found at http://mgdirector.com

Kris Flanagan
Kris Flanagan, originally from Texas, is a Chicago comedian and actor. He can be seen in print ads and commercials, and has been a part of the CATastrophes team since its start in late 2012. He has two adopted cats.