Film "Our Walls" created at Prague's FAMU won the Best Student Film Award at Turku Animated Film Festival
12.09.2026 / 12:41 | Aktualizováno: 20.09.2026 / 06:48
The film Our Walls, directed by Živa Divjak and created at Prague's FAMU, achieved significant success. At the 11th Turku Animated Film Festival (TAFF) 2026 in Finland, it won the Best Student Film Award.
The jury praised its sensitive handling of the intimate dialogue between mother and daughter and the authentic portrayal of relationships across generations. Through animated documentary, the film explores family bonds, closeness, and the sacrifices that family relationships often demand.
The Finnish city of Turku hosted the 11th edition of the Turku Animated Film Festival (TAFF) from 26 to 30 August 2026. Since its establishment in 2016, the animated film showcase has become one of the most important events of its kind in Finland.
Several of the films presented at this year´s festival were produced in Czechia or as international co-productions involving Czech participation. The film Our walls was selected for the competition programme of this year´s festival, together with other two films. Two additional Czech films were screened in the Panorama section (non-competitive) and one as a special screening.
Competition Films:
Živa Divjak: Our Walls (2026)
An animated documentary by a Slovenian director currently living in Prague, who made the film at FAMU. The film is based on an intimate conversation between a daughter and a mother and explores understanding and family relationships. It uncovers fragile boundaries between freedom, sacrifice, and the gradual breaking down of barriers between generations. The film emerged from the director’s own conversations with her mother about caring for her grandmother and raises questions about the boundary between love for others and love for oneself.
Anna Mantzaris: Please (2026)
A darkly comic animated short film by Swedish director Anna Mantzaris about the human desire to love and be loved, on the themes of loneliness, intimacy, and romance. The film was created as an international co-production involving Finland, France, Norway and Czechia.
Abigél Dérczy: Ř (2025)
The film by Hungarian animator and illustrator Abigél Dérczy, an animation student at MOME Budapest (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design), who completed an exchange stay at UMPRUM in Prague, was inspired by the Czech letter “Ř”. The film uses repeated experiences of hearing the distinctive sound of “Ř”, which is notoriously difficult for foreigners to pronounce, although it is a common part of spoken Czech. The film is a personal testimony about finding one’s own way in Czechia and an expression of gratitude to the country and the people the author encountered there.
Panorama Section:
Antonie Zavadilová: The Autoharp Crushing on Hot Guys (2026)
The animation captures a conversation between two female friends about relationships and feelings. Although they have different life experiences, both women deal with similar themes.
Šimon Mészáros: Quantum Jump (2026)
This surreal journey of self-discovery follows a man embarking on a symbolic odyssey through a magical forest. The film reflects on the dual nature of thinking and its impact on free will. It resonates with the theme of creation as a path toward a new beginning and a further ending.
Special Screening:
Jan Švankmajer: Alice (1988)
Švankmajer’s Alice is a surrealist adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, combining live-action scenes with stop-motion animation. The film was presented in cooperation with the Czech Centre Stockholm.
