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This adaptation of a poem by Karel Jaromír Erben was made in the Studio of Jiří Trnka. Director and graphic artist Josef Kábrt stuck to the original and created a dismal and truly horror-like atmosphere. A crucial role is played by Fišer’s gloomy soundtrack and the film’s artistic style is reminiscent of Topor’s Fantastic Planet. For this and many more reasons, the film’s animation is rather minimalist but all the more captivating.

A morality tale on the theme of a healthy lifestyle is made with utterly wild total animation that, in the scruffiness of the line, refers to Ševčík’s amateur beginnings. Transformations in the picture are often non-figurative and connected with irrational associations. The figures, partly outlined in colour, move as if in a vacuum against an empty white background.

The King basks in his wealth and doesn’t let anyone else touch it. That applies for nature in the form of flowers, birds or spiders. A wizard prepares a magical potion that turns everything to gold. But it also turns everyone to gold. This harsh fairy-tale warning against indifference towards nature is an excellent example of masterful puppet animation.

Špalj created sound for the film The Players in which we follow two tennis players whose match turns into a nuclear catastrophe. He had to create many specific shots, explosions and other sounds for the match. Among other things, the film is unique in that, at the time of its creation, it was an unusual co-production with British studio Halas & Batchelor.

Another film from the long list of Špalj’s collaborations with the icons of Czech animation is this Academy Award nominated film by Michaela Pavlátová. The artistic stylisation of this non-verbal film about the forms of interpersonal communication enabled him to develop a palette of realistic as well as unrealistic sounds enhancing the visually portrayed attempts to communicate.

This simple moralistic story is special thanks to its excellent stop-motion animation (it was animated by Vlasta Pospíšilová and Jan Klos) and incredible sound. The film follows a game of bowling in which the pins punish the player for being stubborn and conceited. Thanks to the sound, we can clearly hear the wooden material and the power in individual throws.

From the end of the 1960s, Václav Bedřich worked on Bedtime Stories as well as series for grown-ups. Not known by many, this film is a parody of comic series from the 1930s. Wicked doctor Goad and his henchmen keep setting up unsuccessful traps for a couple of lovers. The film functionally uses the stiffness of cutout animation and naïve artistic style.

It was a challenge for Ivo Špalj to create a contact sound for the documentary film recording the creation process of acoustic drawings by renowned graphic artist Milan Grygar. Apart from various objects, Milan Grygar also used mechanical toys. When drawing, sound represented a way of stepping out of the surface into space for him.