A Breath of Fresh Air with New Animated TV Series

17 September 2018

Czech Film

A Breath of Fresh Air with New Animated TV Series

Czech Film

A Breath of Fresh Air with New Animated TV Series

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In most countries, when people hear the word “animation,” TV shows are the first thing that comes to mind. You’d literally have to live on the moon not to know about The Simpsons. For Czechs, however, the first thing they probably think of is Večerníček (Bedtime Stories), the animated series for kids that has been on the air since 1965, achieving near cult status. Put simply, there has been a lack of animated shows outside the established format of bedtime stories. But now this is starting to change.

Article by Eliška Děcká for Czech Film Magazine / Fall 2018

We can’t go any further, however, without mentioning the pioneering work of the on-line TV platform Stream.cz, which produces animated series outside the traditional Czech canon. Producer Lukáš Záhoř, who is a huge fan of animation, was active at Stream.cz in various creative positions from 2007 to 2017, and played a major role in the development and production of original animated series aimed not only at children (Live From the Moss, 2016; dir. Filip Pošivač, in coproduction with nutprodukce), but their parents as well.

One such project that was particularly original was Fridge Stories (2016–17, dir. Lukáš Záhoř, Milan Kuchynka, Robert Geisler), which consisted of silly stories of different types of food living in a fridge. “We were thinking about kids aged 4 to 9, but their parents too,” says Záhoř. “We got a lot of praise from our audience, but for some people it was too much. I think that’s partly because the look was so different: a minimum of computer animation, shabby 2D illustrations that was simplified on purpose, with ragged cutouts and very specific visuals. Plus the stories were pretty crazy, too.”

Fridge Stories traveled the festival circuit, as did Live from the Moss. The latter series also had theatrical distribution in French cinemas together with Deep in Moss (2016, dir. Filip Pošivač, Bára Valecká). For Pošivač, the collaboration with Stream.cz was his first creative work online, bringing a host of new experiences: “The feedback we received was very diverse, to say the least. Of course it’s online, so there was some vulgarity involved - classic haters' stuff. You just have to get used to it. It’s definitely different than screening your film at a festival among fans.”

The Story of Mimi and Lisa

Currently one of the most significant projects in this area, supported with €35,700 from the Czech Film Fund, is  the  Slovak-Czech  coproduction Mimi & Lisa: The Christmas Lights Mystery. This 26-minute Christmas special is slated for its small-screen premiere at Christmastime on Slovak TV, while viewers in the Czech Republic will get a look in theaters already in November, thanks to the Czech distribution partner Cinemart.

One of the things that makes Mimi & Lisa such an interesting project is the fact that it builds on the success of the bedtime stories format in Czech (and Slovak) culture. The Christmas special is a loose sequel of 13 short episodes (directed by Katarína Kerekesová (2012–15)) about the adventures of two extraordinary girls, one of whom is blind. The series, broadcast by Slovak and Czech TV alike, met with overwhelming success, creating a whole brandseries.

Thanks to strong sales by Planet Nemo Animation (PNA), the stories of Mimi and Lisa have attained worldwide popularity and can be enjoyed by children in Taiwan, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, France, Belgium, Montenegro, Slovenia, Canada, and Columbia. PNA also mediated the sale of the series to French Cinema Public Films (CPF), which made a French dubbed version and released a compilation of the first six episodes in theaters. A DVD release is currently in preparation as well.

This strong network of international partners, as well as personal friendship and professional respect for Katarína Kerekesová, was one of the main reasons why Czech coproducer Martin Vandas and MAUR film chose to get involved in the project. “I’ve known Katarína now for over 15 years, and we’ve always talked about collaborating, but the projects never seemed to be right,” Vandas says. “With Mimi & Lisa and the Christmas TV special, though, it suddenly clicked. With this project, I really believe that Czech and Slovak collaboration on animation can once again be deeply meaningful, with a big impact throughout the animated world. This is thanks to the popularity of not only the Mimi & Lisa brand, but all the influential partners in the project — from Czech and Slovak television to the Planet Nemo Animation sales agency and to the Cinema Public Films distribution company in France.”

Friendship lies not only at the core of the original Mimi & Lisa stories, but also in the creative team behind the Christmas special: besides Kerekesová (creative producer and co-director, mostly focused on sound postproduction), also Ivana Šebestová (director and art director) and Katarína Moláková (together with Šebestová and Kerekesová, author of the story and scripts).

Challenge for Young Animators

Apart from this central close-knit team, Mimi & Lisa is also a great opportunity for young Czech animators and animation students to get industry experience. “Especially for young animators, this kind of project can be very rewarding,” Vandas says. “In the world of industry animation, Mimi & Lisa has unusually high standards of visual quality. Also, the whole process — where you finish a task, submit it, receive feedback, then start a new task — is something you have to learn if you want to be a professional animator working as part of a team.”

Petra Feňďová, a third-year animation student at FAMU in Prague, echoes Vandas’s words: “The biggest challenge for me was definitely the software we worked with — Toon Boon — plus organizing my time. I had worked with the software before, but only passively, so especially at the beginning, it really slowed me down and I had hard times keeping up with deadlines and the rhythm of the production. I got better over time, and really learned a lot, so I’m grateful they were patient with me and let me stay on the project even though i had trouble at first.”

Hungry Bear Tales

Also Kateřina Karhánková and Alexandra Májová (born Hetmerová) are learning important industry lessons these days, the two directors who previously won international acclaim with their animated short films Fruits of Clouds (2017) and Mythopolis (2013).

Now they are co-directors on another interesting take on the bedtime story format: a new animated series for kids called Hungry Bear Tales, produced by Bionaut, with Czech TV as minority coproducer. Development of the project culminated in production of the pilot episode, Blueberry Hunt!, with Czech Film Fund support of €21,400. The pilot (currently making the festival rounds as an individual animated short) has already garnered several awards, including a Golden Slipper at this year’s Zlín Film Festival, and the award for best online and TV film at Anifilm 2018.

Development of the series was supported by Creative Europe MEDIA with €60,000. Bionaut producer Bára Příkaská adds: “We’re also putting together an application now for MEDIA TV Programming, which can cover production costs up to 12.5 percent of the budget. We’re the first Czech animated series to apply for this. Also, apart from Czech TV as minority coproducer, we’re still discussing potential coproduction with Belgium, Germany, and Poland.”

As for the directors, Májová talked about the pressure that comes with an animated series to be really responsible, and focus on every detail in the preparation phase, so things will be clear later on to every member of the team. “Working on a series,” says Májová, “if you neglect anything, even something really small, and just leave it there, it can become a big problem later on. Plus, when I worked on my own films, everything was in my head and I didn’t need to explain it to anybody else. But here, everything has to be understandable to everyone and described in detail right from the start.”

This goes to show how important the production of animated series is, not only for the industry itself (and the job opportunities it brings), but also for the young, up-and-coming animators, who get a chance to learn professional skills in a way that would be impossible in the sheltered, low-stress environment of film school.

Martina Chwistková, another young Czech animator involved in the Mimi & Lisa production, confirms this. “You always learn a lot every time you work with other professionals. This was my first time communicating only through emails and phone calls from the very start of the project, with all of the technical problems discussed over Skype or Team Viewer. I actually never met face to face with all the people on the project, which was totally new for me.”

As more and more projects are produced by this long distance method, it’s an experience that will definitely come in handy in the future of every animator.

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