The retrospective, which is a part of the festival's section dedicated to auteur animation cinema, will present all 25 titles of Michaela Pavlátová's filmography, including her short and feature-length animated films and two live-action feature films.

One of the first big successes in Pavlátová's career was the short Words, Words, Words from 1991, a visual expression of the thoughts and speeches that hover in a bar full of people, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short in 1993. With Repeat from 1995, Pavlátová won two significant awards: the Special Prize of the Jury at the Annecy IAFF and the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at Berlinale.

In 2003 she directed her first live-action feature film, Faithless Games, reflecting on the dynamics of couples and the search for marital harmony. At the same time, she continued in creating animated shorts; in 2008, she directed her second fiction feature Night Owls, which won the awards for best actor and best actress at Karlovy Vary IFF.  Another acclaimed short was Tram (2012), getting the Cristal award at Annecy and the Special International Jury Prize at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival.

In 2021 she directed My Sunny Maad, her first animated feature about a challenging situation of a Czech woman who moved to Afghanistan to live in her husband's family, that brought her a huge success. The film world-premiered in the Feature Films Competition of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2021, and won the Jury Award. Furthermore, the film won prizes at the FICG in Guadalajara or at the Bucheon International Animation Festival and it was screened at many other festivals all over the world, including Karlovy Vary IFF, Zurich IFF or Cairo IFF. My Sunny Maad was also nominated for the Golden Globe in the Best Picture – Animated category. Recently My Sunny Maad received the prestigious French César award.

In addition to making films, Michaela Pavlátová teaches animation at the prestigious FAMU in Prague but has also held courses at the Academy of Art College, Computer Arts Institute in San Francisco or Harvard University. She has also been a member of international juries at prestigious film festivals.

The retrospective is organized in cooperation with Czech Centre in Milan. More information can be found here.

The complete list of films featured in the retrospective:

An Etude from an Album, Czechoslovakia, 1987, short
The Crossword Puzzle, Czechoslovakia, 1989, short
Words, words, words, Czechoslovakia, 1991, short
Uncles and Aunts, The Netherlands, 1992, short
Repeat, Czech Republic, 1995, short
This Could Be Me, UK, 1995, short
Forever and Ever, Czech Republic, 1998, short
Graveyard, USA, 2001, short
Taily Tales, Czech Republic, 2002, short
Faithless Games, Czech Republic/ Slovakia, 2003, feature
Letters From Czecho, Czech Republic, 2005, short
Carnival of Animals, Czech Republic, 2006, short
Laila, Czech Republic, 2006, short
Night Owls, Czech Republic, 2008, feature film
Milkomoon, Czech Republic, 2009, short
Circus Cactus, Cech Republic, 2010, short
Are You Listening to Me?, Czech Republic, 2011, short
Tram, France/Czech Republic, 2012, short'
Different Kinds Of People, Czech Republic, 2015, short
My Sunny Maad, Czech Republic/France/Slovakia, 2021, feature
Self Portrait 2021, Czech Republic, 2021, short
Sixties, Czech Republic, 2021, short
Café Godot - Two Pots, Czech Republic, 2022, short
Kino - Bucharest, Czech Republic, 2022, short
Bath, Czech Republic, 2022, short