Czech animation undergoing revival

Fresh coin funds new wave of edgy features

By WILL TIZARD

'Alois Nebel'

Whether weird, provocative or simply a national calling card, animation Czech-style is undergoing a renaissance, with at least 10 features slated to bow throughout the next year.

The wave has generated so much attention that the Czech Film Center's PR material, called "Upcoming Czech Features," has added "and animated films" to the title.

"Czech filmmakers were always ready to take off in terms of creativity and stories, but were held back by a lack of sufficient funding," says the center's Jana Cernikova. But with the Czech Film Fund now granting $18.5 million in support, four times the level from just two years ago, filmmakers are finally free to delve into more expensive genres such as animation.

The surrealist master himself, Jan Svankmajer, is back with his latest pic, "Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)," a twisted fable sure to fire up the arthouse critics and film theorists following its December release.

His heir apparent, Jan Balej, meanwhile, continues to score festival noms and kudos with his "One Night in One City," which employs many of the stop-motion techniques Svankmajer has used over the past three-plus decades.

Innovative shingle Negativ is producing the first full-length Czech rotoscope pic, "Alois Nebel," based on a hit Czech graphic novel series and set in a shadowy WWII milieu, and is on track to secure the $2.4 million needed by year-end, says the company's Pavel Strnad.

Edgy young animator and live-action helmer Tomas Lunak is leading the project, with "Nebel" creators Jaroslav Rudis and Jaromir 99 scripting. Jaromir 99 also is involved in the animation. "There is interest from broadcasters, distributors and sales agents," Strnad says, "so I am quite optimistic."

Another ambitious CGI feature, the comic "Goat Story: The Old Prague Legends," is being taken on by Jan Tomanek and his Art and Animation Studio, with thesp Jiri Labus as the four-footed main character.

Also generating buzz are "Car Fairy Tales" from animator Bretislav Pojar; "Ecstasy 2" by Karel Janak; Jiri Barta's "In the Attic"; fairy tale installment "Fimfarum: Third Time Lucky"; 78-year-old Vaclav Vorlicek's "Saxana"; and Tomas Krejci's "The Last Children of Aporver," produced by Jiri Konecny, who's also behind Vit Pancir's animated rendering of cult novel "Sister" from Jachym Topol.