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 […] ...
Czech Films at Annecy 2019
At the 43rd Annecy International Animated Film Festival (10-15 June) and Mifa (11 – 14 June), Czech Republic will be represented by 3 films and 2 upcoming projects. Apart, Daughter and The Kite will be screened as a part of this year’s official programme, while Even Mice Belong in Heaven and My Sunny Maad will be presented during the Works in Progress and Gap Financing session of the market. An animated documentary Apart by Diana Cam Van Nguyen has been selected for the Graduation Short Films in Competition. A short by young FAMU student (co-produced by Alkay Animation Prague) thematizes a difficult topic, dealing with life after the loss of a loved one, and uses techniques of both live-action and animated film. The film was screened earlier this year at Rotterdam, and won the award for Best Czech experimental documentary at Ji.hlava IDFF 2018. Another FAMU project (co-produced by MAUR film), Daria Kashcheeva’s Daughter, will be screened in the Graduation Short Films in Competition. A tender short tells a story about a complicated relationship between a daughter and her father. A girl was hurt as a child and keeps alive the memory of it. She lacked love and empathy from […] ...
MARTIN KOTIK: You Need a Good Idea and the Ability to Keep It Under Control – the Rest Will Follow
Harvie and the Magic Museum has been an undeniable marketing success for Martin Kotík. How did he manage to keep such a big project together? What limitations did he find in the story? And how is he using his experience in preparing his second animated film? Your film Harvie is quite exceptional in the Czech context. Not only in the Czech context. It is the only mainstream internationally co-produced Eastern-European animated movie. Russia and Ukraine never co-produce. They might be raising money on the international level, but their films are made exclusively in-house. That’s why we made our film in Russia. We wanted to use the rich experience they have. It’s not too common to find an environment that can cater to an animated film from A to Z. They’re really way ahead of us there and they always will be, because with the amount of money circulating through their market, they are head and shoulders above our animation production – and this will hardly ever change. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of euros. What do you offer foreign investors beyond the story and concept? Nothing. Let’s not forget, however, that the subject and the concept are everything in […] ...
MANUELA LUMB: If I wanted to make an animated puppet series for children, I would definitely look for animators from Eastern Europe.
Manuela Lumb has been working as a producer for children and family TV channels for many years. During her prolific career, she has gained broad experience in fundraising and brand-management of children and family projects. She spent twelve years as the chair of Cartoon Movie, Cartoon Network and Cartoon Springboard. In her native Germany, she worked with TVFilm Studio or Motionworks production company before embarking on a successful path toward the independent producer and consultant she is today. I met Manuela in Třeboň, where she was a jury member of the CEE Animation Forum’s category Series and TV specials. Your domain in the field of animation is mostly projects oriented at child audiences. Have you noticed any gradual changes or trends during your prolific career? In my experience, children are the only audience that isn´t really interested in trends. Trends and children don’t go together – children are new creatures with no previous experience, and to them anything can be quite new, as they have nothing to refer back to or compare with. So I think that from the content/narrative point of view this is still the same: the crucial thing is to have a strong story they can relate […] ...
AGNES BIZZARO: Don’t just stay at home in an environment you already know intimately
Agnes Bizzaro has been working as a consultant in the field of animation for various European producers and TV stations for many years. She started off in her native France as an independent producer and gradually moved to the public TV channel France 2. One of the many professional activities she carries out at the moment is her position of content coordinator at Cartoon Springboard, a prominent Europe-wide pitching forum for young animators. Agnes has been coming to CEE Animation Forum in Třeboň for several years, sharing her plentiful experience as a tutor in the competition category of animated series and TV specials. Apart from this, she also searches for new talents and interesting projects for Cartoon Springboard (download the brochure here). How would you describe Cartoon Springboard to students or beginner animators? What might they not have heard about it before? Cartoon Springboard as an independent event has already been in existence for five years – this year we are holding the fifth one, which will take place from September 30 to October 2 in Valencia, Spain. From the very beginning its goal has been to create a new platform aimed specifically at young talents across Europe – anyone […] ...
MARTIN VANDAS: I’ve Found an Ideal Writer in Arnošt
Martin Vandas (MAUR film) is one of the leading Czech producers of animated film. At the moment he is working on three feature films, but also on several short films and series. His upcoming adaptation of Arnošt Goldflam’s book Of Unwanted Things and People is receiving global attention even before the start of the production and Martin believes it will be a great success. What movies are you currently working on? At the moment we have three feature animated films in production. We are a minor co-producer in the French-German-Czech project The Crossing, which was made using the technique of painting on glass. We’ve been on board for six years, two of which were taken up by the production itself, and if everything goes well, we’ll be finished next year. The second one is a German-Luxembourg-Czech traditional hand-drawn animation called Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale. The third is a puppet animation of Of Unwanted Things and People based on Arnošt Goldflam’s story. Hearing what techniques you’ve selected, one might think you’ve chosen to go against using CGI. I’ve worked with computer animation in the past. My most expensive short film production was Ondřej Švadlena’s Time Rodent. In addition, we have another […] ...
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