The section of films honouring the studio wouldn’t be complete without the ground-breaking work of Hermina Tyrlova, called the Mother of Czech Animation. Tyrlova’s body of 80 animated films includes the first stop motion animated film using wire figures in stop motion, Ferda the Ant from 1942, which will be screened at the festival. Tyrlova’s one-time assistant Karel Zeman, who gained worldwide acclaim for his fantastical style and was known as “the Czech Méliès,” receives an entire selection of special screenings. Those films include several which are still revered by leading creators in the field of animation and live action, such as Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton and Wes Anderson. Both Tyrlova and Zeman remained at the Zlin Film Studio, which was then known as the Bata Film Studio, for the entirety of their careers.

The Zlin film studio retrospective also includes some surprises, including works by the experimental filmmaker Alexander Hackenschmid, along with more traditional selections of animated films by Bretislav Pojar and Josef Pinkava.

The Zlin connection continues into the section of new Czech films, which includes the animated feature Pat and Mat in a Movie (Pat a Mat Studio), based on the original short film series Pat and Mat, which was created in part at the Zlin studio.