On Saturday, 29 December, Ambassador David Červenka welcomed children and their parents to the screening of a selection of animated films for children at Cinemateket, the renowned art cinema in central Oslo. Viewers in the full auditorium first saw five short films created with various animation techniques: The Girl with the Occupied Eyes (2024), Paolo’s Happiness (2022), Concrete Jungle (2019), Mom is Always Right (2022), and The Tree (2016). They had the chance to meet a girl interested only in her mobile phone, a man who can make flowers from tears, or a boy with an extraordinary imagination. They also saw how would the world look like if everything that adults tell children was true. The screening concluded with a poetic story about the passage of time for both people and nature — a film about relationships, seeming hopelessness, and new opportunities.

After the screening, children were able to create their own stop-motion animated films in groups, guided by Marie Urbánková and Mária Môťovská, an award‑winning film producer. Using paper, they created characters, objects, and scenography. They learned how shape, size, and folding techniques can influence movement and expression, and how even the simplest materials can be used to create animated sequences. Judging by the applause from parents after watching the newly created films, the children did an excellent job.

Marie Urbánková is an animator, film director, writer, and illustrator of children’s books. She presented two of her films to the Norwegian audience in Oslo: Concrete Jungle and Mom is Always Right. Originally from Slovakia, Mária Môťovská is a graduate of the Czech Film Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and is currently an award‑winning creative film producer living in Norway. Her film Daughter (2019) won the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film and the Student Oscar; it was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Another of her films, Red Shoes (2021), was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. She had already collaborated with the Czech embassy on the first edition of Czech animation in 2024.

The event contributed to promoting contemporary Czech cinematography and acclaimed Czech animated production among the Norwegian public. “Christmas in almost every Norwegian family wouldn’t be complete without watching the Czech fairy tale Three Nuts for Cinderella. Czech cinema, however, has still much to offer the world today. I am, therefore, very pleased that, together with our partners, we have managed to bring new Czech animated films to Norway for the second time,” explains Ambassador David Červenka. The event was organized in cooperation with the cinema of the Norwegian Film Institute and the Czech production company Maur film Ltd. On behalf of all participants, the Czech Embassy in Oslo thanks the construction company Metrostav Norge AS for its financial support.