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13th Animation Division Excellence Award

In the Attic

Animated feature film [Czech Republic]

Jiri BARTA

Outline

The creator’s latest work depicts an imaginary world of junk which lies in an attic forgotten by humans. Pomnenka is a sweet, popular female doll, but she is tomboyish enough to fight a bad guy, and is targeted by the chief villain, Hlava. This is how the story starts. When their peaceful everyday life is threatened, Pomnenka’s funny friends embark on a desperate adventure….

Reason for Award

Director Jiri BARTA finally released his biggest work ever after a lapse of 24 dark years during which he was unable to make his great life’s work, Golem, despite his desire to do so. While freely exploiting different animation techniques, such as paper animation and live-action material with an emphasis on 3D animation of the cute characters, the collision and friction between its worldview replete with a kind of closed-off creativity that is uniquely Czech in nature, and the conventional adventure story that has its eye on the worldwide entertainment market, develops in a way that exceeds our imagination so that it becomes incomparably stimulating and exciting. The nightmarish imaginative power that has been a continuous feature of the country over many years does not allow of any foreign imitators. It should not be forgotten that in order to communicate this thought accurately, assured animation techniques have been highly developed and passed down to subsequent generations. In addition, we should not overlook the growth of productions that weave stories evolving from unique and complacent expressions.