The animated feature TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN will have its world premiere at the Berlinale 2025 in the Generation Kplus competition. The long-awaited stop-motion film, inspired by the fairy-tale book OF UNWANTED THINGS AND PEOPLE by Czech author Arnošt Goldflam, celebrates the art of storytelling. With a unique blend of fantasy, humour and a sensitive exploration of loss, it shows how imagination can help families stay close and find joy even in tough times.
The film tells the story of three children who spend the night at their grandfather’s house for the first time since the passing of their grandmother, a master storyteller. Unable to fall asleep without a bedtime story, the children decide to make up their own stories.
The project had been circulating for years on various pitching forums, including at CEE Animation, the platform for Central and Eastern European animation, of which this project was the perfect embodiment. It was based on a collaboration between production companies in four countries (Maurfilm from Czech Republic, Artichoke from Slovakia and ZVVIKS from Slovenia, complemented by Vivement Lundi! from France), whose long-standing collaboration within CEEA propelled the project forward. This complex production construction undoubtedly contributed to the project’s long growth process. However, the long wait has paid off, and although this film is more than the sum of its various parts, the end result still feels like a perfectly cohesive and sensitive unity.
Those qualities were also recognised by the Berlinale Kplus competition, for which TALES FROM THE MAGIC GARDEN (previously known as OF UNWANTED THINGS) has now been selected. Alena Vandasová, producer at Maurfilm: “It has been a fantastic, friendly collaboration that lasted an incredible ten years, requiring patience from all the collaborators, funding bodies, and numerous other partners. The world premiere at Berlinale is a great reward and satisfaction for all of us.”
The creative teams worked together under the direction of the four directors David Súkup (Czech Republic), Patrik Pašš (Slovakia), Leon Vidmar (Slovenia) and Jean-Claude Rozec (France).
Find more info about the film here.