Tarbíci

Director Tomáš Vorel created his experimental feature debut with members of renowned Prague non-traditional auteur theaters. The ensembles presented their own poetics and style through five "short stories" connected by satirical commentary by the "expert" Dr. Milan Šteindler, CSc.

In an attic full of discarded junk, a pretty doll called Buttercup lives in an old trunk together with her friends, the marionette Sir Handsome, the lovable Teddy Bear, a Mechanical Mouse and the plasticine creature, Laurent. When Buttercup is snatched and taken off to the Land of Evil, her pals set out on a wondrous and daring adventure to rescue her from the all-powerful Head of State.

A striking generational tragicomedy, A Hoof Here, a Hoof There is a caustic group portrait of pals who enjoy a tipple, all kinds of hi-jinks and no-strings sexual adventures. Auditor Pepe, vet Dědek and restaurant manager František are financially secure and enjoy life with their similarly fun-loving girlfriends—at least until the moment when the brash Pepe collapses and ends up in hospital.

The film consists of five parts - a live-action framing story and four distinct animated episodes - each by a different creative team and in a different animation style, from Pojar and Koutský’s semi-plastic “Princess Who Never Smiled,” through Žabka’s puppet fable “The Fairy and the Bookkeeper,” Dlouhá and Váša’s paper-cut “Fisherman, His Wife, and the Golden Fish,” to Pixa’s near-future parable “Mr. Vincent”.