Director Revives Relationship with Her Father Using Unique Animation Technique. Love, Dad Secures Its World Premiere at Locarno
In its world premiere, the animated documentary Love, Dad will be featured on 6th August in the Pardi di Domani competition of Locarno Film Festival. It is one of the oldest festivals in the world, which focuses on discovering young talents and is distinguished by the artistic originality of selected films. The MA graduation film Love, Dad takes its director Diana Cam Van Nguyen back to her childhood days, when her father used to send her affectionate letters from prison. Through the letters, she remembers the mutual closeness, which, however, came to an end when her father left for another family. Diana uses the film to respond to her father, blaming him for abandoning the family, but also trying to understand his reasons. The theme of the importance of having a son touches on the conflict between Vietnamese tradition and European values. The author chose a very unusual technique for her film, combining live-action with rotoscoping, 2D and cut-out animation. “For Love, Dad I chose paper collage, because the central theme of the film is letters. From the beginning, I wanted to work with real letters from my dad and thus maintain authenticity,” explains the director. The preparation and filming […] ...
Cartoon Forum Announces Its Line-Up with Czech Projects
Cartoon Forum, the pitching and co-production forum for animated TV projects, announced the line-up for its next edition, to be held in person in Toulouse from 20 to 23 September. European animation emerges from the sanitary crisis with 84 new TV series, mini-series, and TV specials projects involving independent studios from 21 countries. Cartoon Forum’s statistics remain at similar levels to the previous year. Shortlisted from 141 submissions, the 84 selected projects have a total budget of 326.1 M€ with an average cost per series of 3.9 M€, though the cost per minute of animation production has slightly decreased compared to 2020 (11,887 € vs 12,250 €). In total, the projects represent 457 hours of animation, while series formats continue to diversify in response to the new demands, both in terms of number of episodes and running time. Twenty-one European countries are involved in the projects and the Czech Republic participates with four projects: Acorn Elves TV series – 26 x 11′; Pre-school 4-5; 3D Computer, Painting, Live action Director: Pavel Jindra; Scriptwriter: Klára Smolíková; Graphic author: Marcel Legindi; Adaptation from “Acorn Elves” by Petr Václavek Producer: Radovan Surý, BareBear production Dinofables TV series – 26 x 7′; Pre-school 4-5; 2D & 3D Computer, […] ...
Anifilm Jury Programme – Petr Oukropec: Masterclass & Cedric Babouche: From Watercolor to Interactivity: A Transmedia Journey with Dordogne
Petr Oukropec: Masterclass WHEN: June 24, 19:00 – 20:30 WHERE: Library, Liberec (Czech Republic) ONLINE: FB Page Czech Animation or CEE Animation In his presentation, director and producer Petr Oukropec will focus on using various kinds of animation and special effects and their incorporation in live-action scenes in films for children. Why are his films for young audiences (Blue Tiger, Martin and the Magical Forest) perceived abroad as a continuation of the traditional and specific Czech approach to special effects? And is there even such an approach? As the producer of My Sunny Maad by Michaela Pavlátová, Oukropec will screen several previews from this long-anticipated film due to be premiered later this year. Organised in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk CZ – MEDIA and CEE Animation. From Watercolor to Interactivity: A Transmedia Journey with Dordogne WHEN: June 26, 13:00 – 14:30 WHERE: Library, Liberec (Czech Republic) ONLINE: FB Page Czech Animation or CEE Animation Cedric Babouche is currently working on his first computer game – Dordogne. It’s a beautiful exploration game that is both 3D rendered and hand painted. He will describe the process of bringing traditional hand-painted arts and a narrative story to life thanks to real-time engines and […] ...
Another Czech Animation Will Be Competing in Annecy
The international animated feature film The Crossing, with the significant participation of Czech creators, will be competing in the main competition of Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the largest animated film festival in the world. This year it will be already a third feature length film with a Czech imprint the festival goers will be able to see. The exceptional film by the French director Florence Miailhe and scriptwriter Marie Desplechin was animated by a special technique of oil painting on glass and was a work in progress since 2012. Almost half of the work was done by Czech animators in the studio of Czech company MAUR film who produced e.g. world renowned film Daughter by Daria Kashcheeva, who, by the way, started her festival tour in Annecy. The story is remotely inspired by the fate of the author’s family which had roots in Jewish settlements in old time Russia. In the film which takes place in the present time, we follow the adventurous and dramatic journeys of two children, Kyona and her brother Adriel, who are running from hate across half a world, and during their magic initiation journey are growing up. „Florence managed to create on the one […] ...
My Sunny Maad & Even Mice Belong in Heaven to world-premiere in Annecy
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival will give floor to world premieres of two Czech long-awaited animated feature films – My Sunny Maad in Feature Films in Competition and Even Mice Belong in Heaven in the Screening Events section. Furthermore, short film Sisters has been selected for the Graduation Short Films in Competition section. My Sunny Maad (Feature Films in Competition) Celebrated animator Michaela Pavlátová garnered international attention with her short film Words, Words, Words in Annecy in 1991 (followed by an Oscar nomination in 1993), and also presented at the festival shorts Repete (in 1995, Berlinale’s Golden Bear for Best Short Film same year), Carnival of Animals (in 2007) and Tram (winner of The Annecy Cristal in 2012). This year, the director celebrates a comeback with her long-prepared animation feature My Sunny Maad which will compete in Annecy’s Feature Films in Competition. The film is produced by Petr Oukropec and Kateřina Černá of Negativ in co-production with French Sacrebleu Productions, Slovak BFILM and Czech Television. International sales are handled by Totem Films. Pavlátová paints a picture of society in post-Taliban Afghanistan using the story of Herra, a Czech woman, who falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, and has no idea about the life that awaits her in a new country, nor about the family she is about to join. “The […] ...
CEE Animation Forum 2021: Winners Revealed
The CEE Animation Forum, the leading regional pitching, financing and co-production event, was held online from 26 April to 6 May 2021. The award ceremony marked the grand finale of the 2021 extended two-week edition showcasing 40 animated projects in 5 categories — selected from 116 submissions. International juries composed of globally renowned experts from the film industry awarded various prizes in the total amount of EUR 15,000 in cash and free scholarships or direct access to prestigious European events. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, the CEE Animation Forum again took place online but was expanded into a two-week event. “The unchanging situation forced us to remain in the online environment. Taking it as an advantage, we decided to bring our content to the largest audience possible, and we live-streamed 80% of the programme for free. This has turned out to be an excellent decision as the first statistics surpassed all our expectations,” explains Matija Sturm, Managing Director. The public was able to follow the programme via Facebook Live. So far, 1 350 hours of video content have been played, engaging more than 1 300 people altogether. Pitching videos and selected sessions of the industry programme (discussion panels, presentations, case […] ...
Introducing KRUTART: Mercurial Animation Studio With an Innovative Bent
The rising producer-driven outfit and animation studio Krutart takes an agile approach to audiovisual storytelling. Focusing on adventurous edutainment with an eye to niche-to-global scaling, the studio has managed to transcend the conventional borders of audiovisual production. by Martin Kudláč for Czech Film Center, magazine CZECH FILM / Spring 2021 Changing industry norms and emerging standards are prompting producers to adopt more agile operational models to help them deliver diversified multiplatform content. Few European production companies have done so better than the young Czech studio Krutart. Remarkable flexibility has helped the company meet dynamic industry requirements and varied audience demands while propelling it into new markets. Krutart was born in 2014 and cut its teeth largely in the business of television commercials. In its early years, the company made three side projects that laid the foundations for its strategic shift from live-action production outfit to animation studio in 2017. Ever since that turning point, Krutart has been steadily building its reputation in the animation industry while embracing innovative working models. The early Krutart carried out three independent creative projects: Going Steady (2015), Škarohlídovi (2016), and The Russian Job (2017), a package that would foreshadow the company’s new vision and future […] ...
Czech Film Center: Focus on Short Films
Domestic short films are bending the borders of form, genre, and the medium itself. Beyond the successful showing of mostly animated shorts on the international festival circuit recently, much more has been going on in what is currently the most vibrant and diverse sector of Czech AV production. by Martin Kudláč for Czech Film Center, magazine CZECH FILM / Spring 2021 From urgent topics in society to abstract experimental visual works, Czech short films encompass the full spectrum. With a multiplicity of forms, techniques, and approaches, short film is the most vibrant and vital feature on the audiovisual landscape. Genre-crossing, convention-bending, and boundary-blurring, the energy of artistic freedom is producing an intriguing variety of cinematic stories as well as conceptual works for big and small screens, sitespecific spaces, and art galleries. (…) The legacy of animation lives on Lately, the international spotlight has been pointed at Czech animation, which has an especially strong pedigree in Czech cinema, thanks to world-renowned masters of the craft like visual illusionist Karel Zeman (1910–89), prolific artist Jiří Trnka (1912–69), multitalented and pioneering animator Břetislav Pojar (1923–2012), and the surrealist maestro Jan Švankmajer. Czech animation, especially in the short format, continues to evolve and innovate. […] ...
42 Animated Projects Heading to CEE Animation Forum 2021
CEE Animation Forum reveals its selections, having received a record number of submissions with high representation of authors from Central and Eastern Europe. The line-up of 42 animated projects features Student Academy Award-winning or shortlisted filmmakers but also debut works. Due to the present Covid-19 situation, the upcoming edition of the CEE Animation Forum will take place online in two stages. The traditional pitching competition, newly expanded to 5 categories, will be held April 26 – 29, and the additional industry programme in collaboration with Anifilm International Festival of Animated Films May 4 – 9 2021. For its 9th edition, the organizers received a record number of 116 submissions from 27 countries. From among these, a committee of international experts has made a final selection of projects to be pitched. The majority of the selected teams come from Central and Eastern Europe: 6 from Hungary, 4 from Slovakia, 3 from Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Slovenia, 2 from Cyprus, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Spain and 1 project from Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine. “We received a record number of submissions this year, with balanced representation of Central and Eastern European countries and the most developed markets of Western […] ...
Czech Lion Awards 2020: the very first ever Best Animated Film is A Colourful Dream.
On Saturday 6th March 2021, Czech Film and Television Academy announced winners of newly-formed category Best Animated Film. The award went to Jan Balej’s A Colourful Dream . A Colourful Dream / Barevný sen Czech Republic, 2020, 74 min A troupe of travelling performers lands on an island governed by a despotic ruler with strict police control. When, during their performance, a shot fired from circus cannon goes astray, it triggers a series of unexpected events. A young man and woman, Drin and Tuvi, and Nathan the seagull enter into an uneven struggle with totalitarian power. A struggle which eventually changes the fates of all the island inhabitants – both human and feathered. Cast / Vladimír Javorský, Matouš Ruml, Antonie Formanová, Karin Vápeníčková, Miroslav Táborský, Petr Forman Writer / Jan Balej, Michal Bureš Story / Jan Balej DoP / Martin Procházka Editor / Tomáš Doruška Sound / Jan Čeněk Music / Daniel Wunsch Costumes / Radka Balejová Animator / Jan Štencl, Jiří Krupička, Michael Carrington ...
