Jiří Brdečka was certain not a proponent of idleness – his repertoire of interests and professions included artist, film critic, screenwriter and director of animated films. It is these latter short pictures, which long remained forgotten, that Brdečka's daughter, renowned journalist and writer Tereza Brdečková, came to present.
"Dad would be touched to see the theatre so full. He always used to say that making animated films is liking giving a speech in an elevator – that's how much interest there is. Today though that elevator is really large," Brdečková said, recalling the words of the screenwriter of directors Jiří Trnka, Jan Werich and Oldřich Lipský.
The short films screened at the 52nd KVIFF were made around 1963 for the film studio Bratři v triku. The working conditions were impeded by the period and the communist regime. "They didn't have access to any technology. They were shut off behind the Iron Curtain. The whole Bratři v triku studio had a rather paradoxical history – it was founded by the Nazis during World War II, prospered the most during communism and then folded after the revolution under freedom," Brdečková recounted.
Jiří Brdečka, who wrote also the screenplay for the comedy Lemonade Joe, which is being screened at the festival as well, approached the creation of animated films in a rather atypical manner. "Usually for cartoons the director works on the animation himself, but my dad worked with a different artist for each film, always a top Czech artist," stated Tereza Brdečková.
