Online catalogue

The Wandering Kite is a high-quality programme of thematically and stylistically diverse animated shorts for the youngest audiences. The programme features contemporary works from Central and Eastern Europe. Suitable for children aged 4 and over, the films have been carefully selected by Martina Peštaj, a media psychologist and head of the Children’s and Youth Programme at Slovenia’s National Television, and Igor Prassel, director of the International Animated Film Festival Animateka.

The Wandering Kite is part of the CEE Animation Festival Network (Animafest, Anifilm, Fest Anča, Animest and Animateka).

Koyaa – Elusive Paper
Director: Kolja Saksida, Slovenia, 2019, 3 min

Mr. Night Has a Day Off
Director: Ignas Meilunas, Lithuania, 2016, 2 min

The Kite
Director: Martin Smatana, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, 2019, 14 min

Knock Knock
Director: Ivana Guljašević, Croatia, 2018, 4 min

Mitch-Match: Episode 6
Director: Géza M. Tóth, Hungary, 2020, 2 min

Cloudy
Directors: Filip Diviak, Zuzana Čupová, Czech Republic, 2018, 4 min

Prince Ki-Ki-Do: On the Run
Director: Grega Mastnak, Slovenia, 2018, 5 min

Children on Planet A: Woods, Water, Tornados

8+

As part of this year’s accompanying programme titled Planet A, we have prepared screenings of short environmental films for children of all ages. In this showcase for children above 8 years of age, you will see many different films which are definitely not boring educational or unpleasant agitational animations. On the contrary, this showcase includes film stories or puns offering various perspectives on the issue of environmental protection.

You will see a moving drama involving migrating bears but also a delightful story of a garden that decided to move. You will find out how serious deforestation is in the acclaimed Brazilian film Plantae. A humorous fictitious report on the life of hot air molecules will explain to young audiences how a tornado is formed. What about roasting some plastic fished from the sea for lunch? The ironic tone of some of the films, including a new student film titled Shoot, is balanced by the poetic and deeply moving Canadian film Man Who Planted Trees.

And in the very first film of the showcase, The Planet Comes First, we will find out that everyone can help the planet by planting a tree.

 The Planet Comes First: April

Director: Jakub Hussar, Czech Republic, 2020, 3 min

Migrants

Directors: Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte, Zoé Devise, France, 2020, 8 min

The Lost Garden / Le jardin perdu 

Director: Natalia Chernysheva, France, 2018, 3 min

Baked Fish

Director: Guillem Miró, Spain, 2018, 4 min

Plantae

Director:  Guilherme Gehr, Brazil, 2017, 10 min

Shoot

Director: Ema Mlynarčíková, Czech Republic, 2020, 3 min

The Story of a Tornado / Ako vzniká tornádo 

Director: Veronika Kocourková, Slovakia, 2013, 6 min

Man Who Planted Trees

Director: Frédéric Back, Canada, 1987, 30 min

These four animated fairy tales share not only the name of screenwriter, dramaturge and occasional director Edgar Dutka, but also an original sense of humour filled with parody, irony, new takes on fairy-tale stereotypes and innuendos obscure to children but humorous to grown-ups.

Maryshka and the Wolf’s Castle is a story about the courage, selflessness and loyalty of a poor girl named Maryshka who sets free an enchanted princess and her twelve maids from a mysterious castle. Even today this captivating puppet fairy tale has a very mysterious atmosphere. The Golden Mouse is an atypical fairy tale starring a king swordsman who hasn’t time for his own daughter Milča, due to all the swordplay. She has a sleepy piano teacher and always runs away to their neighbour, Vendelín. But during one of her escapes, a sorcerer turns her into a mouse. In Budulinek Mandelinka everything is a bit different from the classical version of this fairy tale. Budulinek, designed in the style of Josef Lada, lives with his grandparents. As he’s naughty and full of mischief, his grandfather comes up with the idea that he will only tell Budulinek opposites. Similarly cunning is Queen Koloběžka based on a fairy tale by Jan Werich (and narrated by him). A young king has to settle a petty dispute between a stupid miller and an equally stupid fisherman. But suddenly the fisherman’s smart daughter enters the scene.

Maryshka and the Wolf‘s Castle
Directors: Vlasta Pospíšilová, Edgar Dutka, Czechoslovakia, 1979, 15 min

The Golden Mouse
Director: Edgar Dutka, Czechoslovakia, 1990, 18 min

Budulinek Mandelinka
Director: Josef Kluge, Czechoslovakia, 1979, 14 min

Queen Koloběžka
Director: Dagmar Doubková, Czechoslovakia, 1981, 12 min

The second showcase we put together with Edgar Dutka from his work for children is dominated by animal heroes and literary adaptations. We will see his lesser known Bedtime Story about Bumblebees and stay in the world of insects in the humorous story of two clumsy spooks (Scaring Bumblebees). The book by František Nepil about a dog named Baryk has been adapted into an equally charming animated series – Adolf Born created its graphic design and the main hero was voiced by the author himself. Two short films were inspired by Hans Christian Andersen. The first is a modern adaptation of The FIint and the second is the slightly scary yet visually exquisite The Little Match Girl. We can’t forget the legendary Bit-of-All-Hair, a humorous, folksy tale based on the story by Josef Štefan Kubín and adapted for children by screenwriter Dutka and director Smetana. Narrated by the legendary František Filipovský, it’s full of innuendos which will definitely entertain grown-ups.

The Flint
Director: Dagmar Doubková, Czechoslovakia, 1985, 17 min

Bumblebees – The Master of the Contrabass
Director: Zdeněk Smetana, Czechoslovakia, 1977, 8 min

The Little Match Girl
Director: Milada Kačenová, Czechoslovakia, 1984, 7 min

Bit-Of-All-Hair
Director: Zdeněk Smetana, Czechoslovakia, 1978, 12 min

Scaring Bumblebees
Director: Zdeněk Smetana, Czechoslovakia, 1977, 7 min

I, Baryk – I, Baryk, and My Hedgehog
Director: Jiří Kubíček, Czech Republic, 1997, 7 min

Many generations of Czech (and previously Czechoslovak) children grew up reading the popular comic book The Lucky Four (Čtyřlístek). The adventures of the four animal friends began in 1969 and they have been published continuously ever since. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary Michal Žabka made a feature anthology film in 2019. In it, our heroes sit by a campfire and recount the adventures they had during the last year. Each of them tells the story they find the best, whether it was a climb to the Devil’s Thumb, the search for a vicious werewolf, a fantastic voyage into space or a Christmas visit of little imps. Renowned director Michal Žabka has already made a feature adaptation of this comic book – Lucky Four Serving the King was his 2013 feature debut, but this time, he is more consistent in adhering to the comic’s original style so the film seems more authentic to the audiences who know the original.

8+

As part of this year’s accompanying programme titled Planet A, we have prepared screenings of short environmental films for children of all ages. In this showcase for children above 8 years of age, you will see many different films which are definitely not boring educational or unpleasant agitational animations. On the contrary, this showcase includes film stories or puns offering various perspectives on the issue of environmental protection.

You will see a moving drama involving migrating bears but also a delightful story of a garden that decided to move. You will find out how serious deforestation is in the acclaimed Brazilian film Plantae. A humorous fictitious report on the life of hot air molecules will explain to young audiences how a tornado is formed. What about roasting some plastic fished from the sea for lunch? The ironic tone of some of the films, including a new student film titled Shoot, is balanced by the poetic and deeply moving Canadian film Man Who Planted Trees.

And in the very first film of the showcase, The Planet Comes First, we will find out that everyone can help the planet by planting a tree. 

The Planet Comes First: April
Director: Jakub Hussar, Czech Republic, 2020, 3 min

Migrants
Directors: Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte, Zoé Devise, France, 2020, 8 min

The Lost Garden / Le jardin perdu
Director: Natalia Chernysheva, France, 2018, 3 min

Baked Fish
Director: Guillem Miró, Spain, 2018, 4 min

Plantae
Director:  Guilherme Gehr, Brazil, 2017, 10 min

Shoot
Director: Ema Mlynarčíková, Czech Republic, 2020, 3 min

The Story of a Tornado / Ako vzniká tornádo
Director: Veronika Kocourková, Slovakia, 2013, 6 min

Man Who Planted Trees
Director: Frédéric Back, Canada, 1987, 30 min

4+

This showcase is intended for children above 4 years of age. The films screened share a focus on the environment and humanity’s behaviour in it. Princess Prga will introduce the insidious Plastor Nezmar and show us how to deal with him. Also the popular family of Little Rain Worms has to deal with litter as an inconsiderate tourist visits their forest. But the forest animals know what to do and they send a clear message to children: litter doesn’t belong in nature!

Zdeněk Miler’s timeless Little Mole has a different problem: a highway is to be built over his garden. Can a small animal prevail over a huge bulldozer destroying everything in its way? The Little Mole doesn’t give up. Another fairy tale takes us to Africa – in Snowflake, a little boy finds out what his country would look like if it started snowing. The last film in this showcase is the charming fairy tale Lost and Found about loneliness, the power of friendship and mainly about a little boy who decides to return a penguin to its home – even if it means an arduous journey to the South Pole.

The Planet Comes First: February
Director: Jakub Hussar, Czech Republic, 2020, 3 min

Snowflake / Snejinka
Director: Natalya Chernysheva, Russia, 2012, 7 min

Little Rain Worms: Tourist
Director: Jaromír Gál, Czech Republic, 2012, 7 min

The Little Mole and the Bulldozer
Director: Zdeněk Miler, Czechoslovakia, 1975, 6 min

Lost and Found
Director: Philip Hunt, United Kingdom, 2008, 24 min

Nostalgic, inventive and superbly animated – those are just some of the attributes that apply to Jiří Barta’s feature film titled In the Attic or Who Has a Birthday Today? Barta likes to animate forgotten and discarded objects and create their own specific world. In a similar style and also in collaboration with Edgar Dutka, he previously made a short film titled The Club of the Laid Off (1989).

Four friends set up a cosy home in a dusty old trunk in an attic: a pretty doll named Buttercup, a hedonistic and somewhat lazy teddy bear named Mucha, a marionette Prince Charming and a spry plasticine gnome named Schubert. They are cheerful and playful and every day at breakfast, they draw someone who has a birthday that day. The birthday boy/girl gets a song; the lovely Buttercup bakes a cake and then sends her friends off to ‘work’. Mucha is a train dispatcher at a nearby station, Schubert an engine driver and Prince Charming takes the train every day to the dragon’s den where he fights a fierce inflatable dragon. But their idyllic life of joyful games and playful rituals is destroyed by the Lord of the Land of Evil – a bronzed plaster ‘Head’. He orders his henchmen to kidnap Buttercup. On their quest to save Buttercup, her friends have to overcome dangerous obstacles and rely on help from other inhabitants of the attic, led by a clever mouse named Sklodowski. This successful film, which has won many awards and nominations at various festivals, was adapted into a theatrical play several years later.

3+ 

Not many Czech animated projects for children have attracted as much attention and aroused as much enthusiasm as the tales of two hungry bears. This popular series, which also inspired a book and a cookbook, is made by the young and talented Czech directors Kateřina Karhánková (Fruits of Clouds, 2017) and Alexandra Májová (Mythopolis, 2013). Its captivating artistic style designed by Filip Pošivač (Deep in Moss, 2015) situated on a white background is elaborate, richly coloured and yet likeable and comprehensible to children.

The series description reads: ‘the cheerful adventures of two constantly hungry fuzzballs.’ The friendly bears Mishka and Ned, living in their forest house, are always wondering what delicious things they can eat. But the way to obtaining the delicacies they want isn’t always easy. Tiny Mishka often loses hope, but the more rational and beefier Ned usually knows what to do. And as the sweet-toothed bears aren’t easily put off when on their quest for the given goody, they always end up having a feast. As a bonus at the end of this showcase, you will see a ‘making of’ film titled How We Were Made. In it, Ned and Mishka will tell you everything about what the production of a show such as theirs needs.

How They Met

Truffles

 
The Bears’ Dispute

The Impostors

Christmas Magic

The Great Gathering

How We Were Made

 

 

Directors: Kateřina Karhánková, Alexandra Májová, Czech Republic, 2020, 40 min

What would you say to a summer camp led by teenage witches situated on an island inhabited by the most bizarre creatures and objects brought to life? Thanks to magic, the laws of physics and sometimes even logic don’t apply to this place. That’s the very camp where the unsuspecting friends Oscar and Hedgehog are supposed to go. While Hedgehog is thrilled, Oscar needs some time to get used to the camp. But together, they have the best summer ever. Aliens, talking trees and other oddities gradually become a natural part of their summer adventure.

This successful series with dozens of episodes in three seasons is full of mysteries and wicked humour. Its heroes constantly discover new secrets of this magically attractive place. In designing the characters and various settings and objects of this fantasy series, the authors really let their imaginations run wild. The audience are in for a fun time as humour outweighs mystery. Summer Camp Island was created by animator and screenwriter Julia Pott, who worked on the last two seasons of the legendary series Adventure Time.

A boy is so devastated by the departure of his father that he leaves his village and sets off to look for him. He explores a world that is fascinating and terrifying at the same time and has lots of surprises and dangers in store. The boy faces a series of dramatic situations and meets various people. He witnesses the everyday struggles of the people in his country. The Boy and the World by Brazilian director Alê Abreu is tender and poetic and combines several graphic styles – collage, watercolour and crayon drawing. The director was inspired by the aesthetics of child drawings. His film is characterized by excellent and captivating animation – the viewers suddenly find themselves in the middle of a carnival or on a boat at sea fighting with wild waves. The story, the animation and the graphic aspects of the film are intertwined and completely fluid. But there are also socially critical and ecological aspects in the film – it addresses unemployment, exploitation and illogical destruction of nature. It approaches the current issues in a playful yet serious way and portrays them as they are reflected in the eyes of a child.