The Slovak/Czech/Slovenian/French coproduction was pitched at Cartoon Movie 2019, where it won the Eurimage Co-production Development Award. The French production company Vivement Lundi ! joined the coproduction with Slovakia´s Artichoke, Czech Republic´s Maur Film and Slovenia´s ZVVIKS in January 2020.
The film is an adaptation of short stories by Czech author Arnost Goldflam, in which an aging writer decides to leave legacy stories for his grandchildren. In his stories, the old man tackles themes that are often considered taboo in children’s stories: the death of parents, the loneliness of elderly people, the fugue of a little boy who feels misunderstood by his parents and who finds refuge in a strange and wonderful universe.
The coproduction countries are sharing technology and creative talents, and the film production is planned in four stages. The Czech team is currently completing production, the Slovak project is being prepared for production in the autumn of 2020, the Slovenian team is completing development and the French partner is in the development phase.
„The four parts of the story are carried out separately in the coproducing countries, where separate teams work. Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, communication between the individual components in the four countries has moved online and even the production of sets, which is currently taking place in Slovakia, has not stopped, as artists have found a way to work separately. This experimental production model is not only a nice example of real coproduction but is also attracting attention from the side of investors, “ Slovak producer Juraj Krasnohorsky from Artichoke told FNE.
The estimated budget for the production is 2.5 m EUR. With support from the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Film Fund, Creative Europe, and the Slovenian Film Center the producers have covered 50% of the necessary funding in three countries, except France, which came into the project only recently. As the last step in funding, the producers will be asking for support from Eurimages.
The completion and release of the film are expected in 2022.
Production information:
Producers:
Artichoke (Slovakia)
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Maur Film (Czech Republic)
ZVVIKS (Slovenia)
Vivement Lundi ! (France)
Credits:
Directors: David Súkup, Ivana Laučíková, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec
Story: Arnošt Goldflam
Screenwriters: Petr Krajíček, Marek Král, Ivana Laučíková, Kaja Balog, Maja Križnik, Blandine Jet
Artistic direction: Patricia Ortiz Martinez
Edit: Matej Beneš
Music: Lucia Chuťková
Animation: David Filcík
