Christmas dreams
Christmas Screenings
Audiovisuals + Family
Free
We celebrate Christmas with this screening which include four short animation films from the Czech Film Archive collection. In the mid-20th century, Czech animated cinema achieved international recognition for its mixture of technical expertise and imagination that turned everyday objects like a rag doll, a toy or a ball of wool into the heroes of these Christmas stories.
Vánoční sen / A Christmas Dream, Karel Zeman and Bořivoj Zeman, Czechoslovakia, 1945, 11’
In this short film combining live action and stop-motion, a girl receives new toys for Christmas and loses interest in her old rag doll. The doll tries to win back the girl’s favour with a musical show.
Paraplíčko / The Little Umbrella, Břetislav Pojar, Czechoslovakia, 1957, 15’
One night, the toys come to life and organize a circus with a lion tamer, a tight-rope walker and a magician who creates a bear out of soap bubbles.
Sněhulák / The Snowman, Hermína Týrlová, Czechoslovakia, 1966, 12’30”
In a world of wool, a boy makes a snowman. The snowman immediately comes to life and decides to escape to discover the world. Týrlová manages to tell this fantastic story using a material as simple as string.
Vánoční stromeček / Christmas Tree, Hermína Týrlová, Czechoslovakia, 1968, 8’
Hermína Týrlová returns to her world of wool. This time, the boy sets out on an adventure to find a Christmas tree and its decorations. Luckily, he has the help of his dog and the forest animals.
Acknowledgements: Michaela Mertová, animated film curator at the Národní filmový archiv, Prague
Directors: Karel Zeman, Bořivoj Zeman, Břetislav Pojar, Hermína Týrlová
