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While some animated fairy-tales are rather serious, scary and educational, others aim to entertain children, make them laugh and provide the relaxation. This programme includes such films, chosen with regard to the festival’s theme of humour in animation and, as is customary for us, quality.

Adventures and exciting new discoveries can be found everywhere. You just have to look!

Enjoy nine fun, colourful animated films brought to you by the interfilm Berlin distribution in cooperation with KUKI Young Short Film Festival Berlin.

While some animated fairy-tales are rather serious, scary and educational, others aim to entertain children, make them laugh and provide the relaxation. This programme includes such films, chosen with regard to the festival’s theme of humour in animation and, as is customary for us, quality.

There are often situations we can’t control in life. The possibilities for an ordinary person to react are limited. Paradoxically, one effective psychological defence is joy. Even in the most terrifying moments, humanity has been able to laugh at its fate and animators have been proving this for decades.

This paradox is most noticeable in anti-war films. During the Second World War, laughter, or perhaps ridicule, was used as a weapon. In the United States, it was Donald Duck who fought against the Nazis, in Prague it was the Springman. A more cunning strategy (i.e. ignoring everything) was used by the heroes of the Cold War in a brilliant piece by the National Film Board.

Eastern Promises is a new section of Anifilm, mapping the remarkable work created on Europe’s eastern borders. For obvious reasons, this year’s first stop explores Ukrainian animation. In the last seven years or so, Ukrainian filmmakers have started to appear increasingly often in the selections of prestigious festivals. They are also successful online as in addition to films, they often focus on gif art, jingles, music videos etc.

Bugs Bunny was partly inspired by a rabbit from Disney’s The Tortoise and the Hare, because all Hollywood cartoons were influenced by Disney. But when Bugs appears in a cartoon based on the same fable, it is more cynical and violent than Disney ever was.

Directors at Warner Bros. had more influence over their cartoons than Disney allowed. Bob Clampett’s A Gruesome Twosome and Friz Freleng’s Putty Tat Trouble created very different cartoons with the same writer, Warren Foster, and the same story of two cats trying to catch Tweety.

Other studios tried to copy Looney Tunes. Voice actor Mel Blanc and director Frank Tashlin made one of the best imitations, The Fox and the Grapes, whose story of repeated failure was itself copied by Warner Bros. in the Road Runner series.

Even United Productions of America, which made Warner Bros. look old-fashioned with ambitious films like Rooty Toot Toot, was influenced by the stylised movement and period flavour of Chuck Jones’s The Dover Boys.

Fairy-tales are excellent source material for parodies in every art form. Not even animated films, which automatically equal fairy-tales in the eyes of many, could miss out on the opportunity to revise fairy-tale motifs. It’s actually an immensely popular pastime enjoyed by new as well as established directors. The first example in our programme is from the 1930s and fairy-tales still weren’t spared.

They’re full of allegories and many serious analyses try to interpret them. They often invite filmmakers to desecrate them. Subliminal, brutal and often sexual motifs hidden in fairy-tales provoke filmmakers, who – in a spirit of postmodernism – use these very motifs in their reinterpretations. Sometimes, with notorious stories, they just increase the pace, other times they play with colours and Little Red Riding Hood becomes a murderous monster or at least a karate master. How would fairy-tale characters end up if they grew old? Not even this is taboo for animators. As we’re in animation and the magical world of fairy-tales, black humour can always get blacker.

Forget Chuck Norris, here comes Chuck Steel! The best cop to ever walk the goddamned planet! Chuck Steel is a fearless, no-nonsense hero taken right from 1980s B-movies and series (and C-movies, or any other letter of the alphabet, for that matter). Chuck has everything that a proper ‘80s cop needs – big muscles, a big mouth, big guns (lots of them), an uncompromising attitude and major trauma. A year ago, he lost his wife. But like his boss says: ‘1985 is over, this is 1986!’ And in 1986, there’s no time for sentimentality. Chuck and his constantly dying partners have to get to the root of something very strange. The city is swarming with peculiar deaths and injuries. The hospital, for instance, accepts a woman slowly turning into a revolting creature of the night – something between a boozer and a vampire. Although the danger of vampires decimating the drunken population of the city seems at first to be the utter poppycock of an ancient geezer – a monster hunter – Chuck is eventually forced to admit that something strange is going on. Will he manage to save the world from the legacy of Transylvanian vampires who have been pushed to the edge of the society, hoping for a triumphant return to power led by their master? Or will he end up sucked dry, like a cheap wine box? This wild ride will chew up every film cliché and scheme and please viewers with an obvious passion for film oddities.

Throughout her career, editor Jiřina Pěčová, the recipient of this year’s Anifilm Lifetime Achievement Award, has focused primarily on animated films for children. She has worked on many popular classic Czech (and Czechoslovak) Bedtime Stories. This programme presents a selection of several episodes of various Bedtime Stories complemented by the short film Kitchen Tales. You will find out how the Top-Hat Rabbits skate, how Firefly was born, how Amelia the Forest Sprite reversed a brook and how Sophie became a zoo manager.

The programme titled Adventures of Mischievous Animals includes a popular Finnish series that has been broadcast by Czech Television, so children may have already seen it. The programme is intended for the youngest children; the stories are humorous, simple and have no dialogue.

Directors: Metsämarja & Antti Aittokoski, Finland, 2015 

The most prominent personality of Studio Prometheus, the Ostrava branch of Krátký Film Studio, was graphic artist and director Ilja Novák. This year’s festival theme of Animation & Humour represents an ideal opportunity to screen his films. Almost all of them aim to make the viewers laugh. But, as is typical for Czech animation, they’re not straightforward slapstick. In addition to using ubiquitous irony, Novák’s films move along two often intersecting lines. The first represents black humour, as we can see in Merry Christmas, or Charlie’s Winter Adventure. The second represents satire, very concrete and biting for its time. Perfect examples are His Excellency and What is Your Opinion, Baron?, a film which was heavily censored. In addition to harsh criticism, Novák’s films stand out from the rest of domestic production thanks to their artistic expression. Although very different in stylisation, in some moments Novák’s films are reminiscent of animation used by Igor Ševčík and Pavel Koutský. Novák doesn’t work in one layer, but his movements and editing using image transformations are typical for total animation. To re-introduce the slightly forgotten work of the Ostrava native, we will screen Kanga, Roo and Dingo the Dog and a wacky series ignored by television channels, Lux and Delux.

Each cartoon in this programme highlights an aspect of animated filmmaking. But first, Porky’s Preview shows what cartoons would be like with an amateur in charge of all departments.

Director Friz Freleng, a master of animation timing, gets laughs in Little Red Riding Rabbit just by having Bugs Bunny open doors in synchronisation with music. Music is even more important in Mouse-Warming, where Carl Stalling’s song quotations convey the emotions of silent characters.

Frank Tashlin shows off his mastery of camera angles in Porky Pig’s Feat, and in Claws for Alarm, backgrounds designed by Maurice Noble enhance comedy and horror.

In Draftee Daffy, notice how different Daffy looks and moves depending on which animator is drawing him. Russian Rhapsody showcases character design, with dozens of unique gremlins based on the Warner Bros. studio staff, and the avant-garde Now Hear This is a showcase for sound designer Treg Brown.

Tedd Pierce shows in High Diving Hare that a writer can spin endless variations on the same basic joke. Last but not least, voice actor Mel Blanc voices four completely distinct characters in the very first Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.

Midnight films frequently offer various kinds of humour. No wonder. Humour, although perhaps a little twisted, is an inseparable part of films for shock-proof audiences. Putting aside pure horrors, humour is present in all midnight shorts and is often extreme, properly wacky and duly racy.

The story behind the film Even Mice Belong in Heaven began in 2010 when director and graphic artist Denisa Grimmová came up with the idea to adapt Iva Procházková’s successful book into a puppet film. Its originality lies, among other things, in its approach to death, which the author can present to children with ease and playfulness.

The creative team approached the book with great ambitions, screenwriters added plotlines and characters and this Czech production became a co-production between four countries. After almost ten years of preparation, development, filming and post-production, viewers can look forward to a thrilling adventure set predominantly in the afterlife. Two animals, considered by their close friends to be weirdoes and outsiders, Quickfeet the mouse and Whitebelly the fox, have an accident and run into each other in animal heaven. Despite being arch-enemies in life, together they set out on a journey to overcome old sorrows, find a new beginning and develop an eternal friendship. The film offers not only an original story full of intense emotions but also an unforgettable spectacle enhanced by the puppet design, decorations, setting and meticulous animation.

The academic year 2021/22 marks the 70th anniversary of the Animation Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM). In collaboration with the National Film Archive, many short films that haven’t been seen on the big screen since their completion have been digitally restored. The showcase includes genuine rarities such as Václav Mergl’s Chameleon, Vratislav Hlavatý’s Hey Hop and Svatopluk Pitra’s Hat in the Bush. The last two films are screened in a revived premiere. The selection also reflects this year’s festival theme of humour.

Wunderbaum

What does the taxi driver Ruslan experience during his endless shift? Six episodes using various film and television genres portray stories from his life. Each episode was directed by two directors who were in charge of the story, animation and artistic design. Join us on a wild ride through a wide range of animation and artistic approaches. The series was made as exclusive content for Czech Television’s online broadcast. We will also screen bonus episodes.

One of Plympton’s early successes, Your Face is based on unbelievable metamorphoses of the human face. The director utilised the medium of animation (and the possibilities of hand drawing) to the fullest. This inventive and ruthlessly satirical pun with superb animation was nominated for an Oscar in 1988.

No smoker should miss another of Plympton’s early successes, 25 Ways to Quit Smoking. However, non-smoking viewers might be entertained even more. Using his specific style and unscrupulous methods, he offers the most absurd ways to quit smoking, which are possible only in animated films.

In addition to interpersonal relationships, Plympton’s animated films often focus on man’s best friend – the dog. In his rendition, though, these pets often don’t look or act like dogs anymore. Despite this, his first 'wacky' dog film, Guard Dog, was nominated for an Oscar.

Plympton followed up on the success of his first dog film with a similar film. This one is called Guide Dog, and is once again full of irony. A slobbering, chunky dog resembling a pig applies for a job as a guide dog. He doesn’t seem suited for it, however.

In this film, our luckless canine (anti)hero applies for a job with the fire brigade. Unfortunately, his clumsiness and talent ruin everything and the drool everywhere complicates things. But he’s trying so hard to be useful! The film once again boasts unmistakeable drawing and lively animation.

In the fourth instalment of the ‘dog’ series, our unlucky hero falls in love with a beautiful, carefully groomed female. How can this slobbering chunkster win her love and attention? Will it help if he fights off an attack by an aggressive dog, or will playing a violin concerto improve his chances? Either way, Plympton’s dog’s efforts always end in disaster.

After eight years, in 2017 Plympton returned to his favourite Oscar-nominated, drool-soaked dog, to torment him a little more. This time, the unfortunate dog becomes an airplane pilot. Those who have seen the previous films can certainly guess how the dog will pass this uneasy test. Or perhaps he will fail?

Plympton’s satirical ‘dog’ series, full of black humour, elicited responses from viewers and other animators as well. Guard Dog Global Jam is a collaborative effort by 70 artists to recreate Plympton’s famous Guard Dog short. Plympton’s canine (anti)hero is portrayed in many ways, using a variety of animation techniques and artistic styles.

Many filmmakers have had the honour of animating The Simpsons’ couch gag. On this occasion, Plympton revived his ideas from his 1980s film Your Face and, using his specific and unmistakeable style, played with the face of the Simpsons’ patriarch.

Love can take many forms. Sometimes, lovers are separated by a long distance and their relationship is impossible – just like in this atypical and parodic love story of a fan and a flower. This disturbing film, animated with a pulsating line, is once again full of black humour.

Young, earnest Tiffany makes her fashion debut in an attempt to be the most unlikely of supermodels and rejoin her beloved male model, Conrad. This unusually long ‘short’ (by Plympton’s standards) is characterised by having a more straightforward narrative without losing anything of the author’s typical stylisation.

A tragicomic film about the strength of the bond between a mother cow and her calf, the power of advertising and the purpose of life. Using irony and caustic humour, Plympton once again takes aim at American society. The calf is hypnotised by a billboard and this fascination proves to be a determining factor in its life.

The makers of this satiric film managed to transfer beer bellies, pig eyes, droopy faces, double chins and many other imperfections to the big screen with incredible believability. They were helped by iconic Austrian caricaturist Manfred Deix, whose work served as an inspiration for the film. We join his childhood alter ego in a small Austrian village in the 1960s where the locals would like to have everything in proper order. Woe betide anyone who would defy their extremely Catholic and far-right morale! The film’s young protagonist, son of the local innkeeper, would prefer to think (and, God forbid, perhaps even live) a little differently. His young eyes can see everything the adults contentedly ignore. He is unable to understand what others so loudly proclaim. The object of the boy’s desire, a girl named Mariolina, and his artistic talent eventually become the source of a public nuisance. We witness him fight for his life and the life of his chosen one with all the trouble that growing up in the horrendous town of Siegheilkirchen puts in their way.

The festival theme of Animation & Humour naturally has to take us deep underwater to Bikini Bottom. As a reminder of the legendary series created by Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon, we chose the first feature film based on the series. It was made 18 years ago, but its energy, humour and superb animation are still on point. It’s still great entertainment for multiple age groups and still the best feature version of the genius surrounding the tirelessly optimistic and workaholic yellow sea sponge, SpongeBob SquarePants. The film’s open-minded humour oscillates on the axis of infantile – Dada – extremely clever. And as a bonus, there is David Hasselhoff himself!

Trouble starts when Plankton enacts a plan to discredit his business nemesis Mr. Krabs, steal the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world by stealing King Neptune’s crown and framing Mr. Krabs for the crime. SpongeBob and Patrick team up to retrieve the crown from Shell City to save Mr. Krabs from Neptune’s wrath and their world from Plankton’s rule.