One death threat and thousands of angry letters could not stop a documentary about three men who eviscerated and decapitated a cat in the name of art from being screened at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival.

Organizers for the annual gala, which opened Thursday, decided to show the 91-minute documentary in spite of a flood of angry e-mails, faxes and phone calls demanding that the film be dropped on claims it glorifies animal cruelty.

Canadian director Zev Asher's film, 'Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat,' investigates one of Canada's most infamous animal-cruelty cases.

In 2001, 21-year-old Toronto art student Jesse Power and two friends videotaped the gruesome killing of a stray cat, which was posthumously named Kensington by animal rights activists.

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Asher's documentary does not show footage from Power's original 15-minute gory clip.

In that video, Power and his friends hang the cat from the ceiling by a cord. They slit its throat as it struggles in the noose, then kick, beat, and disembowel it. Finally, they skin the body, cut off the head and store it in a small refrigerator.

The documentary, however, only shows footage from other "art" videos Power made, including one in which he beheads a chicken, along with readings of court transcripts that describe the cat killing and interviews with police and animal rights advocates.

"These people are just carrying on Jesse Power's evil and cruel intentions," said Suzanne Lahaie, co-founder of Toronto-based animal rights group, Freedom for Animals.

Lahaie claims the film's director and producer knew Power before they made the documentary.

"When you commit a crime on video, it's for you to replay to shock yourself and shock others, so when will this end?" Lahaie said. "First, they find this cat and torture it, then his associates make the film, shocking more people, and now it's going to the film festival, where it will shock even more people."

Lahaie's group plans to protest the film for the duration of the festival, for which the Toronto Police Department has announced there will be an increased security presence, especially on the two days 'Casuistry' will be shown.

Lahaie expects hundreds to show up from across Canada and the United States for the protest on the 14th, its opening day.

"Everybody wants to stand up for Kensington the cat, who represents all animals," Lahaie said.

Organizers for The Toronto International Film Festival, which is afforded blanket exemption from censors, defended their decision to not pull the documentary, even after one its programmers received a death threat.

"Basically, this is a journalistic essay," festival director Noah Cowan told CBC Radio. "This incident has happened, and they're trying to figure out what would motivate someone to do something so sick and stupid, and at the same time, try to figure out the social context of the explosion that took place around the case."

The film's supporters also claim that if anything, it is an arm's-length portrait of the horrific acts that occur in the name of art.

"The obscure word 'casuistry' means 'specious argument' — or an attempt to rationalize the irrational — and the film makes it clear there is no excuse, artistic or otherwise, for animal cruelty," Toronto Sun columnist Bruce Kirkland wrote. "So the call for the film to be pulled is an overreaction, perhaps naive and foolish, and certainly misguided."

Power, an ex-vegetarian who once worked in a slaughterhouse, said he intended to eat the cat after he killed it, but one of his roommates called police upon discovering the head in the refrigerator.

In court, Power's attorneys said he intended the video to be an art project showing the hypocrisy of society for allowing the killing of some animals for meat, but not others.

Power and his friend Anthony Wennekers, 22, pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and mischief charges midway through their 2001 trial.

Power was handed a 90-day sentence, to be served on weekends, followed by 18 months of house arrest. Wennekers was sentenced to time served and released after 11 months in custody.

The third cohort, Matthew Kaczorowski, became a fugitive for 18 months until his arrest in April 2003. He pleaded guilty to one charge of mischief and was sentenced to four months in prison and three years' probation.

Katie Woodward was so incensed after seeing footage of the video in court, she launched the Web site FindMatt.org, which ultimately led police to Kaczorowski in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"It's disgusting that we're making celebrities out of convicted criminals," Woodward told Courttv.com. "I'm encouraging people not to go there, not even to protest. With a Broadway play, if no one shows up it gets closed down. That's the best possible thing that could happen."

The trial catalyzed efforts to pass a bill to increase the maximum penalty for cruelty to animals to five years, which has not yet been passed.

"If someone wants to do something productive out of all this negative stuff going on, they should go home instead of going to this film and write to government to request tougher animal cruelty laws," Woodward said.