The first known word for ‘meow’ is the ancient Egyptian word ‘mau’ which literally translates as cat. So, the onomatopoeic system of choosing a name that sounded like the creature, started a long, long time ago. Combining the natural magic realism from the imagination of Ariel de la Garza and the more German/ Czech style impressionism of Michal Vojtech’s Eastern European folkloric knowledge, this charming short uses silent movie mime techniques, eschewing all dialogue, to reveal the travails of Anna Maria, the toilet attendant (Paige Janey) as she searches for her beloved feline.
Anna Maria is surrounded by a number of mysterious hunchbacks (all played by Raphael Ruiz), who, she keeps hoping, will help her find her missing cat Meow. However, it is her that they lust after and with whom they are obsessed. Still, hoping to get some help from them, she tries to trade in polaroid photos of her feet to satisfy the desires of a hunchback with a foot fetish. But to no avail however as, they repeatedly enter the toilet area and steal her favourite items and cat toys and leave notes and graffiti messages in the toilets. They even steal the cat’s biscuit bowl despite the fact that she had attached it with a chain, in her attempts to protect it, as she tried to entice her wayward pet to return.
Life is definitely not simple for a toilet attendant in Prague. She ends up chasing the shadowy hunchbacks all over the city, into dark and ancient buildings, even to a surreal shadow puppet show that is inhabited by more creepy Gothic hunchbacks (shouldn’t we be in Paris??). The cat she had hoped was hers, turns out to be a mere shadow puppet, so she departs despondent, to find Meow sitting on a ledge, happily unfazed by all the drama, and equally uninterested in returning home.
Anna Maria has to accept that Meow was never ‘taken’ but had willingly gone of its own accord, but she ties his toy mouse around her neck, hoping he will still return to her one day as she is ready to prove that she would always be there for him, regardless of his wayward ways.
Shot in Prague, on 16mm that gives it already a slightly out-of-this-world feel, it uses the Gothic architecture to full effect with cobbled streets, winding roads and bridges and astonishingly enormous ancient doors and doorways. The mix of surrealism with a touch of Gothic darkness accentuates the comic absurdity. The deranged river hunchback cackles as he speeds off in his boat with the photographs of her feet. But, nevertheless, she still hopes they will help her find her cat. Instead, she discovers the depth of their obsessions for her.
As Ariel de la Garza explains to Gig Patta : -
« We think that all the hunchbacks are like the kitty who is trying to gain the attention of their beloved toilet attendant, that they’re all salivating over… the idea of longing and lust towards something or someone in the same way that the attendant has towards her cat, that she is looking for. In then end she realizes that her love towards the cat is also unrequited, like the hunchback’s love for her.”
The writer / directors, Ariel de la Garza Davidoff from Mexico City and Michal Vojtech from Prague met doing a masters’ writing course in Cambridge, and soon realized that they shared many interests. In an interview with Gig Patta, Czech Michal Vojtech said they discovered the were both influenced and interested in German Gothic Expressionism having seen Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922)
“Initially, we wanted to shoot a different film, then [in Prague] we saw these strange [public] toilets placed inside the walls of the town’s river banks and were amazed... we wanted to shoot a strange, magical and realistic film in part… so we asked the old lady [toilet attendant] who was chain-smoking, if we could shoot there and she agreed.”
People are surprised with this ‘European’ tradition of having public toilets that are cared for by an attendant. They create, in this film. a surreal situation that is an excellent complement to the feel and style of the writing and filming, like surrealistic expressionism with a modern take.
It is not frequent to have no-dialogue movies, but they can be very effective as they leave so much for the viewer to fill in, using their own imagination and bringing their own experiences into play. One such short film that made an impact before Meow!, is The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993) by the Bolex Brothers, who used stop- motion animation and pixilation but no dialogue. The film weaves through fantasy and dystopian landscapes and pulls at the heart strings very effectively.
Here, in Meow! The animated, quirky effect and absurd comedy feel, was achieved by the style of cutting and editing, integrating that with the use of carefully mixed grunts and exclamations, with sound effects, interwoven with the Nils Sandgren’s music score.
Their collaboration has led to the formation of a Theatre/ Cinema company called ‘The Threepenny Collective’, together with Ilya Wray. They are now already working on a new film idea, a folkloric horror tale, set in the Czech wilderness, inspired by the pagan holiday of the Bohemian and Moravian Goddess of Death and Winter Morana. Their objective is to eventually make feature films.
Meow! 2024
Premiered at the Norwich Film Festival on November 24th 2024.
Written and directed by Michal Vojtech and Ariel de la Garza Davidoff
Cinematographer: Filip Kettner/ Music: Nils Sandgren / Editor: David Zbirka / Sound Design: Pablo Cervera and Alex Gordon/ Production Manager: Anna Royubalová / Production Company: The Threepenny Collective.
Cast:
Anna Maria Paige Janey Thomas
Hunchbacks Raphael Ruiz
Cat Albert
