Martin Vandas

Tom (4 years old), Suzanne (8) and Derek (10) spend the weekend with their grandparents. But nothing is as usual: Grandpa seems to be elsewhere; Tom wonders where Grandma has gone, she who always tells him incredible stories; Derek is hard at work renovating the old apple tree hut. So following in the footsteps of her ancestor, Suzanne improvises herself as a storyteller to illuminate the house with imaginary and wonderful stories and try to fill the absence of Grandmother. The movie is an adaptation of three tales written by Arnost Goldflam.

Days Off is a short film, an homage to the puppet and city. By combining puppet animation and live action it builds a certain strange kind of reality, a reality that is based in the real world. It is an audiovisual testimony using the language of surrealism, satire, parody, irony and gallows humor, a dark mirror reflecting today’s world.

In a desolate landscape process strange creatures. The foreman of the group picks a suitable spot and the whole multiplying colony starts excavating a pit. They encounter various natural disasters that ruin their efforts – but the colonists always rise from the ruins and continue their work. We do unequivocally sympathise… till the moment when we return to the people’s daily lives.

Hurikán rushes out to save his favourite beer stand from closure by fetching a new keg to impress the bartender he has a crush on. In a wild Prague district, he faces robbers, cops, and his own thirst.

Ivan Wernisch wrote about his poems: “My poems are what they are, and I would not improve them with any commentary.” One of the most important living poets, Ivan Wernisch, with his nostalgic, railway and blowing poem, inspired director David Súkup to its distinctive animated interpretation. Alongside a visual tribute to the author in the form of a railway employee and the phenomenon of coffee in Czech poetry, a distinctive animated film was made, which shows the intimate closeness of animation and poetry and tries to bring new readers to poetry in an attractive form.

Far, far away, endless fields overgrown with weeds stretch to infinity. A beautiful garden is hidden in the middle of them, and it is carefully looked after by the Gardener. Her endurance is put to the test when a severe storm breaks out and her garden is flooded with seeds of weeds. This innocent encounter slowly grows into a life-and-death struggle. The Gardener tries her best to defeat this elemental force, but her fear and her desire to resist the intruders at all costs puts her entire world at risk.

For Hugo, visiting Chernobyl’s forbidden area is not a commemorative trip. If this young tourist wanders through radioactive ruins, it is mainly to feed his Instagram account. This absurd quest will lead him to discover a population he never knew existed.

The film based on the poem by Aimé Césair was created for a series of one-minute-long films inspired by the poems of this French poet commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth. The French original was narrated by Jacques Martial with music composed by François Causse and produced by MAUR film for the company La Maison Garage. The Czech version was translated by the French poet and translator Bertrand Schmitt and narrated for the cinema by actor Viktor Preiss. The film was animated with the demanding technique of oil painted on glass directly in front of the camera and the production in the Anima studio took almost three months during this spring. The same technique will be used for an animated co-production film directed by the French director Florence Miailhe with Lucie Sunková as the main animator.

Sea, sun, beaches and family holidays. But what if the hotel isn't as stellar as promised, your room has a bit of a naughty view, the dinner is surprisingly exotic and your luggage travels elsewhere?

Will the father-son relationship make the trip into the wild more enjoyable? Are the children really cruel or just playing innocent games? What will the teacher do when everything is already synchronized? Three stories set on a mysterious island. The animated film by Marta Prokopová and Michal Blaško sheds memories of childhood and adolescence into narcotic images and suggestive sounds.

In a small town plunged into darkness, two children, Kyona and Adriel, are separated from their parents and, facing the path of exile alone, embark on a heroic journey that will take them from childhood to adolescence, in search of refuge, peace and the hope of finding their family.

Lucie Sunková’s short film The Tree is a metaphorical story about the parallels in lives of people and trees, a lyrical poem about birth and death, about the flow of our time and the nature surrounding us, a parable about parenthood and crossing the boundaries of a human (not only) life. It is a story about relations, seeming hopelessness and a happy promise. Used paint-on-glass technique, a pure poetic means of expression ideal for a story like this, forms another metaphoric layer of the film withs its laboriousness and graphic style. The budget of this co-production reached almost 150 thousand EUR and was almost evenly divided between MAUR film and French production company Les Films de l’Arlequin. Both sides were supported by their respective national funds – State Cinematography Fund in the Czech Republic and the prestigious national fund CNC – Centre National du Cinema in France.

The film tells the story of a very important social problem: civic engagement. It is not tied to any particular political system or period. There is a stylized, anonymous, universal character living in an unspecified space. Everything is made of paper using the origami technique. The character does not want to solve the problems of the world around him, he thinks that he would lose his peace. But as a result, with this hidden from the news of the world, he gradually begins to sacrifice not only his property, his space, but also his freedom.

The native people of the surrealistic land of Superbia, where men and women form separate societies, face the changes sparked by the first equal couple in their history.

The Forgotten Book is a story about loss and dealing with loneliness. One day Toni and Levi find a mysterious artifact - the forgotten book - which appears to have a unique value. It becomes Toni's gateway to the fantastic world of dreams and magic.

September 1989 in the GDR. With the change of the general mood in the country, the life of 12-year-old FRITZI changes as well. Her best friend Sophie has fled with her mother through Hungary to West Germany and the only thing Fritzi has left is Sophie's little dog Sputnik. But Fritzi misses Sophie just as much as her little four-legged friend does. Therefore, she decides to bring Sputnik to Sophie. But there is only one way to get there: over the strictly guarded border. A very dangerous adventure for a 12-year-old girl and a small dog...

24th February 2022, my boyfriend and I fled Kyiv to go to Irpin. We spent 10 days in a blockaded city and just managed to escape with the last evacuation convoy. Time passed, but the feeling that I died in Irpin has never left me since.

An auteur film on the theme of inner feelings of home. What is home for each of us? Where is this place located? What is it connected to? Is home a specific place, or is home within us? A journey around the world in search of that “home” – the place where you feel you belong. Where you are safe and among your own.

Mimi sees the world with her hands and ears. She is blind. Together with her best friend Líza, they have visited many fantastic worlds of fun and mystery. Christmas is finally coming. Mimi, Líza and their neighbours decorate a beautiful magnificent tree. However, the bulbs won’t light up. Where did the magic Christmas light disappear? The answer is hidden in the times when their neighbours were still small children. Mimi and Líza set out on an adventurous journey to bring the charming Christmas light back.

An affectionate film that tells the story of Eva Marty, and her dog, Kubko, who rediscover each other thanks to unexpected catastrophe. They get the opportunity to share an incredible, literally cosmic experience together