The Cat Man Eshete
Director: Laura Checkoway
United States, Ethiopia, 2025, 25 min
Shooting Format:Digital
Festival Year:2025
Category:Documentary Short
Crew:Producers: Margo Mars, Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright
Email:margo@lief.studio
Synopsis
The extraordinary story of Eshete, who escaped Ethiopia’s civil war on foot as a young man and is now a devoted caretaker of a feral cat colony in Brooklyn. Eshete has become the heart of a close-knit community, despite living on the fringes. This intimate document is equally a portrait of community care with a supporting cast of New Yorkers who help care for the cats—and for each other.
About the director
Laura Checkoway is known for her character-driven stories that dive deep into the heart.. Laura directed THE CAVE OF ADULLAM, produced by Laurence Fishburne, which won Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca 2022. Her breakthrough film EDITH + EDDIE received an Academy Award and Emmy nomination in 2018 and won numerous awards, including the IDA Documentary Awards Best Short. Spanning several years with a young homeless mother masked in tattoos, Laura’s award-winning debut film LUCKY screened across the globe and premiered on television in 2014.