A new Czech animated short from director Bára Anna Stejskalová will make its domestic premiere at Prague’s Kino Světozor on Dec. 15, presented with a live orchestral performance by Floex Ensemble. The event marks the first Czech screening of 9 Million Colors, which has spent much of the year on the international festival circuit.
The stop-motion musical, produced in a Czech–Norwegian–German co-production, has drawn early attention for its distinctive visual language, underwater worldbuilding, and an original score by composer and clarinetist Tomáš Dvořák (Floex). Its Czech premiere, staged as part of the cinema’s Ávéčko series, pairs the 75-minute short with a full concert performed by the six-member ensemble.
Stejskalová’s film arrives in Prague after screenings at 16 international festivals, including Annecy, where it was programmed during opening night. With a combination of handcrafted puppetry and an allegorical story about perception and friendship, 9 Million Colors represents one of the most visible Czech animated works on the global circuit this year.
A stop-motion musical exploring perception
9 Million Colors follows two marine creatures—Fran, a predatory mantis shrimp with kaleidoscopic vision, and Milva, a blind fish—as they attempt to navigate the same ocean from fundamentally different perspectives. Without dialogue, the narrative relies on movement, music, and visual contrast to shape an allegory about how relationships adapt when each participant sees the world differently.
Stejskalová developed the film using classical puppet animation, creating more than 40 puppets representing crabs, jellyfish, shrimps, dolphins, turtles, and a seahorse. The production team used projected light patterns to simulate underwater refractions and the fluidity of submerged motion. The design of Fran draws directly from the real mantis shrimp, an animal capable of perceiving color through 12 separate photoreceptors, compared with the more limited abilities of many crustaceans, which see primarily polarized light.
The director describes the film as “my ode to friendship — one so strong it borders on love,” emphasizing themes of acceptance and the willingness to understand another’s world. The production, completed over two years, was supported by Bionaut Animation, Divize Animace, Trollfilm, and Reynard Films, with Czech distribution planned for spring 2026.
The short has accumulated awards ahead of its domestic premiere, earning the best animation prize at the Sapporo Short Fest and a sponsor award at the New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival in Japan. Jury recognitions in Los Angeles and Baku followed, alongside invitations to additional European festivals and a forthcoming trip to New York.
Live score expands Floex’s underwater sound world
Following the 15-minute film screening, Floex Ensemble will perform selections from the film’s original score, expanding the musical palette into a concert setting. Known for blending acoustic instrumentation with electronic textures, Dvořák composed a soundscape that interprets the film’s underwater environment through rhythmic pulses, subdued orchestral layers, and extended periods of near-silence.
The live set is arranged in collaboration with composer and multi-instrumentalist Jan Šikl, whose contributions help adapt the material for a chamber sextet. The evening’s performance is conceived as a hybrid between concert and sonic performance, reinforcing the film’s focus on perception and sensory experience.
In addition to music from 9 Million Colors, the program includes pieces from Dvořák’s acclaimed soundtracks for the games Machinarium, Samorost, and Papetura, as well as re-imagined material from his studio albums. The ensemble’s Prague appearance also features Josef, a robotic percussion instrument integrated into the live setup.
Kino Světozor’s one-night event positions the premiere as both a film screening and a standalone musical experience, reflecting how the production’s sound design has shaped the project’s identity. For domestic audiences, the Dec. 15 screening offers the first opportunity to see Stejskalová’s internationally traveled short ahead of its wider Czech release in 2026. Tickets can be purchased from the cinema website.
Lead photo: 9 Million Colors (2025) © Bionaut
