How Did Czech Animation Do in 2019 And What Does It Have in Store for the Audience This Year?
Last year was a breakthrough one, especially for the youngest generation of filmmakers – they were successful at the most important international festivals and at the American Film Academy, so one could say that a “new wave” of animators was born in the Czech Republic. Czech animation in Czech cinemas A total of five animated feature films were produced in 2019, four of which were screened in cinemas, the fifth one’s distribution premiere is planned for early 2020 (The Impossible Voyage). Several of these were sequels to popular films or television and comics series (The Great Adventure of the Lucky Four, Pat and Mat: Handymen’s Adventures, TvMiniUni: The Question Thief). Cinema releases also included the coproduction Fritzi – A Revolutionary Tale, which familiarizes children with the fall of the Iron Curtain. More and more often, short film reels for children and adults are shown in Czech cinemas. In 2019 Three Voices was presented to the audience, a set of three puppet student works created simultaneously at three Czech art schools – FAMU, UMPRUM and University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. The organizers of Anifilm festival compiled two short film reels for cinemas: Ready, Get Set, Go! (Ke startu připravit) or […] ...
STUDENT FILM DAUGHTER TO COMPETE FOR THE PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMY AWARD – THE OSCAR
On 13th January 2020, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominations in all 24 competition categories, from which the winners will be announced on 9th February at the awards ceremony in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The animated puppet drama Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva, student of the Department of Animated Film at FAMU, which was co-produced with MAUR film, was selected as one of the last five finalists in the Best Animated Short Film category! Daughter is thus the only Czech animated film that has in recent decades managed to compete for an Oscar. The director has already won many awards, the most prestigious being the Student Oscar for the best foreign animated film, which was awarded to her last September by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her film also won in the world-wide competition of 1615 best film-school movies. Its world premiere took place in the biggest festival of animated film in the world, in French Annecy, where it was awarded the highest award, Le Cristal d’Annecy, for best student film. Since its premiere Daughter has entered more than 80 festivals all over the world, including major festivals […] ...
Two Czech Animated Shorts Made Their Way to the Sundance Film Festival
Two animated short films supported by the Czech Film Fund will compete at Sundance — the most prestigious independent film festival. It is another accolade in the collection of major achievements for Daughter and SH_T HAPPENS. Both films were included in the Short Film Competition. The festival will take place on 23 January to 2 February 2020 in Utah, USA. “I was delighted to learn that our school and Czech animation is represented by two films at Sundance. I am very happy that Czech animated film is riding on such a good wave now and I can be a part of it. It gives me a feeling of encouragement,” said Daughter director Daria Kashcheeva. This animated puppet drama comes from the university FAMU (Department of Animated Film), co-produced with MAUR film company. “Sundance is great news for us that came in the middle of a working night and boosted our morale by at least 300 percent. We are very excited to have an American premiere at their biggest and one of the most popular festivals in the world. Every year we follow the selection at the festival and we are pleased that Sundance has been dedicating a lot of space to […] ...
CEE Animation Forum Opens Call for Animated Projects and Launches New VR Category
CEE Animation Forum (5–8 May, Liberec, Czech Republic) is a co-production pitching, B2B and networking event with the intention to boost the projects´ international circulation potential, visibility and their access to a wider European market. For its 2020 edition, the organisers have expanded the number of categories open to animated projects in development. The deadline for submission 10 January 2020. The CALL is open in four categories: Short Films (maximum length 20 minutes; all stages of development except for concept stage), Series and TV Specials (web and TV series of any format and single films, minimum length 20 minutes; all stages of development except for concept stage), Feature Films (minimum length 60 minutes; in development or in production), VR Immersive Media (VR, AR, 360 and other immersive formats; in development or in production). The new VR Competition is open to all original works in development and production that use VR technology and explore new kinds of storytelling, regardless of format or device, including 360° films and videos, immersive experiences and installations – whether interactive or not –, VR Theatre, and Room-scale VR projects. Only producers or other project rights holders can submit projects. The producer and director of the submitted […] ...
Grown-up Czech animation for grown-up audiences
Acclaimed director Michaela Pavlátová is currently working on a feature-length animated film for adults, My Sunny Maad, produced by Petr Oukropec and Kateřina Černá, of the production company Negativ. Article by Eliška Děcká for Czech Film Magazine / Fall 2019 The story of My Sunny Maad is based on the critically well-received and popular book Freshta (2012, Stork Press, UK) by Petra Procházková, a Czech investigative and war reporter with a wealth of personal experience of the realities of Afghanistan and everyday family life there. At the center of her novel Procházková set the partly autobiographical character of Herra, a foreigner who comes to Afghanistan to live with her beloved husband and his family. The original screenplay was adapted from Procházková’s book by Ivan Arsenjev. However, a variety of production problems, not least among them the impossibility of shooting in contemporary Afghanistan, meant that the production company, which has enjoyed a long and fruitful partnership with Pavlátová, from the feature films Faithless Games (2003) and Night Owls (2008) to animated short Tramvaj (2012, winner of the Annecy festival the same year) began to think in terms of a feature-length animated production. At the time, Negativ had only one feature […] ...
ANIFILM 2020 – SUBMIT YOUR ANIMATION NOW
Next edition of Anifilm taking place in Czech Republic May 5–10, 2020 opens right now submissions for your animated films, music and abstract videos or computer games! Now you can submit VR films as well! If you have not competed in Anifilm previous edition, do not hesitate to submit your work finished after January 1, 2019. Feel free to choose one of the following categories of international competition and/or national contest Czech Horizon: Feature Film Short Film Student Film Music Video Abstract and Non-narrative Animation VR Film Independent Computer Games Czech Horizon Short films / Student films / TV / On-line Film and Series / Music Video / Commissioned Work Please register your film by filling in the online form at vp.eventival.eu/anifilm/2020/. If you have not submitted any work before your first step will be registration. We would be honoured by accepting your application. You can complete it by January 5, 2020 when deadline for submissions is set. There is no fee for applicants. For more information about the festival, festival statutes and competition rules please check out the festival’s official website at www.anifilm.cz. Please do not hesitate to contact the organizers at any time on program@anifilm.cz. ...
Czech Animated Film Daughter to Enchant at the Final of This Year‘s Oscars
Just shortly after the world premiere of the film Daughter at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it won the top Crystal Award, and winning the main prize this week at the Melbourne International Film Festival, this puppet drama is heading overseas to Los Angeles for the final of the Student Oscars. Daughter was selected as one of the best three movies from a field of 1615 competitors from around the world. It follows the success of the Czech director Jan Saska, who made the shortlist of the best animated shorts Oscar in 2016. Czech cinematography has a chance to equal the success of Jan Svěrák 30 years ago, whose film Ropáci (Oil Gobblers) the American Film Academy awarded an Oscar in 1989. „It is a great honour for FAMU, for the Czech Republic and for me personally. Such a success raises the expectations of an artist and encourages me to work even harder,“ says the director of Daughter, Daria Kashcheeva. „I congratulate the whole team who cooperated in making the movie and we thank everyone who supported us in making it. To be in the final is a great honour and a dream come true,“ adds the executive […] ...
CEE Animation Workshop Opens the Call for Submissions
CEE Animation Workshop is a year-long project development and production skills advancement programme for professionals: established producers and creative teams with animated projects of any format (short, TV, features, hybrid) in development. It is also open to a limited number of participants without projects, representatives of industry and public institutions. The workshop delivers a comprehensive and integrated approach on script and art design development, legal matters and copyright, funding opportunities and production models, production planning and cash flow, music and sound, acting and dubbing for animation, distribution and exhibition, promotion, new technologies and marketing. It focuses on the roles of producer’s portfolio, project’s bible, producer’s package and pitching preparation. It helps identify a clear roadmap for project execution (target audiences, marketing and promotion, distribution strategies, production plans) and promotes co-production possibilities. The programme is structured as a combination of group work, lectures, masterclasses, panels and case studies, with a practical orientation towards concrete progress of projects and participant’s skills. It offers an opportunity to present projects to a large group of selected decision-makers, representatives of the industry, funding bodies, broadcasters and sales agents and to pitch projects in front of the CEE Animation Forum audience. The programme consists of three […] ...
ROBERT LENCE: Every story needs to be set free
Robert Lence is behind films as different as Beauty and the Beast, Shrek and Toy Story. During his career, he’s worked in the art departments of Disney, Dreamworks and Pixar studios. What is the secret of success and quality? Are these two things related at all? How has animation changed in the last twenty years and why is it interesting to come and teach at ANOMALIA? What motivates you to come to the Czech Republic to Anomalia? I like creating stories, making them up and discussing their form. And I like helping others come up with their own ones. I like getting to know the amazing things hidden in other filmmakers’ minds and supporting them to discover their strengths and make full use of their ideas. Every story needs to be set free from one’s mind and cleaned before we can expose it. This creative process of discussion and searching is inspiring for both them and me, and that’s why I really like coming to Litomyšl. In the Czech Republic we often wring our hands over the fact that we don’t have the funds to be able to afford as expensive animation as the Americans. But people from the […] ...
PHILIP LAZEBNIK: Art is the only thing that survives
The tutor of this year’s CEE Animation Forum in Třeboň also included Philip LaZebnik, screenwriter of Hollywood blockbusters such as Pocahontas, Mulan and The Prince of Egypt. He is also the author of Broadway musicals and the screenwriter for television series. LaZebnik relocated from the US to Denmark several years ago. He recalls his work for DreamWorks and Disney in an interview with ASAF, gives his opinion of Central and Eastern European animation and gives advice on what Czech animation needs. You have collaborated with great American animation studios Disney and DreamWorks and now you live in Denmark, where the situation of animated films production is different. What’s your perception of Central and Eastern Europe animation with this experience? This is my third time at the CEE Animation Forum and just like every year I am amazed at the amount of creativity and ingenuity of the films here as well as the level of their animation. There are really a lot of talented people in this region. I would say that this is an advantage, in a way, that in Central and Eastern Europe there is not so much money in animation. This gives the authors the creative freedom that […] ...
