'ALL CATS HATE WATER' is a cinematic enthralling SHORT FILM about the American dream - that quickly turns into a nightmare.

David, a young German drifter, takes a job as a gardener for Olivia and Jack, an affluent but dysfunctional American couple. From the start, David senses something is off. Olivia is cryptic and flirtatious, while Jack, an alcoholic, issues ominous warnings about his wife. As David spends more time at the house, he becomes entangled in their volatile marriage, where reality blurs between manipulation and truth. 

One night, Jack, in a drunken rage, threatens Olivia with a gun, accusing her of infidelity. In the chaos, David intervenes, knocking Jack dead. Faced with the grim reality of their actions, Olivia and David flee, embarking on a road trip to her estranged sister’s home in Atomic City, Idaho. Their journey, however, is clouded by guilt, paranoia, and an unspoken tension that simmers between them.

Stopping at a desolate motel, they cross paths with Sky, a jaded, resourceful woman desperate for an escape of her own. As Olivia and Sky bond over drinks, Sky pieces together their secret and sees an opportunity. She drugs David, steals their car keys, and manipulates the situation to her advantage. In a struggle to regain control, David accidentally kills himself in a fatal fall. Seizing the moment, Sky takes the car and drives off, leaving Olivia alone, stranded in the middle of nowhere as police sirens approach.

What We Need & What You Get

Help bring this thrilling film to the big screen by donating through this page!

All funds raised through this Indiegogo campaign will go towards hiring Los Angeles based cast and crew, equipment purchases and rentals, and procuring all other resources necessary to make this film. 

We plan to film first week of May in Los Angeles. 

By supporting this project you will also have access to different levels of thank you + producing credits mentioned in this film! 

Words From The Director

My name is Marco Papadopoulos and I was born in 1992 in the charming city of Bochum located in West Germany. As a German-Greek director, I mainly focus on fictional material and have always tried to bring a visually unique aesthetic and the random realities of Germany and Greece to the screen. My first Greek feature film Sarmako - A Tale of the North premiered in 2020 at the 61st International Film Festival in Thessaloniki. After that, I focused on the history of Greek guest workers in German factories in my short film The Guest – Sidero & Chaliva.

The pivotal year 1968 became part of my documentary Langhans – A last documentary about the German hippie Rainer Langhans with guest appearances by Balthazar Getty among others. It is a surreal examination of the pop cultural icon Rainer Langhans blending fiction and interviews of contemporary witnesses. In Night Talks/ All Cats Hate Water it is my goal to use the cinematic language of American independent cinema and combine it with a European gaze referencing the 70s and 80s but bring an own distanced and stark aesthetic identity to the table, in order to accentuate the absurdities on screen and deconstruct narrative structures of American cinema.

Cinematic Look & Feel

The look will be grounded, analog, and desaturated, primarily realistic but with the potential for subtle, quirky touches of artificiality.

Static, symmetrically composed wide shots—such as those of the motel, desert roads, and garden + pool—should feel deliberately stylized and grand, allowing the moment to breathe. The use of zoom lenses, reminiscent of Altman’s style, can help emphasize this.

Close-ups should will meticulously framed (but still flexible), focusing on the actors' faces and skin. Quick action scenes can be shot with a handheld camera.

The set design will feature a muted, brownish-yellowish palette, creating a bleak atmosphere. The actors should fill the space, and the camera should track their movements, not relying solely on editing afterwards.

Classic motifs such as the motel and the peaceful, suburban house with pool are retained with a touch of American indie cinema and New Hollywood, but highly influenced by the unique eccentricities of European (Scandinavian, Italian, Greek) cinema. Other References are Wild at Heart, Stranger Than Paradise, A Woman under the Influence and Three Women.

Despite the clear references to the '70s and '80s, the overall look should feel modern—this is inherently achieved through digital cameras, with ARRI being the closest to the desired realistic and spontaneous aesthetic.

Filming Locations

GARDEN | Stepping through the French doors of the bright kitchen, you enter a serene backyard oasis. A deep blue pool shimmers beneath towering green trees, its surface reflecting the dappled sunlight.

MOTEL | A shabby classic Motel in the middle of nowhere. Empty, sadness and old fashioned interior from the 90‘s creating a feeling of loneliness and danger.

DESERT HIGHWAY | A US desert highway. There are literally no cars driving through the desert. Sun is shining making it seem like a never ending road.

What We Need & What You Get

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“A hypnotic, slow-burn neo-noir that crackles with tension and dark humor, Night Talks is a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling. Zeiske and Papadopoulos craft a world where desire, deception, and violence collide under the eerie glow of the American dream. Unsettling, seductive, and impossible to look away from -- this is modern noir at its finest.”