02-03-2021

PRODUCTION: Maur Film Moves Forward With Animation Projects

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    Of Unwanted Things and People by David Súkup, Martin Smatana, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec Of Unwanted Things and People by David Súkup, Martin Smatana, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec photo: Maur Film

    PRAGUE: Prague-based animation company Maur Film is working on a full slate of films despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with one feature film awaiting release, one in production, one in development, and six short films coming out by 2022.

    The company’s largest production, Of Unwanted Things and People directed by David Súkup, Martin Smatana, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec with a budget of 2.5 m EUR, is on track for release in 2023. The film won the Eurimage Co-production Development Award and Cartoon Movie and is coproduced by Slovakia´s Artichoke, Slovenia´s ZVVIKS and the French production company Vivement Lundi! The film is supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Film Fund, Creative Europe, and the Slovenian Film Center.

    Maur Film coproduced the French/German/Czech animated feature The Crossing directed by Florence Miailhe. The production, which was supported by the Czech Film Fund, was originally scheduled to be released in the spring of 2020.

    The third feature in the Maur Film portfolio is Rosentaal, which has received development funding from the Czech Film Fund. The film will be directed by Czech actor Miroslav Krobot, who is best known by animation followers for playing the lead character in the 2011 film Alois Nebel directed by Tomas Lunak.

    One of the largest of the company’s numerous short film projects is a Polish/Czech production The Thrown Away Book directed by Agata Gorządek. The 200,000 EUR film which is produced by Maur Film and Poland’s WJTeam received funding from the Polish Film Institute and the Czech Film Fund. Its release is expected in 2021.

    Maur Film is also coproducing the Slovak/Czech short Criss Cross directed by Nina Rybárová. The 72,000 EUR film is produced by Slovakia’s Super film. It is scheduled for release in 2021.