An underwater musical and a playful collision of folklore and influencer culture: two award-winning Czech shorts take unexpected routes toward the Oscars. Meet filmmakers Bára Anna Stejskalová and Viktorie Štěpánová at a double screening followed by a Q&A with both directors.
TICKETS — 4:00 PMThe program will be presented twice, at 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM. Each session opens with 9 Million Colors, followed by Volklore and a Q&A with directors Bára Anna Stejskalová and Viktorie Štěpánová. Select your preferred time below; your ticket includes both films and the discussion.
TICKETS — 6:00 PM9 Million Colors
Dir. Bára Anna Stejskalová / 2025 / Czech Republic, Norway, Germany / animated musical / 15 min / no dialogue
For Fran, a mantis shrimp with formidable claws, the ocean is paradise. For Milva, a small blind fish, it is a daily struggle to survive. Fran wants Milva to share her beautiful world, but can they stay close when they experience it so differently? Combining stop-motion animation with music by Floex, this underwater musical finds tenderness, dark humor, and unexpected danger beneath the surface.
The film won the Animated Short Grand Prize at Indy Shorts 2026, qualifying it for consideration for the 2027 Oscar for Animated Short Film. It also received a Special Jury Mention for Vision at AFI FEST 2025 and the PPF Foundation Award for Best Czech Short and Feature Film at Anifilm 2026.
Volklore
Dir. Viktorie Štěpánová / 2026 / Czech Republic / experimental short / 16 min / in Czech with English subtitles
What happens when folk traditions become an influencer’s brand? Fictional YouTuber Vivi guides viewers through a year of customs reinvented as fashion trends, advertisements, and viral content. With fabricated chats and an online shop, Volklore builds a mischievous digital world where authenticity is both performed and sold.
Premiering at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the film went on to win silver in the Alternative/Experimental category at the 2026 Student Academy Awards, becoming the first Czech film honored in that category. The award qualified it for consideration for the 2027 Oscar for Live Action Short Film.
About the directors
Bára Anna Stejskalová, also known professionally as Bára Anna, is a Czech filmmaker and visual artist specializing in puppet animation. A FAMU graduate, she directed Love Is Just a Death Away, which screened at SXSW and won two awards at Palm Springs ShortFest. She also served as art director on the Venice-premiered VR film Darkening and leads the animation company DIVIZE.
Viktorie Štěpánová is a Czech filmmaker and multidisciplinary designer working across animation, fashion, illustration, and graphic design. A graduate of FAMU’s Center for Audiovisual Studies, she explores consumer culture and the ways images shape identity. Her earlier films include the animated documentary Inside (Vevnitř, 2020) and EO DE ME (2023).
