Hello Summer
Sea, sun, beaches and family holidays. Just pick your dream destination from the catalogue, pack your bags and hit the road. But what if the hotel isn't as stellar as promised, your room has a bit of a naughty view, the dinner is surprisingly exotic and your luggage travels independently. Family above all!
In Hello Summer we want to manifest the cinematic values of comedy, comforting tone and clever children's content that we shared as co-directors. Through joining stop-motion and hand-drawn animation, the techniques we usually work with, the unique playful usage of objects in a different context was made possible. The family travelling story organically emerged afterwards. A sea-side holiday is a big event for a family from an inland country such as Czechia or Slovakia. We have memories from our own childhoods of our parents saving over several years and creating great expectations to have the best holiday ever. However, with our film we want to tell that the luxury of a vacation is measured more by the precious quality time a family spends together than the number of swimming pools in a hotel resort. We chose to narrate this story with an archetypal model family and through a very straightforward story line. Our goal is a fun family film with haunting visuals and a heart-warming message that both children and adults can relate to.
Credits 

Script, Directors – Martin Smatana, Veronika Zacharová
Art designer – Veronika Zacharová
Animation technique – Stop motion and 2D hand drawn animation
Length – 11 minutes
Producer – Martin Smatana (Studio Bororo, SK)
Co-producers – Kamila Dohnalová (Last Films, CZ), Martin Vandas (MAUR film, CZ), Jean-Francois Le Corre (Vivement Lundi!, FR)
Planned release – 2024
Financially supported by Audiovisual fund (SK), Czech Film Fund (CZ), CNC, Procirep Angoa (FR), ARTE France
We were developing this project during the Animation Sans Frontieres and at Berlinale Talents. In 2020 we pitched it at MIFA in Annecy and won Open Workshop Award given by The Animation Workshop. In December 2021 the project won the main award at Animarkt Stop Motion Forum and in February 2022 was pitched at Euro Connection Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market. 
If you would like to know a little bit more about Hello Summer you can watch the video pitch we recorded for CEE Animation Forum. 
Awards

Annecy - Young Audience Award
Fest Anča - Special Mention - Best Slovak Short
CinEast - Audience Award - Best Short Animated Film
Aguilar Film Festival - Mejor Cortometraje Licinia +3
Reggio Film Festival - International Jury Family Shorts Special Award 
Festival du Film Français de Jeju - Young Audience Award
ANIMANIMA International Animation Festival - Special Mention - KIDS Jury
Brest European Short Film Festival - Coup de Coeur Benshi
Festival Selections

Animafest Zagreb
Giffoni Film Festival
Schlingel
Young Horizons IFF
Animage Festival 
Stop Trik
Reykjavik International Film Festival
BFI
Uppsala Short Film Feestival
Goteborg Film Festival
CineKid
PÖFF Shorts
Manchester Animation Festival
ALE kino!
London International Animation Festival
Anilogue
Animateka,
Clermont-Ferrand ISFF
Anima Brussels
Monstra
Kaboom Animation Festival
Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart

Feel free to contact me on martin@smatana.com
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