Martin Vandas

Tales from the Mag­ic Garden

Tom (4 years old), Suzanne (8) and Derek (10) spend the weekend with their grandparents. But nothing is as usual: Grandpa seems to be elsewhere; Tom wonders where Grandma has gone, she who always tells him incredible stories; Derek is hard at work renovating the old apple tree hut. So following in the footsteps of her ancestor, Suzanne improvises herself as a storyteller to illuminate the house with imaginary and wonderful stories and try to fill the absence of Grandmother. The movie is an adaptation of three tales written by Arnost Goldflam.

Kafka. In Love

In 1920, Franz Kafka wrote 120 letters to writer and journalist Milena Jesenská. A love which filled Kafka’s life with light and hope and, at the same time, illuminates his fears and the darkness in him.

I Died in Irpin

24th February 2022, my boyfriend and I fled Kyiv to go to Irpin. We spent 10 days in a blockaded city and just managed to escape with the last evacuation convoy. Time passed, but the feeling that I died in Irpin has never left me since.

Hello Summer

Sea, sun, beaches and family holidays. But what if the hotel isn't as stellar as promised, your room has a bit of a naughty view, the dinner is surprisingly exotic and your luggage travels elsewhere?

Joko

Joko is a young man who works on the cistern, he is the only breadwinner in a family. On his second anniversary of employment, Joko and his colleagues meet with foreign delegates who force boy and the rest to… carry on their back. At first, Joko is against and rebels against this humiliating activity. However, under the pressure and desire to earn good money, he subsides.

Joko

Joko is a young man who works on the cistern, he is the only breadwinner in a family. On his second anniversary of employment, Joko and his colleagues meet with foreign delegates who force boy and the rest to… carry on their back. At first, Joko is against and rebels against this humiliating activity. However, under the pressure and desire to earn good money, he subsides.

Electra

Electra rethinks her 10th birthday, mixing memories with dreams and hidden fantasies. Is our memory just fiction? Or a myth?

Preparations for Film T

In his film at the intersection of an experiment and a poetic documentary, Milan Klepnikov looks at the end of the world as defined by the poet Petr Král, who is convinced that children are born into a world which has in fact already ended. Trying to understand the young generation’s viewpoint and to capture the end of cinema as we know if, Klepnikov wildly chases and captures visual and auditive input, which he combines into a film sketchbook consisting of fragments of the lives of young people who apparently have been through the end of the world, but who still have many years ahead of them.

The Crossing

In a small town plunged into darkness, two children, Kyona and Adriel, are separated from their parents and, facing the path of exile alone, embark on a heroic journey that will take them from childhood to adolescence, in search of refuge, peace and the hope of finding their family.

The Pit

In a desolate landscape process strange creatures. The foreman of the group picks a suitable spot and the whole multiplying colony starts excavating a pit. They encounter various natural disasters that ruin their efforts – but the colonists always rise from the ruins and continue their work. We do unequivocally sympathise… till the moment when we return to the people’s daily lives.

Wild Beasts

Will the father-son relationship make the trip into the wild more enjoyable? Are the children really cruel or just playing innocent games? What will the teacher do when everything is already synchronized? Three stories set on a mysterious island.

Wild Beasts

Will the father-son relationship make the trip into the wild more enjoyable? Are the children really cruel or just playing innocent games? What will the teacher do when everything is already synchronized? Three stories set on a mysterious island.

Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale

September 1989 in the GDR. With the change of the general mood in the country, the life of 12-year-old FRITZI changes as well. Her best friend Sophie has fled with her mother through Hungary to West Germany and the only thing Fritzi has left is Sophie's little dog Sputnik. But Fritzi misses Sophie just as much as her little four-legged friend does. Therefore, she decides to bring Sputnik to Sophie. But there is only one way to get there: over the strictly guarded border. A very dangerous adventure for a 12-year-old girl and a small dog...

Somewhere

Everything avoidable during one’s lifetime might later become the building blocks of the afterlife. Here, fears have to be faced and journeys to be taken alongside one’s shadow.

Superbia

The native people of the surrealistic land of Superbia, where men and women form separate societies, face the changes sparked by the first equal couple in their history.

Jan Werich's Fimfarum

feature-length animated band on the themes of Jan Werich's book. A funny and instructive narrative about fairy-tale and everyday things, about the dwarves, the miracles, but also about the very ordinary human weaknesses and cleverness. The Art Concept of Puppet Stories accurately depicts the humor and atmosphere of the fairy tales "Fimfarum", "The Fall of the Oak", "Franta Nebojsa", "The Dream of the Dream" and "Lakomá Barka", written by Jan Werich on a gramophone record in the 1960s under the title Fimfarum.

Rosentaal

16-years-old orphan Nab lives since birth on a huge ship, which is at the same time a factory and permanent home to several thousand people. For violating the rules, he is banished and put ashore in the Duluong Islands, a harsh place where winter is hard to survive. But thanks to the discovery of gold deposits, Eskimos live there with adventurers, criminals, and local hunters. The only law that rules here is the law of the strongest. The town is called Rosentaal and the plains beyond are full of packs of wolves. Nab leaves the ship with a box of locksmith tools and sarcophagus containing a mysterious living mummy of an Eskimo whose future and destiny will become a mission of duty for Nab.

The Treasure of the Wyrm

Middle Ages, year 1077. Sant’Anselmo, a grumpy hermit living on the top of an icy mountain, is accidentally dragged downhill by Ranin, a strange wild child with whom - unwillingly – he will navigate the foggy river Po among monstrous creatures, crumbling boats, ancient legends and strange companions, in search of a legendary giant pumpkin and, perhaps, a mysterious feeling called affection.