Tales from the Magic Garden Makes Its World Premiere at Berlinale Generation Kplus 2025
Skwigly
Key visual Tales from the Magic Garden (Source: MAUR film)
The animated feature film Tales from the Magic Garden will have its world premiere at the
Berlin International Film Festival 2025 in the Generation Kplus competition. The stop-motion
film, inspired by the children’s fairytale book Of Unwanted Things and People by Czech author
Arnošt Goldflam, celebrates the art of storytelling. With a unique blend of fantasy, humor 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 and embark on a journey that shows
them that storytelling can help them cope with life’s challenges and offer solace through imagination.
Tales from the Magic Garden is a co-production with an equal creative contribution from four
countries, represented by the production companies Maurfilm (Czech Republic), Artichoke (Slovakia),
ZVVIKS (Slovenia), and Vivement Lundi ! (France), led by an experienced team of animation
producers Martin Vandas, Alena Vandasová, Juraj Krasnohorsky, Henrieta Cvangová, Kolja Saksida,
Jean-François
Le Corre and Mathieu Courtois. The CEE Animation network played a key role in the meeting and
long-term relationship between the producers, whose collaboration now extends to numerous films
and future projects.
Alena Vandasová, producer at Maurfilm, shared: “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.”
Kolja Saksida, producer at ZVVIKS, highlighted the significance of this project: “I am truly honored
to share that after years of collaboration with our wonderful partners, this film marks a groundbreaking
achievement. It is the first feature-length animated film for children with a Slovenian producer and
director, where all production partners share equal involvement – an approach that is rare in the
industry.”
The four 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).
The screenplay was written by Jerneja Kaja Balog and Maja Križnik, Blandine Jet, Patrik Pašš, Marek
Král and Petr Krajíček. The artistic design of the stop-motion film was created by Patricia Ortiz
Martínez and Jean-Claude Rozec.
“Children’s programming often avoid the topic of death for fear of evoking negative emotions, leaving
children who experience a loss feeling isolated, as if no one acknowledges what has happened,”
explains director Jean-Claude Rozec and continues: “Despite the creative and financial risks,
the producers decided to approach this sensitive topic in a careful and thoughtful way, and that’s why
this film is so important to me.”
Slovenian director Leon Vidmar adds: “Film is always a collaborative art form based on the collective
vision and effort of many. But this project was a true team effort where each individual gave their best,
and I believe together we created something greater than the sum of its parts.”
Lucia Chuťková, the film music composer from Slovakia, comments on the challenges of this unique
collaboration: “I tried to create a unified, harmonious universe that connects four stories with their own
characters and the vision of four directors who have their own aesthetic perception. This was
challenging for me on the one hand, but also very inspiring, and musically, it brought a rich
instrumental diversity that fuses the film into a seamless narrative.”
The film will be showcased as part of the Generation Kplus Competition, a section of the festival
dedicated to films that resonate with younger audiences. Following its world premiere at Berlinale
on February 16th, Tales from the Magic Garden will be presented in a sneak preview at Cartoon
Movie in March 2025, further solidifying its status as one of the year’s most anticipated animated stop-
motion features.