Archive of films Jan Werich's Fimfárum / Fimfárum Jana Wericha

Czech Republic
2002, 98 min

Section: Czech Films 2002-2003
Year: 2003

Five stories by Jan Werich adapted for film by Vlasta Pospíšilová and her younger colleague Aurel Klimt. The best traditions in Czech animated film combined with a modern dynamic approach and the liberal setting of kindly, humorous stories aimed – according to the author – at smart children and smart adults.

Synopsis

Director and animator Vlasta Pospíšilová made the puppet film Miserly Barka in 1986, based on a story from a book of fairytales by Jan Werich. She returned to this popular book twice, adapting the fairytales When the Oak Leaves Fall (1991) and Fulfilled Dream (2000), which were now conceived as part of a planned film pentalogy. The initiator and coproducer of the project is Pospíšilová’s younger colleague Aurel Klimt, who directed two of the five stories (Franta the Fearless and Fimfarum). While the Czech readership associates the book with the illustrations of Jiří Trnka, the directors worked on the project with artists Martin Velíšek and Petr Poš. The appeal of the pentalogy, combining classic puppet animation with a highly expressive artistic conception, is reinforced by Werich’s commentary (featuring the now classic audio recording by the late author). The best traditions in Czech animated film are thus combined with a modern dynamic approach and the liberal setting of kindly, humorous stories which are aimed – according to the author – at smart children and smart adults.

About the director

Vlasta Pospíšilová (b. 1935) is a living legend of Czech animation. After graduating from the School of Applied Arts in 1959 she began working for the Jiří Trnka studio. As a highly acclaimed animator she worked closely with a number of well-known directors (Jiří Trnka, Zdeněk Smetana, Jaroslav Boček, Stanislav Látal). She debuted as a director in 1980 with the film Maryška and the Wolf’s Castle. She also made the animated films The Magic Orchard (1982) and Mrs Poverty (1984).
Aurel Klimt (b. 1972, Žilina, Slovakia) studied drawn animation, videoart and puppet animation at Prague’s Film Academy (FAMU). He began to make a name for himself with the videoart programmes A Long Time Ago (1992) and Inside (1994), the puppet film Mashkin Killed Koshkin (1995), the parody Blood-Thirsty Hugo – An Eastern (1997) and the original grotesques The Fall (1999) and The Enchanted Bell which was screened in cinemas as part of the joint project The Magnificent Six (1999).

Contacts

Krátký Film Praha, a.s.
Kříženeckého nám.1079/5B, 152 53, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 267 091 110
Fax: +420 267 091 500
E-mail: [email protected]

Falcon a.s.
Radlická 1c/3185, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 422 222
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.falcon.cz

Česká televize
Kavčí hory, 140 70, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 261 131 111
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.ceskatelevize.cz, ct24.cz

About the film

35 mm

Section:	Czech Films 2002-2003

Director:	Aurel Klimt, Vlasta Pospíšilová
Screenplay:	Jiří Kubíček, Aurel Klimt podle knihy / based on the book Fimfarum by Jan Werich
Dir. of Photography:	Vladimír Malík, Zdeněk Pospíšil
Music:	Petr Hapka, Petr Komár Soudek, Miroslav Kořínek, Vladimír Merta, Miroslav Wanek
Editor:	Jiřina Pěčová, Aurel Klimt, Jan Sládek
Producer:	Aurel Klimt, Martin Vandas
Production:	Krátký film Praha, a.s. - Studio Jiřího Trnky, Česká televize / Czech Television
Contact:	Krátký Film Praha, a.s., Falcon a.s., Česká televize

Guests

Petr Poš

Film Crew

Martin Vandas

Producer

Aurel Klimt

Film Director / Producer

Vlasta Pospíšilová

Film Director