Works aimed at children usually avoid difficult topics.
In our miniseries, we want to introduce these topics in a non-violent manner and not make "boogeymen" out of them. Our adult generation still has the advantage of having grown up in an analogue world and having been raised on a completely different content principle, which is something we’d like to revive with this project.
We combine classic animation techniques in the style of Karel Zeman with live-action passages. Each episode is framed by a musical piece composed by a contemporary artist on a given theme.
In the pilot episode, we deal with coping with the death of a loved one.
A funeral reception takes place partly inside a farmhouse in the farmyard. This isn’t much fun for little Jonas. He receives a cassette tape and a walkman from his grandmother. The music transports us to a straw world, where the fantastical story of how Jonas's grandfather met his grandmother begins.
Veronika Jelšíková is a director and producer from Prague. She graduated from FAMU’s Production Department in Prague and completed a residency in Los Angeles at the California Institute of the Arts, where she studied the film directing programme. Her directorial debut, the short film Golden Delicious, won the Nespresso Talents Award at KVIFF and other gold awards at vertical film festivals. She garnered further success with the commercial Advertising Needs More Women, for which she won a Golden Nutcracker in the Young Directors category. Since then, she’s made several commercials and music videos and is currently finishing her debut film The Wayfarer.
Petr Vlček is currently studying directing at Prague’s FAMU. Apart from making short films, he mainly works on music videos. His last year's music video for the band Iggy Mayerov, which explored the techniques of Karel Zeman, will be screened at the prestigious Berlin Music Video Awards. In 2020, he was nominated for the Anděl Awards’ Music Video of the Year. Playfulness, genre exploration and a strong sense for the visual permeate his work.