Mateo Mejia is reframing and remixing filmmaking

Mateo’s project, Toymaker, is a hybrid short film that combines live-action filmmaking with AI-assisted visual effects

As a filmmaker, Mateo likes to remind everyone that he stands on the shoulders of the giants of cinema who came before him. Talk to Mateo for five minutes and he’ll probably bring up a shot from a Tarkovsky film or a line from a Linklater script. He’s a huge film nerd. And this obsession with the classics inspires and informs the boundary-pushing work he does today.
As a hybrid filmmaker who blends practical footage with AI-generated effects, Mateo views AI as a powerful tool for storytelling. He compares the rise of AI in filmmaking to the way sampling transformed music. For him, it expands creative possibilities while keeping the artist’s voice at the center.

Toymaker was a deeply personal project for Mateo. He spent years developing and refining the script while waiting for the right opportunity to make it.

The short film follows a toy maker who pushes back against a dystopian society built on conformity. Its eerie atmosphere was shaped in large part by Galveston, Texas, whose worn architecture, vacant homes, and quiet coastal streets provided a natural visual language for the film. By shooting on location, Mateo allowed the city itself to help define the unsettling world his characters inhabit.

Mateo’s process is rooted in hands-on filmmaking. Every scene was shot with real actors, physical sets, and in-camera effects.

Leonardo’s AI tools were introduced later in the process to extend environments, add surreal details, and reshape spaces while keeping the film grounded in real performances.

As much as Mateo’s style can feel freewheeling and loose, he’s a meticulous director. Scenes were carefully mapped out in advance so that AI-assisted effects would marry well with the live-action footage. Camera choices, lighting, and movement were all considered early to ensure consistency between the physical and digital worlds of the film

With the scale of the production came a new level of intensity. Bigger crews and packed schedules forced Mateo to think quickly and adapt in real time. Balancing creative ambition with the reality of limited time, budget, and—of course—daylight.

Beyond logistics, managing the on set atmosphere mattered just as much. Keeping morale high and collaboration strong helped the team push through stressful moments

At its core, Toymaker shows how Mateo views filmmaking as an evolving medium. By grounding the story with performances by real actors in the real world, the film embraces imperfection and experiments with ways AI can act as creative support, rather than serve as a creative substitute.

Drawing from the giants of cinema who shaped his taste and approach, Mateo uses new technologies to explore where filmmaking can go next. For him, filmmaking is deliberately hands-on. He works across writing, directing, shooting, and editing himself, grounding each project in the tactile traditions he admires while using new tools to push the form forward.

Support from the Leonardo Imagination Fund gave Mateo the freedom to fully commit to the film’s vision. What emerged was an unlocking of voice—one shaped by the filmmakers he reveres and sharpened through collaboration.

Watch: Toymaker

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