Three Czech Animated Projects Selected for CEE Animation Workshop
CEE Animation Workshop is a year-long project development and production skills advancement programme for professionals. For the second edition, filmmakers from low production capacity countries could apply with animated projects of any format (short, TV, features, hybrid) in development. The call was also open to a limited number of participants without projects, representatives of industry and public institutions. The selected projects are as follows: Love, Dad Original title: Váš táta Producer: Karolina Davidova (Czech Republic) Second participant: Diana Cam Van Nguyen, director (Czech Republic, Vietnam) Company: 13ka Format: short film Animation technique: stop motion Logline: A dad and his girl. Set apart by prison bars, bound by letters of love. Animalies Original title: Postižky Producer: Barbora Příkaská (Czech Republic) Second participant: Kateřina Karhánková, director (Czech Republic) Company: Bionaut Format: TV series Animation technique: 2D Logline: Have you ever been in the woods and come across a blind deer with white antlers instead of a white cane, a deaf centipede that communicates in sign language, or height-challenged rebel wolf who gets enraged if someone baby-talks him (which is always happening because he’s soooo cute)? An animated series for kids in which animals with and without disabilities get into absurd […] ...
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 […] ...
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 […] ...
