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Out of Afghanistan Oscar-nominated Czech director Michaela Pavlátová discusses her insightful new animated feature, My Sunny Maad. By Rich Johnson
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nimation aficionados will recognize Czech director Michaela Pavlátová as the acclaimed director of shorts such as Words, Words, Words (1991), Repete (1995), Forever and Ever (1998), Carnival of Animals (2006) and the Oscarnominated, Annecy Prize-winning Tram (2012). This year, her first animated feature My Sunny Maad premiered at Annecy in June. The film, which is an adaptation of journalist and humanitarian worker Petra Prochazkova’s novel, Frišta, centers on a young Czech woman who experiences life in post-Taliban Afghanistan after she marries an Afghan man. Pavlátová, who is also the head of the animation department at the prestigious Prague Academy of Performing Arts’ Film and TV School (FAMU), was kind enough to speak to us about her acclaimed new movie. Animag: What made you decide to tackle such a challenging subject with animation? Michaela Pavlátová: Although I have made many short animated films and two live-action features, in my heart, I am a director of animation. I’ve found it isn’t easy for me to write features and also knew I wanted to spend the next couple of years of my life working with emotionally strong female creators. Therefore, it was important to find a book or script that wasn’t primarily for animation. I love animation — it is my life, my passion — but I feel we are in a bubble or circle and I
wanted to prove that as a medium it can talk to a wider audience. It is just a question of time for audiences to forget they are watching a ‘cartoon’ and that they are simply watching a film. I also felt that, very often, we can find beautifully animated films but the stories are not as well developed as in live action; that the stories are not so rich. I am not talking about Pixar and other bigger studios — they usually have well-working scripts — but in art films, the story seems to come second. I wanted to concentrate everything on the story. What attracted you to Petra Prochazkova’s novel? I bought the book by accident … and the title seemed familiar. Reading what was based on Petra’s observations, I immediately fell in love with the main character, Herra. She is a woman I felt very close to as we shared similar experiences. I soon realized why the book was so familiar: My producers at Negativ Film Productions already had the rights for the adaptation; originally in early development as a live-action by two male directors, but they never found the financing. I called Negativ and told them, “I must be the director, it’s about women … let me do it.” I asked myself often, why I was making the film as a foreigner? It is one thing to be objective and not properly understand a country, but through Herra, I was also the outsider. She became a friend and a
living person for me. But, I felt that if I became Herra and appeared in a place where you are not normally accepted it gave me the right perspective and approach. This wasn’t just the story of her love for the country — how her husband, Nazir, changes along with the relationship — but also a window into how the habits of the family change. The intimacies of life, where you see how many things are different and yet how many things are the same. Another important factor for me was the humor. Petra’s book is more of an observation — the dramatic element hidden underneath — but the humor is how she deals with the painful and horrible situations. Do you feel like your experience in live action has informed your animation? A little. Primarily, I trust the acting of animation to convey the drama — the minimalistic gestures. This is what was so moving. Your direction is so subtle; the sound of them breathing; Maad’s breath of anxiety one moment, the next a contented sigh. It’s rare you experience this in live action, let alone animation. Yes, exactly. In my short films, I am always focused on relations and existing things. I love to animate emotion and the inner workings of my characters. You don’t have to animate the big movements.
So, was your design of the film determined by an economic approach or did it also come from your personal style? I try and see individually for each project. I don’t have the same obvious style like Bill Plympton’s, for example. I always want to make each film different for my own amusement. They are different stories, so I look for the best tools to tell each one. I couldn’t be as sketchy and experimental as in my shorts but when they are slower, there is more time for emotion. Which animation tools and techniques were used for this movie? First and foremost, this is a film that uses the tool of animation. I’m very much a 2D person even though I admire other forms, therefore, I knew I wanted to make the film simplistically and I tried to continue with my sketchy style to define the characters. Every second counts, so it is much easier to work digitally drawing on my Wacom. Maad was produced in Toon Boom’s software, Harmony, and the backgrounds in Adobe Photoshop with postproduction completed in After Effects. Which companies were responsible for the animation? We chose Alkay Animation in Prague because they used many respected and experienced animators from an older state studio, Krátký Film. After securing finance with France and co-producers, Sacrebleu Productions, Gao Shan Pictures worked on
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december 21
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