Prague, August 31, 2012 – Michaela Pavlátová’s animated short film Tram (Tramvaj) will screen in competition at the 10th Fantoche International Animation Film Festival in Baden, Switzerland. The festival will dedicate its Focus selection to Czech animation.
The Fantoche International Animation Film Festival (September 4-9) features eight competition and non-competition sections and focuses on the best and the most interesting international animation production from all over the world.
The Focus Czech Republic section will present festivalgoers with the world-class animation from Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic and will offer an excellent introduction to critical contemporary and classic works of Czech animation. The Drama of Puppets section will feature a retrospective of works of Jiří Trnka. The School of Czech Animation will show viewers short films by Hermína Týrlová (Lullaby, CZ 1948), Karel Zeman (Inspirace, CZ 1949) and Břetislav Pojar (Lev a písnička, CZ 1959), among others. Hidden Treasures and Secrets will feature less-known short animated films by Emil Radok (Johannes Doktor Faust, CZ 1958), František Vystrčil (Místo na Slunci, CZ 1959) and Miroslav Štěpánek (Siesta, CZ, 1969).
Other sections focus on production from the 1990s, including works of Pavel Koutský, Aurel Klimt and Michal Žabka, as well as current modern production by Václav and Jan Švankmajer and Alee Pachner.
In addition to animated shorts, the festival will also present feature films. Two current films already well known abroad will be screened: Fimfarum the Third Time Lucky / Fimfárum, do třetice všeho dobrého (Kristina Dufková, Vlasta Pospíšilová, David Súkup, CZ 2011) and Alois Nebel (Tomáš Luňák, CZ 2011).
The programme will include a master class, Making Of Alois Nebel, with scriptwriter and artist Jaroslav Rudiš. Audiences can meet Rudiš at an informal discussion September 5 from 10:30 p.m. at an reception supported by the Czech Film Center.
The Czech focus will also include a presentation of Czech animation studios. Studio Anima, which has been producing animated films using classical techniques since 1991, will present its work. To date, the studio has produced more than 170 episodes of 12 animated series for Czech and Slovak television and has also participated in the production of two feature films and several commercial spots. In its 20 years of operation, the studio has produced more than 26 hours of pure animation.
Invited guests can also look forward to personal meetings with Aurel Klimt, who will present his new project Lajka,and with director, producer and scriptwriter Martin Kotík.
The Fantoche programme also includes Visegrád Student Works, a selection of animated production from students in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. The programme will focus on seven film schools and films of various genres and animation techniques, including works by by Aneta Kýrová (In vino veritas, CZ 2012, FAMU), Martina Vybíralová (KLÍČení, CZ 2011, FAMU) and Veronika Szemlová (Nesejdeš z cesty, CZ 2011, Tomáš Bata University Zlín).
Director Tomáš Luňák will represent the Czech Republic on the main international jury. Michal Procházka, secretary of the Association of Animated Films, will sit on the jury of the Swiss films competition.
Procházka, Jiří Kubíček and Michaela Mertová took part in preparing the Czech section of the Fantoche festival. Czech Centers and the Czech Film Center contributed significant support.
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