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Mmm...Cat

Yongxin Wang // Deutschland // 2021 // 05:05 min

Animation

Synopsis:
Ein Mädchen, das gerne alleine leben möchte, bekommt Besuch: Eine Katze klopft an ihre Tür. Ab diesem Moment verändert sich etwas.

Drei Fragen an die Regie

1. Short Film has a unique way of telling stories and exploring themes. What is it that fascinates you about the short format?

Yongxin Wang: I remember, once I watched a video about Neil Gaiman talking about the art of storytelling. There is one part where he said he met one of his favorite short story writers- Roger Zelazny. He asked him to talk about writing short stories, Roger Zelazny told him this,” All my best short stories are the last chapter of a novel I didn’t write”.

I think this is one of the coolest things I ever heard about short stories and one of the reasons why short stories are so fascinating to both the storyteller and the audience. You are at the brightest or darkest moment of one’s life, you don’t need one hour to learn about who that character is and what makes that character who he/she is to finally feel for them. It’s the moment where everything is unraveled, the moment you have been waiting for all this time, after the end of the story you still want to know more.

2. The program your film is selected for is called “Die lange Nacht des abwegigen Films”: What connection do you see between your film and that title?

Yongxin Wang: If you are laying in bed at night trying to sleep, it will lead to 2 different routes: you fall asleep and walk into your crazy dream, or you get insomnia and walk into your crazy thoughts. Both of them will get more and more unrealistic as time runs. In my film the loneliness is the long night, and the cat is the poison.

3. What film has inspried you most to make films yourself and what part of it do you see in your own work?

Yongxin Wang: My favorite animator is Mark Baker. However, the film that inspires me to do “Mmm...Cat” is called “Ivan’s Need” by Manuela Leuenberger, Lukas Suter, and Veronica L. Montaño. I have been obsessed with the feeling of different textures, and I have been obsessed with cats. After watching their film I knew I have to do the film which has a cat, and a “me” that drowning in the softness of everything.