Marek Pokorný attended a course in figural drawing by Boris Jirků and Radek Petříček and later studied classical animation in Zlín, where he met Vojtěch Kiss and Jan Saska, with whom he founded the art group True Lovers. They published their comics and animations on the True Lovers website. With the group Ašta Šmé he drew the comic book Stronger Than Someone from the Uncertain Homes series about children growing up in children's homes. With Vojtěch Mašek and Marek Šindelka, he created the comic book Saint Barbara, which won the Czech Muriel Award for the best book and for drawing, and was later translated into French and Spanish. He illustrated two Foglar books – Under the Scout Flag and Ninety Continues. As an animator, he worked on Fany Was There (2019, original Fritzi: A Revolutionary Tale), Where Is Anne Frank (2021, Ari Folman) and most recently Hurricane (2024, Jan Saska).

The discussion with Marek Pokorný was opened by the Czech Ambassador to Canada, Martin Tlapa. Marek Pokorný described his journey to his current artistic job, talked about his main projects, and showed samples from the process of making the films Fany was there, Where Is Anne Frank, from his creation of the comic books Stronger than someone and St. Barbara. In the end, he showed a sample from the festival film Hurricane. Czech compatriots were keenly interested in the details of Mar's life and work, and the evening took place in a very open and friendly atmosphere.

Short animated film Hurricane (dir. Jan Saska, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Slovakia), which was co-created by Marek Pokorný as an assistant director and main animator, will be screened at the Ottawa International Festival of Animated Film in the "World Panorama" section: Hurricane is a black-humored romance from Prague's Žižkov district, which won over audiences at its premiere at the Annecy Film Festival, France, where the film won the Audience Award.

Where: ByTowne Cinema
When: Thursday, September 26 at 1:00 p.m.
                Sunday, September 29 at 11:00 a.m.

This year's Ottawa International Festival of Animated Film, which runs from 25 to 29 September, can be considered a great success for Czech animation, as in addition to Hurricane, several Czech films were selected for the festival programme from more than 2,000 entries. They are:
 
"Narrative Shorts" section
I Died In Irpin (dir. Anastasiia Falileieva, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine)

Where: ByTowne Cinema
When: Wednesday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m. 
             Saturday, September 28 at 1:00 p.m. 

Section "Young Audiences 7+"

The Cow (dir. Pavla Baštanová, Czech Republic, Switzerland)

Where: Ottawa Art Gallery: Alma Duncan Salon 
When: Saturday, September 28 at 09:30  

Marie (dir. Jan B. Piskač, Czech Republic)

Where: Ottawa Art Gallery: Alma Duncan Salon 
When: Saturday, September 28 at 09:30 

"Student Shorts" section

Keep Out (dir. Tan-Lui Chan, Hong Kong and Czech Republic)

Where: ByTowne Cinema
When: Wednesday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m. 
               Saturday, September 28 at 1:00 p.m.