September 19th at ATA, MadCat Looks Back: 8 Greats from the Festival Archives screens some of the most exciting 16mm films culled from past editions of MadCat. On September 23, Hear It to Believe It continues MadCat’s longstanding tradition of presenting silent films to live musical accompaniment under the stars at San Francisco’s outdoor venue El Rio.

This year marks a change at MadCat with a new schedule for the call for submissions and the announcement of an expanded touring program. MadCat’s open call is now exclusively for touring works, which will be selected by May 1, 2009, for a national tour to begin in Fall 2009. Submissions are accepted beginning in October. Although the schedule has changed, MadCat’s commitment to women directors and quality film is unwavering. As always, MadCat seeks films directed or co-directed by women that are produced ANY year. MadCat accepts ALL GENRES: experimental, documentary, animated, narrative, hybrid, etc. The Festival favors works that push the limits of genre and expand notions of visual storytelling. The expanded tour will stop in San Francisco as well as continue to reach audiences at venues around the country that in the past have included: Anthology Film Archives, Brown University, Harn Museum of Art, Harvard Film Archive, the New School, Pacific Film Archive, PRATT, and RISD Museum of Art, among others.