The Christmas Ballad
The Christmas Ballad based on the very last script by Bretislav Pojar. In the ruins of the city, destroyed by the war, a small boy survives. He is hiding from fighting machines and collecting old broken toys that he carries to his shelter to repair them. They replace his friends and family. One day he finds a Christmas gift and runs away with him to the mound of the fairgrounds. The Christmas ballad is a story of a powerful magic of children's games, that breaks the walls of hatred and puts together apparent enemies. The story of the Christmas gift that returns to the rugged world of humanity.
- Czech Republic
- 2016, 12 min
- Director: Michal Žabka
Michal Žabka
Michal Žabka studied animation first at the Film School in Zlín and later graduated from the Department of Animation at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. His first work, Babalon (1997), was the first film in a series of successful directing and puppet projects. Following films included Prasavci (2001) and Mrs. G (Paní G., 2007). He also works with “computerized puppets”, a form of 3D animation mostly used in his television work, such as a pilot for TV series Fluffies (2004), or later a full goodnight fairytale series The Three Little Pigs (2008 – 2011).
His puppet film An Accountant and a Fairy (2011) was featured in a film compilation Autopohádky. His feature film Lucky Four in the Service of the King (Čtyřlístek ve službách krále) premiered in 2013, as well as his short film Cvak! Fenomén televize. His latest project is a puppet short The Christmas Ballad (Vánoční balada, 2016), written by Břetislav Pojar. He created an animated TV series for the Czech Television, based on a legendary comic book series by Lucie Lomová, called Anča a Pepík (2014-2016). He is currently finishing an animated short Čtyřlístek a Ďáblův palec (2017).