Blot in a Fairy Tale

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production year

1980—1981

Premiere

13 November 1981

Runtime

70 min

Director

Ota Koval

Category

film

Genre

fairytale

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Kaňka do pohádky

Czech title

Kaňka do pohádky

English title

Blot in a Fairy Tale

Summary

Specialist director of children’s films Ota Koval drew inspiration from a book by Jiří Melíšek to create Kaňka do pohádky (Blot in a Fairy Tale, 1981), a film about the incredible adventures of a pair of siblings. Thanks to a magic ink blot discovered in a collection of fairytales by Josef Lada the two are repeatedly able to enter the book’s story world. But just as eight-year-old Vendulka and her older brother Ondra can cross the line between fiction and reality, so too can characters from the other side, such as the fairytale boy Honza or a cow that escapes from a fairytale farmer and ends up in the Prague Metro. The story also features writer and painter Lada himself. It is to his studio that the inquisitive girl finds her way… The imaginative narrative, whose visual tricks were provided by Adolf Hejzlar (Arabela – Arabella, 1979, Tři veteráni – The three Veterans, 1983, Rumburak – Rumburak, 1984), provides easy but good quality family entertainment. The role of Vendulka was given to popular child actress Žaneta Fuksová who played numerous film roles between 1978 and 1988. Another popular child star of that time, the now director Filip Renč, made a cameo appearance as a boy standing by a billboard.

Synopsis

Nobody came to pick up little Vendulka from school. She walks alone and sad, because its her eighth birthday today. At home she finds her older brother, Ondra and congratulations from her parents on a tape recorder. A present is hidden in the piano - a book with beautiful illustrations by Josef Lada, called "For Children". Vendulka sees a big black blot on the first page and finds that everything what you put on the blot disappears. When she steps on the blot herself, she finds herself in the artist Lada's studio. The artist gives her bread and butter and tells her that he is preparing an exhibition. Vendulka can hear that Ondra is calling her and she comes back home through a blot painted on the wall. She is going with her brother by underground to meet her mother, a pianist returning from a tour. The car is packed by passengers and Vendulka disappears into a fairytale. She meets Marjánka, tending a little cow. While Vendulka is coming back, the enlivened cow comes with her to the underground, which causes a panic. The girl reveals the secret about the blot to her brother and he can join her. Ondra first fights in the enlivened picture, but then he makes friends with a boy, Honza. The farmer from the fairy tale wants to get his cow back. But the cow ended up in the meantime in a Lost Property Office. The children put the cow back into the book, but the cow must be picked up from the office by their parents. The children admit what has happened to them. However the parents, as adults, are not able to travel through the blot. The father takes the book to a laboratory, but the tests don't show anything. Ondra takes Honza to the real world to show him the airport. He presents him to his mother as a friend, with whom he is training running. Honza is wondering about everything and, at the airport, he causes an upheaval. Ondra calls to Vendulka to come to help with the book. The little girl has to go to her father to the research institute and Honza escapes to the picture in the end. But he is wearing Ondra's clothes and he follows him, as he wants to get them back. The children from the neighbourhood take the book away from Vendulka and, unfortunately, drop it in fresh concrete. At the exhibition, the little girl finds the same book of Lada's pictures and, thanks to that, Ondra comes back. Then Vendulka gives the book to a nosy boy with a pram.

Cast

Žaneta Fuchsová

Vendulka Prokopcová

David Rýdl

Ondra, Vendulčin bratr

Milena Steinmasslová

maminka Vendulky a Ondry

Václav Helšus

Václav, tatínek Vendulky a Ondry

Petr Potužník

Prcek

Josef Patočka

malíř spisovatel Josef Lada

Vladimír Hrabánek

strejc Matěj

Zita Kabátová

babička s kočárkem

Eva Svobodová

stařenka před domem

Hana Brejchová

žena v telefonní budce

Ivan Šlapeta

muž u telefonní budky

František Husák

zřízenec ve Ztrátách a nálezech

Jiří Wimmer

výpravčí

Jan Kraus

zřízenec metra

Boris Halmi

zřízenec metra

Vlastimil Zavřel

zřízenec metra

Jan Oliva (2)

zřízenec metra

Květa Válová

uklízečka v metru

Jitka Válová

uklízečka v metru

Barbora Štěpánová

dívka v okně

Jiří Schmiedt

příslušník VB

Jiří Hladký

zřízenec na výstavě

Karel Bodnár

zřízenec na výstavě

Filip Renč

kluk u plakátu

Dubbing

Josef Dvořák

hlas Mikeše, prasete a psa

Crew and creators

Director

Ota Koval

Second Unit Director

Tomáš Tintěra, Zdeněk Zelenka

Assistant Director

Zdeněk Podhola

Screenstory

Jiří Melíšek

Shooting Script

Ota Koval

Director of Photography

Ivan Šlapeta

Second Unit Photography

Ladislav Chroust

Production Designer

Jan Oliva

Assistent Production Designer

Boris Halmi

Art Director

Josef Lada

Set Designer

Ivan Ernyei, Jan Petrů, Dana Smržová, Josef Pavlík

Costume Designer

Marta Kaplerová

Film Editor

Zdeněk Stehlík

Sound Designer

Jiří Moudrý

Special Effects

Adolf Hejzlar

Production Manager

Karel Kochman

Unit Production Manager

Věra Lukášová, Petr Prejda, Eliška Sekavová

Consultant

Alena Ladová, Jan Vrána

Cooperation

Z. Kopková (klapka), Miloš Schmiedberger (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Štěpán Lucký

Selected Music

Bedřich Smetana (Má vlast /Vltava/), Bedřich Smetana (Luisina polka), Jan Křtitel Vaňhal

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)

Songs

Vrátka do pohádky

Song Composer Štěpán Lucký
Writer of Lyrics Pavel KoptaVladimír Šefl
Singer Bambini di Praga

Hudbo, zahraj tuš

Song Composer Štěpán Lucký
Writer of Lyrics Pavel KoptaVladimír Šefl
Singer Bambini di Praga

Kočka leze dírou

Production info

Original Title

Kaňka do pohádky

Czech Title

Kaňka do pohádky

English Title

Blot in a Fairy Tale

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

fairytale

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1981

Production Year

1980—1981

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 29 April 1980
start of filming 25 August 1980
technical Screenplay approved 2 September 1980
end of filming 27 January 1981
projection approval 4 March 1981

Premiere

premiere 13 November 1981 /suitable for youths/

Creative Group

Dramaturgická skupina Oty Hofmana, Ota Hofman (vedoucí dramaturgické skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

70 min

Original length in metres

2 028 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 13. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti a mládež Giffoni Valle Piana

1983
Giffoni Valle Piana / Italy

Vítěz

Festival: 20. mezinárodní festival filmů pro děti a mládež Gijón

1982
Gijón / Spain