ondra

1978 6' 40" 35mm

Ondra and the Snowdragon

<now that communist repression is a fading nightmare and the Czech Republic has set itself on the road to becoming a democratic central European state, it's hard to imagine a time when clandestine messages were woven into works of art for those who could read between the lines...all paid for by an unwitting State bureaucracy.

the budget for Ondra came from the Central Film Library (Ustredni pujcovna filmu). ut was an amazing time to be at Barrandov. the animation studios were in their hayday with brilliant shorts for adults as well as children, pouring in a seemingly endless stream from the doors of the Nissen huts that were home to the 'drawn film' division.../>

credits

storyline

<this little film came into being against a background which contrasted starkly with the childlike wonder and innocence of its fairytale storyline. I made Ondra at the Brothers-in-Tricks studios in Prague between ''75 - ''77 during the depths of the neo-Stalinist hysteria that descended after the Prague Spring was crushed..../>