Preparations for feature film Heart of a Tower by Peter Budinský (tWINs, Bird of Pray) and Patrick Pašš ml. (In the field) are slowly continuing on Slovak animation scene. The film develops the topics of fear and death, more intended for adult audience than for child viewers. With the motive of fear it follows up on the young local animation works – Who’s there? by Vanda Raýmanová or the upcoming short project of Veronika Obertová and Michaela Čopíková (Ové pictures) Nina & Ondro.

The main character of the story is Riki, a boy of seven, whose father died and now he fears to lose his mother too. The daunting fear leads him into fantasy world, where he meets not only Ema, whom he befriends, but also inhuman evil character. The shy boy shows his inner strength when he tries to save his mother. The authors embraced the topic directly, without trivializing: “The film does not make anything prettier, nor withholds anything, allowing the viewers to see things as they really happened – although they are not pleasant. This allows them to identify with the characters in this film even more.”

The film script and the designs of the characters are complete, dominated by realism and attention to detail. The inhuman characters in the fantasy world take the form of mechanical iron robots.

There is still a producer and sufficient funding missing for the project. It will have an opportunity to obtain them at the Animafest Pro – the professional part of Animafest Zagreb. The authors will fight for the attention of producers on its 4th regional pitching forum on June 5-8, together with five other projects.