SHORTS Slovakia / Czech Republic / France

Slovak animated short SH_T HAPPENS enters race for coveted statuettes on both sides of the Atlantic

31/12/2020 - The Slovak short film has qualified for the 2021 Oscar nominations and was picked as one of 12 animated short films nominated for the César Award

After Peter Bebjak’s period drama The Auschwitz Report, the animated short film by emerging directors Michaela Mihályiová and David Štumpf, SH_T HAPPENS, has qualified for the 2021 Oscar nominations in the Best Short Film category. The short film, combining colourful drawing techniques with Risomat, was first presented in the Orrizonti section at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and became the first animated Slovak film to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. SH_T HAPPENS, a 13-minute fable and a cross between Noah’s Ark and Titanic, has netted 14 awards and played at 100 film festivals.

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“I am glad that Slovak animation is becoming more and more prestigious in the international field and that our films are more and more successful not only at festivals, but also in the programmes of international TV stations, such as ARTE and Canal+ and potentially even VOD platforms,” said the producer, Peter Badač of BFilm. Besides, Mihályiová and Štumpf´s effort has also qualified for the French César Award nominations for the best animated short film.

Badač previously produced the stop-motion puppet animation The Kite (2019), directed by Martin Smatana, which employs symbolism to talk to a young audience about mortality. The short film was shortlisted for the 46^th annual Student Academy Awards last year. Czech Film and the TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, FAMU, co-produced SH_T HAPPENS and the film became yet another addition to their line of accomplished student works, after last year’s smashing success of the stop-motion puppet film Daughter (2019), directed by Daria Kashcheeva.

Kashcheeva’s impressionistic and painted drama, combining stop-motion and handheld documentary-like cinematography, won numerous awards on the festival circuit, including the Student Academy Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

SH_T HAPPENS is produced by BFilm, FAMU, French company Bagan Films, and Arte. The project has been supported by the Czech Film Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the programme of the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA, the CNC, Procirep Angoa, and the Literary Fund. The international sales agent is Next Film Distribution.

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