About
Smoking Cat Films was founded by award-winning filmmakers Alex Halpern and Caryn Horowitz, creative partners with roots in both East and West Coast Entertainment Industries. Halpern established New York’s premier post-production company, PostfactoryNY, in 1996 and co-founded the Post New York Alliance PNYA, a coalition of post-production facilities and unions. As Managing Partner of PostFactoryNY, Horowitz oversaw multiple relocations and transport logistics, earning Netflix Approved Vendor certification.
As a filmmaker, Halpern gained recognition for his acclaimed documentary Nine Good Teeth. Horowitz was Executive Producer for this award-winning film. Their diverse range of studio production work and media includes development and coordination on stop-motion shorts. Their latest documentary short, Bumps in the Road, premiered at the San Francisco Documentary Festival in 2023, won the Audience Choice Award at the New York City Short Film Festival in 2024, and was also screened at The Pentagon.
Smoking Cat Films continues to make an impact on and off-screen. Horowitz has also been active in arts education, securing grants and organizing events for PS9, a public school in Manhattan, and working with organizations to enhance resources for students. Additionally, she was the founding contributor to Gala in NY, an experimental video show on MNN, and co-owner of Mayhem, an East Village art collective.
How Smoking Cat Films Got Its name
Il Gatto Che Fuma—Italian for “The Smoking Cat”—is where Smoking Cat Films got its name. During Alex Halpern’s childhood, while living in Southern Italy with his mom and brother, there was a nightclub act at Bar Orlando on Corso Sant’Agata in Massa Lubrense. Alex would beg his mom to take them back to the nightclub to see a cat that was taught to smoke and perform tricks.
The bar was founded in 1907 by Cilento Orlando, and his son, Alfredo Orlando, started the Smoking Cat performance in the 1940s. After Jolly passed away from lung cancer, a new cat was brought in to continue the show. Today, the bar has a wall of photos and a bronze statue dedicated to Jolly.