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Red Shoes

Anna Podskalská // Czech Republic // 2021 // 13:43 min

Animation, Live Action

Synopsis:
The village dance has begun, skirts are whirling and feet are stomping in rhythm. Róza is gifted a pair of red shoes. With her new footwear, Róza starts to dance with great passion.

Three Questions for the Director

1. Short Film has a unique way of telling stories and exploring themes. What is it that fascinates you about the short format?

Anna Podskalská: I especially love how in animated shorts it is possible to tell stories without words. It is fascinating how in animation you can stylize very complex themes into symbols. Me and my co-writer / editor / husband Matěj Podskalský, we both enjoy crafting stories with visual language, elaborating storyboards, thinking about montage and being forced to condense everything as much as possible.


2. The program your film is selected for is called “Exposing your Demons”: What connection do you see between your film and that title?

Anna Podskalská: To me red shoes in the film are a symbol of an addiction. So it is obvious. I think everyone had at least second-hand experience with some kind of an addiction, so it will always be a burning and timeless topic. It is very personal to me. In my wider family there is a rich history of alcoholism and in my film I wanted to clarify what it means to me. This film is not morality, it is a fairy tale. So it has a "happy end" when the main character is able to leave her old self behind. (Not like in real life, is it?)


3. What film has inspired you most to make films yourself and what part of it do you see in your own work?

Anna Podskalská: Few years ago I saw film The Girl Without Hands by Sébastien Laudenbach and I was stunned. In my eyes this film is a masterpiece. This feature is an adaptation of Brothers Grimms tale and majority of the animation was made by the director himself just with ink on paper. Laudenbach experimented with perception of movement and animation is very wild, raw and calligraphique. This work of art inspired me on so many levels: folk tale adaptation, handmade animation, director as an animator... When I saw that film I knew I want to try something like that!