My Sunny Maad + Repete [screening + discussion]

Part of series organized by Metrograph Cinema and the Czech Center New York.

My Sunny Maad / dir. Michaela Pavlátová / 2021 / drama, animation / Czechia, Slovakia, France / Czech with English subtitles / 82 minutes

Helena leaves her life in Prague to marry her classmate Nazir and move to Kabul. Under the name Herra, she begins a new chapter, but the path to the future she imagined proves far from simple. Not everyone is as kind as Nazir or as warm and open-minded as the family’s grandfather. As Herra searches for her place in this unfamiliar world, her life is unexpectedly changed by Maad, a sensitive boy from the distant mountains. She soon discovers that happiness can appear where it is least expected.

Based on the novel Freshta by Czech journalist Petra Procházková, My Sunny Maad is a visually striking and deeply human portrait of Afghan women’s lives and the complexities of a society often seen only from afar.

The film received several major awards. In France, it won the prestigious César Award for Best Animated Film, the Jury Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and both the Jury Prize and the COCOMICS Music Award at the Bucheon International Animation Festival.

Repete / dir. Michaela Pavlátová / 1995 / animation / Czechia / 9 minutes

Repete offers a surreal and ironic look at the relationship between a man and a woman. With wit and exaggeration, it captures the tension, intimacy, and recurring patterns of life together. The film won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlinale.

Michaela Pavlátová is a Czech animator, visual artist, and film director, and one of the leading figures of contemporary Czech animation. Her short film Words, Words, Words (1991) was nominated for an Academy Award, and Repete (1995) won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to her animated work, she has directed live-action feature films, including Night Owls (Děti noci, 2008), which received acting awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Her animated feature My Sunny Maad (2021) won the César Award for Best Animated Film in France. Pavlátová studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague and later worked in the United States as an art director at Wildbrain studio. She currently teaches animation at FAMU in Prague, where she heads the Department of Animation, and occasionally appears as an actress.

Daria Kashcheeva is a Czech-Russian animation director whose short films have received numerous awards at international festivals. She won a Student Academy Award for her film Daughter (2019), and her film Electra (2023) received the award for Best Short Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her work is known for its experimentation with innovative animation techniques.

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