The Fire Cats of Santa Rosa
KATHARINE PARSONS
This film as been funded through your donations. Thank you for your support of Stowe artists and their work.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The devastating Tubbs wildfire in Santa Rosa changed Katharine Parsons’ work—and her life—forever. As an animal lover, she became riveted by the stories of the cats who beat impossible odds to survive—and by the stories of the rescuers who spent hundreds of hours in the field to find them. She put down her screenplays, drafted an idea for a short documentary, and The Fire Cats of Santa Rosa was born. With a small grant and blessing from Stowe Story Labs as her fiscal agency, she supplemented footage donated by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office, firefighters, rescuers; and acclaimed National Geographic drone cinematographer Douglas Thron, with two field trips to Santa Rosa.
To create an immersive experience for the viewers to replicate the oral histories of the survivors, Katharine developed what she called painting-on-glass simulations. Part-animation and part-painting, the sequences combine rich colors and sometimes blurred motion. The trailer has some of the donated footage, as well as Katharine’s animation.
Stowe Story Labs alumni can initiate an application for fiscal agency here.
