Movie Description
THE PIT
| SYNOPSIS
In a desolate landscape process strange creatures. The foreman of the group picks a suitable spot and the whole multiplying colony starts excavating a pit. They encounter various natural disasters that ruin their efforts – but the colonists always rise from the ruins and continue their work. We do unequivocally sympathise… till the moment when we return to the people’s daily lives.
| TRAILER
| VOD
Dafilms.cz
| FILM CREDITS
Director, writer — Markéta Smolíková Kubátová
Script editor — Edgar Dutka
Animators — Peter Harakaly, Stanislav Sekela, Jana Satoriová, Martin Pošta
DOP — Erik Eržin
Editor — Michal Kondrla
CG/VFX — Jan Rybář
Music — Martin Hasák
Sound — Matej Hlaváč
Producers — Martin Vandas, Alena Vandasová, MAUR film (CZ)
Coproducers — Simona Hrušovská, Veronika Kocourková, Super film (SK), Jiří Mika, PFX (CZ)
Premiere — Oulu International Children’s and Youth Film Festival (FI), 21/10/2020
Financially supported by Czech Film Fund and Slovak Audiovisual Fund
Czech Republic / 2019 / 9 min. / no dialogue
| DOWNLOADS
Poster
JPG (3.2MB)
Film stills HD
Zip JPG (8MB)
| GALLERY
| ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Director´s statement:
When shortly after graduating from FAMU’s Department of Animated Film I gave birth to my daughter, I settled for working as an animator for quite a long time. Another reason was I really do enjoy animating. But in the last few years a longing has been growing inside me, a longing to narrate my own stories and tell them in my own way, with my own artistic approach, not just serve the concepts of other directors. I started collaborating with producer Martin Vandas of MAUR film and the short movie The Pit is our first completed project.
The core of the story is the eternal striving of a group of creatures to acquire enough food and thus enable the survival of the tribe. Their situation is constantly being complicated by a series of natural disasters, but the creatures don’t slow down in their efforts. We can only admire their tenacity.
It is in fact a game played with the viewers. A story that all the time pretends one thing only to conclude with a surprising revelation. The extraterrestrial conquerors are depicted as likeable beings who support one another and cooperate, who are steadfast, have emotions and are empathic. I want the viewer to root for them, to wish them success in their work despite the many obstacles. And, towards the end of the film, think: Damn it, I have been cheering on these beasts!
This short movie is very important for me personally. It opened an opportunity to escape the box of being „only“ an animator and to move on. Given the fact that along with the scriptwriter Irena Hejdová we are preparing a script for a feature length animated movie, I thought it was a sensible idea to test out being the director on a smaller scale project.
The film has a subject understandable all over the world. Young children will learn a lesson and the adults will be amused by realising that it does not pay to take things at face value, and that a situation can be the exact opposite of what it seems at the beginning. And finally there is the message that life is really every‑where,
Both in the deepest universe, and in…such other places. I am sorry but I can’t reveal you the end of the story :).
Czech Republic has always belonged among the superpowers of animated film. And I would love to join these who carry the torch forward.
