Michaela Pavlatova was born in Czech Republic, graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. As an animation film director, her films have received numerous awards at international film festivals. For a few years from 1998, Pavlatova has divided her time between Prague and San Francisco, where she worked as the art director for Wildbrain inc.
After 2002 she directed the live action film "Faithless Games". In 2006 she finished, together with her partner Vratislav Hlavaty, the animated film adaptation of Camille Saint Saens' "The Carnival of Animals". Two years later, she directed another live action feature film "Children of Night".
Her short animation film "Tram" had a premiere at Cannes Film Festival and won the Cristal for a short film at Annecy Festival.
Besides her work as a director, she made animations for theatre performances and is the supervisor of the Animation department at FAMU.
"My Sunny Maad" is her first animated feature film. She adapted Petra Prochazkova's book "Freshta" to create a moving and subtle film about a Czec woman, Herra, who left her country to follow her futur-husband Nazir in Afghanistan.
The Dutch director Michael Dudok De Wit accepted our invitation to discuss with Pavlatova about "My Sunny Maad", and to share their filmmakers' points of views. Referring to his own feature film "The Red turtle" they compare their experience, issues and excitements as directors.
The French Association for Animated Cinema has launched in 2021 a new label, in partnership with L’Agence du court métrage, Ciclic (Centre Val de Loire), les Cinémas Indépendants de Nouvelle Aquitaine (CINA), Les Cinémas Indépendants parisiens(Ile-de-France), De la suite dans les images (Hauts-de-France), Écrans VO (Val d’Oise), Enfances au cinéma (Paris), L’Équipée (Valence), le Forum des Images (Paris). It highlights quality animated feature films, airing in French cinemas and targeting adult audience. "My Sunny Maad" is the third film that got the label. This episode offers an exclusive way to listen to the two awarded directors' insights on filmmaking, as well as some of "My Sunny Maad"'s behind-the-scenes stories.
More on:
[Michaela Pavlatova's website](http://www.michaelapavlatova.com/)
[Sacrebleu productions website (in English)](https://sacrebleuprod.com/en/feature-films/catalogue/228/my-sunny-maad)
[The French Association for Animated Cinema and the Label (in French)](https://www.afca.asso.fr/actions/diffusion/label)
