17/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: This stop-motion anthology by David Súkup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar and Jean-Claude Rozec addresses the topic of death, but makes it unexpectedly lively, engaging and educational

Eastern European animation, whose long and rich tradition is being reinvigorated through initiatives such as CEE Animation, has been going from strength to strength, with the latest example being the European Film Award-winning and LUX Audience Award-nominated Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile]. Some of these films, like the 2023 adult animation White Plastic Sky [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tibor Bánóczki, Sarolta Szabó
film profile], land their world premieres at the Berlinale, and this is the case with Tales from the Magic Garden [+see also:
interview: David Súkup
film profile], which has just bowed in the festival’s Generation Kplus section.

Based on Czech author Arnošt Goldflam’s collection of stories Of Unwanted Things and People, the film has been in the making for more than eight years, which makes the fact that it is an admirably cohesive anthology co-directed by the Czech Republic’s David Súkup, Slovakia’s Patrik Pašš, Slovenia’s Leon Vidmar and France’s Jean-Claude Rozec even more impressive.

The 3D stop-motion puppet animation is about death and grief, and how the power of storytelling can have a healing effect. It’s not an obvious choice for a children’s film, but the risk has paid off: it’s a beautiful work through which kids can learn about loss, sadness, hope, love, compassion, empathy, friendship and creativity in the gentlest of ways. Their parents should definitely pay attention, as it holds important reminders for adults often lost in their daily grind.

The anthology’s frame and a segment in its own right concerns three kids, Tom (4), Susan (8) and Derek (10), who visit their grieving grandpa after grandma has died. She used to tell them stories by taking off her straw hat and asking them to “throw in” three ingredients. Once the kids had listed them, grandma would put her storytelling hat on and take them to magical worlds. Now, it is the bright, ginger Susan who takes over the role.

In the first, artistically most interesting segment, two siblings save a cat from the street, and after their parents get hit by a truck (off-screen, and apparently not killing them), the feline turns into a kind old woman, “an aunt” of theirs, which prevents them from being sent to a children’s home.

In the second, narratively complex part, two boys discover a magic garden in a haunted forest. An old woman living there has a beast that feeds on apple cores, which the more sensitive boy will realise is not so scary after all. The lady tells a story-within-the-story, of the long-gone love of her life, in a different, 2D animation style and with distinct colouring, mimicking old-timey comic books.

In the final, most sentimental and colourful piece, a grumpy old man discovers he can fly when he remembers the joyful times he had spent with his late wife, whom he talks to at the cemetery every day. He will end up joining a wildly fun group of birds, at least in his imagination.

The various visual styles of the segments, designed by Rozec and Spanish animator Patricia Ortiz Martínez, are just similar enough to smoothly cross from one story to another. It is an attractive, bright animation, but not overly cute, fitting with the darker subject matter. The balance is perfect: young viewers will get immersed in the imaginative stories and gain a healthy, positive view of the inevitability of death, and how it can be an impetus for hope and new beginnings. For parents, it can help ease a dreaded conversation with their offspring.

Tales from the Magic Garden is a co-production between the Czech Republic’s Maur Film, Slovakia’s Artichoke, Slovenia’s ZVVIKS and France’s Vivement Lundi!. New Europe Film Sales has the international rights.