Originally posted on January 20, 2025 @ 2:19 pm
MEOW! Ariel de la Garza and Michal Vojtech Interviewed
How would you describe your short?
‘MEOW!’ is a surreal, ethereal story about a toilet attendant looking for her lost cat, Meow, in the gothic grottoes of Prague. It is an absurd, magical story about longing and discovering peace in your own loneliness, this is to be taken as strength rather than weakness.
Tell me about the creative process behind it.
We are a writing/directing duo coming from Prague and Mexico City and we both have a soft spot for magical realism and surreal literature, which very much reflects in our work. We first conceived of ‘MEOW!’ when looking at the public toilets built into the banks of the Vltava in Prague. We thought the location was wonderfully odd.
From there we began envisioning what the world would look like to someone living in those toilets and who that person would be. We wanted to tell this story from a lens of character who has an alien, romantic perspective of their reality.
What was your role in the film/creating the film?
Both of us co-wrote and co-directed the film.
What was it like working with such an amazing cast?
We met our lead actress Paige Janey through a friend who studied with her at UAL. Paige has become a good friend of ours since filming ‘MEOW!’. The second actor, Raphael Ruiz, is a long time friend of ours. Michal met him when he was working as an extra on ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ five years ago.
We’ve had the pleasure to work with both actors on other projects as they are some of the most professional and talented people we’ve had the chance to meet in our lives. It was truly meant to be.
What were some challenges you faced during the process of creating the short?
The biggest challenge was the schedule. One of the particularities of shooting in a public toilet is that it remains public even when you are filming in it. We were only able to have the space for a few hours during the day, had to re-dress it every morning, and had to accommodate a few weary tourists in need of relief a few times. Since the location is in central Prague and we were filming on Czech independence day we definitely drew a crowd while filming the ending scenes with the titular cat and Paige’s character. But ultimately actors, whether feline or human, seem to thrive with an audience.
What are some of your favorite memories from the experience?
Michal is very fond of the memory of bribing the real life toilet attendant with cigarettes and chocolate to let us shoot overtime. She was a jolly chain smoker and I later spent the night in the public restrooms with her and her family. She let me read her diary that was about waiting for her husband, who’s in prison.
Ariel remembers the chaotic scene as we raced against the setting sun and Paige performed the final encounter with Meow surrounded by hundreds of tourists. It was wonderful.
What is one moment you’re looking forward to everyone seeing?
We believe seeing people react to the story’s ending since we think it is a beautiful, bittersweet experience about the unspoken parting of two souls. We quite enjoy hearing people’s reactions to that scene.
What else are you working on?
Currently we are in the thick of post production for another short film. It is a folklore-horror about a village girl who is cursed by her sister to meet the Pagan Goddess of death, Morana.
Tell me a fun fact about yourself.
We are both immune to spicy food and our hot sauce collection is eclectic.
What are you watching these days?
We watch a lot of older Asian and European cinema, predominantly horror. We enjoy going to a lot of independent movie screenings around London and meeting other film nerds!
Anything else you want to share?
The overall concept of the film is somewhat of an oddity that definitely isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t guide the viewer by the hand but rather throws them into a world that feels no obligation to explain itself. Ultimately we made a project that we would like to see in cinemas ourselves, something that transcends logic but still keeps an emotional intention. We worked with our most skilled and trusted artists from Prague, Oslo and London to create an ethereal vision of this world and we hope to reach those who can appreciate its oddness, those who also dream of hunchbacks and lost cats.
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