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This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award laureate Ivo Špalj worked on many Czech (and Czechoslovak) Bedtime Stories. In this programme, we focus on his work on hand-drawn animated Bedtime Stories from the 1960s until the mid-1990s. Our showcase includes work from renowned directors and visual artists.

The oldest screened Bedtime Story narrated by the brilliant František Filipovský is The Boy from the Poster directed by Josef Kábrt. In the 1980s, Ivo Špalj worked continuously on various animated series. From that period come acoustically and graphically original fairy-tales Lardocks and Crunch, The Earthling, Bobby and Bob Bobkins and Radovan Has Some Fun from the late 1980s. The programme is concluded by Špalj’s work from the 1990s, popular series From the Diary of a Third-Grade Pupil, or Edudant and Francimore and Babbie and Bertie.

The Boy from the Poster – Have You Seen a Lion Around Here?

Director: Josef Kábrt, Czechoslovakia, 1968, 7 min

Lardocks and Crunch – In an Eagle’s Nest

Director: Václav Mergl, Czechoslovakia, 1983, 8 min

The Earthling – Collecting Blueberries

Director: Josef Lamka, Czechoslovakia, 1985, 8 min

Bobby and Bob Bobkins – Around the World with Barbucha

Director: Zdeněk Smetana, Czechoslovakia, 1986, 8 min

Radovan Has Some Fun – Crazy Wind

Director: Zdena Bártová, Czechoslovakia, 1988, 7 min

From the Diary of a Third-Grade Pupil, or Edudant and Francimore – At Home

Director: Jaroslava Havettová, Czech Republic, 1993, 8 min                                                     

Babbie and Bertie – The Button

Director: Václav Mergl, Czech Republic, 1994, 8 min

As is customary for the world-renowned surrealist filmmaker, Švankmajer’s tribute to the boundless imagination of Lewis Carroll doesn’t directly adapt Carroll’s book but draws inspiration from it. Much like Švankmajer’s Faust from 1993 draws inspiration from Goethe and Marlowe. For Švankmajer, Alice in Wonderland merely serves as a basis for his fantastic vision in which he lets his imagination run wild and puts selected motifs from the book into a new context and tone. What is crucial is the ambiguity of the boundaries between dreams and reality in which the girl’s adventure gets at times slight and at times intensive horror overtones. This combined and artistically unique film with inventive animated sequences starring Kristýna Kohoutová will draw the viewers into disturbing and even terrifying memories of Švankmajer’s childhood. Alice was co-produced with Western countries right before the revolution and ranks among the most iconic films of world cinema.

Ivo Špalj’s sound artistry can be found in Czech puppet animation as well. Apart from other films, he worked on many puppet series, some of which are included in this programme mainly for pre-school children. Some of the screened Bedtime Stories that have attained cult status will surely be nostalgically remembered by parents, some will charm the audiences with playful stories and some with their precise stop-motion animation, skilfully made puppets and impressive decorations. Individual fairy-tales bear the signature of phenomenal Czech directors – in this programme, we will see work by Břetislav Pojar, Lubomír Beneš and Vlasta Pospíšilová. Our showcase covers several decades as it includes the poetic Fireflies, comical Pat and Mat and recent The Cottage on the Hilltop.

Tumbling Teddy – Wandering Through Town

Director: Libuše Koutná, Czechoslovakia, 1973, 7 min

Yaya and Paya – Fulfilling Spring Wishes

Director: Břetislav Pojar, Lubomír Beneš, Czechoslovakia, 1986, 8 min

Fireflies – Winter

Director: Vlasta Pospíšilová, Czech Republic, 1995, 8 min

Pat and Mat – Eaves

Director: Marek Beneš, Czechoslovakia, 1992, 8 min

The Cottage on the Hilltop – Annie Fears Death

Director: Šárka Váchová, Czech Republic, 2008, 8 min

The Adventures of the Bee Teddies – Honey

Director: Libuše Koutná, Ivo Houf, Czechoslovakia, 1984, 9 min

Ivo Špalj is a living legend of Czech sound design. His career, active to this day, in the film and TV industry spans nearly 60 years. Besides his work on countless features and shorts, he is known as the court sound designer of director Jan Švankmajer. In this rare interview led by the American film-maker, sound designer and teacher Larry Sider, Ivo Špalj discusses his work methods, way of thinking and approach to art, speaks about what sound design means for the moving picture and the specifics of working on animated films, focusing especially on his collaboration with Jan Švankmajer.