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 her father and now she is not able to share her feelings with him.

The Kite has been selected for Young Audiences Short Films in Competition. Martin Smatana’s Czech-Slovak-Polish (produced by BFilm.cz and co-produced by BFILM (SK), FAMU (CZ) and CeTA (PL) deals with the issue of death, but it does so in a simple metaphorical and symbolic way using the relationship between the little boy and his grandpa. The Kite premiered earlier this year at Berlinale in the Generation Kplus section.

At Mifa, a long-awaited Czech-French-Polish-Slovak feature Even Mice Belong in Heaven will be presented in Works in Progress. A story about two mortal enemies, a little Mouse and a Fox who meet in animal heaven, is produced by Vladimír Lhoták from Fresh Films (CZ) and Alexandre Charlet from Les Films du Sygne (FR) in co-production with Animoon (PL), Cinemart (SK) and Czech Television (CZ). The project has been presented at Mifa Pitches in 2014 in stage of development.

Another prestigious feature length animation project in production My Sunny Maad will be presented in Gap Financing: Meet the Producers. Based on a book by Iva Procházková (Freshta), directed by Michaela Pavlátová and produced by Petr Oukropec and Kateřina Černá from Negativ (CZ) and Ron Dyens from Sacrebleue Productions (FR) in co-production with, BFilm (SK), and Czech Television (CZ), the film tells the story of a Czech Woman Helena (now Herra) who falls in love with an Afghan man Nazir and has no idea about the life that awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join.

In Annecy, Czech animation will be once again widely represented by a number of Czech animation professionals. Find out more about production companies present in Annecy in our brochure online HERE.

If you want to find out more information about Czech animation, check out our online catalogue HERE.