- CIFF celebrates Culture Night 2025 (19th September, 2025) with a selection of Animated Slovak Shorts, tune in to our online programme and celebrate the 60th Anniversary of Slovak Animation.
Curated by the Slovak Film Institute, the Slovak Animated Shorts programme features twelve remarkable Slovak animated films. The first five are intended for young viewers, while the remaining seven are aimed at adults. Together, they showcase a rich variety of storytelling and animation styles — from hand-drawn and puppet animation to stop-motion and digital techniques. These films explore a wide range of themes, including instructional, educational, advertising, and environmental subjects.
The legacy of Slovak animation pioneer Viktor Kubal, often regarded as the father of Slovak animation, resonates throughout the collection. His films are presented alongside that of other prolific animators such as Vladimír Pikalík and Jaroslava Havettová.
Spanning from 1955 to 1990, the selection offers a window into the rich history of Slovak animation. Sometimes surreal, at other times thought-provoking or purely entertaining — but always captivating — these shorts will surely engage and delight audiences of all ages.
Our online programme is available for free and nationwide between 5 PM and 10 PM.
All films are FREE but ticketed, and will be screening on Friday 19th September, 2025. More information and schedule below!
SLOVAK ANIMATED SHORTS PROGRAMME 1 – Family Friendly
FREE but ticketed, Friday 19th September, 2025; Online
A showcase of five Slovak animated shorts for young audiences, blending diverse styles and themes from hand-drawn to digital, playful to educational.
1. What Happened to Johnny on the Road (Čo sa stalo Janíkovi na ceste)
Victor Kubal | 1981 | 6 minutes
Little Johnny lives in the city, yet the pedestrian traffic lights and their tiny red-and-green figures don’t ring any bells. Just when it seems all hope is lost, a traffic light man steps in to teach Johnny how to cross the road safely.
2. The Disobedient Little Wheel (Neposlušné koliesko)
Vladimír Pikalík | 1983 | 8 minutes
To be, or not to be, a cog in the wheel—that is the little wheel’s dilemma. Tired of the same old routine, it yearns for change, torn between remaining in its familiar world of the mill or breaking free to try something exciting and new.
3. Tom Thumb at the Magician‘s (Janko Hraško u kúzelníka)
Viktor Kubal | 1973 | 8 minutes
Tom Thumb, born no bigger than a thumb, one day decides to take his limitation into his own hands and grow. All he needs is a little help from the Magician. Warning: it is not advisable to dabble in magic.
4. Joey’s Space Adventure (Jožinkovo vesmírne dobrodružstvo)
Vladimír Pikalík | 1990 | 11 minutes
Joey’s curiosity knows no bounds. In this adventure – one of his many – his urge to explore carries him all the way to outer space for a close encounter of the third kind.
5. Baby at the Spaceport (Bábätko na kozmodróme)
Vladimír Malík | 1990 | 6 minutes
From stroller to spaceport. This time we travel through space following the whimsical adventures of a baby astronaut who slips out of its chatty mother’s stroller straight into the cosmos.
SLOVAK ANIMATED SHORTS PROGRAMME 2
FREE but ticketed, Friday 19th September, 2025; Online
Curated by the Slovak Film Institute, seven animated shorts from 1955–1990 trace the rich legacy of Slovak animation, from Viktor Kubal to his contemporaries, blending playful, surreal, and thought-provoking styles for all ages.
1. The Apple of Knowledge (Jablko poznania)
Vlastimil Herold | 1955 | 4 minutes
A playful advertising film, reminiscent of 1950s advertisements showing what true Eden looks like for Eve – when Adam doesn’t help with the housework.
2. Model of Marriage (Model manželstva)
Jozef Zachar | 1966 | 14 minutes
A witty collage animation, using visual symbolism and advertising slogans, captures the trials and joys of everyday married life.
3. Earth (Zem)
Viktor Kubal | 1966 | 8 minutes
A peasant tends the soil. From a molehill, he unearths technological progress. Railways, highways, and machines soon emerge… and the once-fertile land yields beneath the weight of merciless advancement.
4. The Statue (Socha)
Jaroslava Havettová | 1969 | 7 minutes
A sculptor, torn between self-talk and the desire to find the statue within the stone, chips away at its raw surface, riding an emotional rollercoaster. Does he possess the Michelangelo-like talent for such an act of liberation?
5. Cinema (Kino)
Viktor Kubal | 1977 | 7 minutes
A cinema in the city draws film-hungry crowds, lining up eagerly for screenings of slapstick comedies, westerns, horrors, and even a touch of arthouse erotica. But when the insatiable local audience grows weary of traditional film programming, alternative content takes the stage.
6. The Town on the Danube (Mesto na Dunaji)
Rudolf Urc | 1985 | 7 minutes
An animated city symphony contrasts contemporary Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, with its past – from Roman times to the second half of the 20th century. Vedutas alternate with photographs of the city’s iconic buildings, while the striking tower and department store clocks rhythmically link the passage of time to the flow of the Danube.
7. If I Were a Bird… (Keby som bol vtáčkom…)
Ondrej Slivka | 1986 | 8 minutes
A murder of crows, harbingers of death, circles over the barren digital wasteland, carrying a grim warning of the end of life on Earth. The doomsday clock is ticking – will all that’s left of us be mere museum exhibits and pages of encyclopedias?
