1989 in the Sudetenland near the Czech-Polish border. Alois Nebel is a solitary train dispatcher who becomes haunted by the ghosts from his and the region’s violent history whenever the fog crawls into the mountainous area.
Director
Tomáš Luňák’s
dark and atmospheric film, adapted from a comic book trilogy by
Jaroslav Rudiš and
Jaromír 99, uses rotoscope animation to transpose the striking visuals of the original to the screen. A reduced palate of black, white and grey, a distinctly noirish flair and an eerie score all contribute to pulling us into the strory’s mysterious maze of past and present events.
After the screening filmmaker
Tomáš Luňák will be in conversation with animator
Jonathan Hodgson.
Czech Republic/Slovak Republic/Germany 2011, b/w, 84mins.
Directed by Tomáš Luňák.
In collaboration with, and organised by EUNIC London and the Goethe-Institut London.
In association with the London Film School. Supported by the Czech Centre.
Tomáš Luňák Biography
Tomáš Luňák studied animation at Zlín Film School, graduating with the short puppet film The Whisper. He also attended FAMU in Prague, where he made his next puppet film Acrobat, which screened in Annecy, Hiroshima and at dozens of other film festivals.
He has made numerous promotional spots and has also directed music videos for the bands The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa and Priessnitz, who are also involved in the music score for Alois Nebel. The film, his feature debut, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and was subsequently shown at festivals all over the world. It won the European Film Award for Best Animated Feature in 2012.
Jonathan Hodgson Biography
Jonathan Hodgson is an independent animator based in London. He studied animation at Liverpool Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. His short films have won many international awards including a BAFTA for Best Short Animation. He has directed numerous music videos, advertising campaigns and features including the groundbreaking drama-documentary-animation hybrid The Age of Stupid, one of the first features to use the crowdfunding model. He was the animation director of Wonderland: The Trouble with Love and Sex, the first full length animated documentary on British TV. He has lectured extensively in the UK and abroad and since 2008 has run the Animation degree at Middlesex University. He continues to combine teaching with animated filmmaking.
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