Genre
- animated feature
Countries of Production
- Germany / Czech Republic
Language
- German / Czech
World premiere
- 4th September 2011 – Venice IFF
German cinema release
- 12th December 2013
a production by
- Negativ and Pallas Film
in co-production with
- Tobogang, Česká Televize, UPP, Soundsquare
in association with
- The Match Factory, HBO Česká Republika
with the support of
- MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Eurimages, Ministerstvo kultúry Slovenskej republiky, Státní fond ČR pro podporu, a rozvoj české kinematografie, Ministerstvo kultury České republiky
World Sales
- The Match Factory
Distribution
- Pallas Film GmbH
It is the end of summer, 1989. Alois Nebel works as a train dispatcher at a small railway station in the Sudetenland, a mountainous region on the Czechoslovak border. He is a loner who prefers old timetables to people, and he finds the loneliness of the station tranquil – except when the fog rolls in. Then he hallucinates, seeing ghosts and shadows from the dark past of this region where after WWII harsh revenge was exacted on the German population.
Alois cannot get rid of these nightmares and with the help of the railway worker Wachek, who is eyeing Alois’ job, he eventually ends up in a sanatorium. There he gets to know The Mute, a mysterious man carrying an old photograph who was arrested by the police after crossing the border. Not even electroshocks would make him speak and the police is unable to find out why he came to the Sudetenland or who he was looking for. One day The Mute takes his chance and escapes into the woods.
Alois gets better and leaves the sanatorium. But things have changed outside. The Berlin wall has been torn down and the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia fell. Without a job and a place to stay, Alois does not know what to do. He decides to go to the Prague railway headquarters to seek help. There he finds the love of his life, Květa the toilet custodian, and returns to the mountains to meet The Mute and fight the ghosts which have been haunting him for so long.
Alois Nebel
- Miroslav Krobot
Květa
- Marie Ludvíková
the Mute
- Karel Roden
Wachek
- Leoš Noha
old Wachek
- Alois Švehlík
Dorothe
- Tereza Voříšková
bartender
- Ján Sedal
Russian officer
- Jiří Štrébl
psychiatrist
- Marek Daniel
nurse
- Klára Melíšková
police officers
- Jan Vondráček, Karel Zima
Olda
- Ondřej Malý
Berta
- Simona Babčáková
ČSD-Director
- Ivan Trojan
young Alois Nebel
- Kryštof Plášil
father Alois Nebel
- Tomáš Bambušek
husband Dorothe
- Marek Matějka
Written by
- Jaroslav Rudiš, Jaromír Švejdík
- Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromír 99
Directed by
- Tomáš Luňák
Producers
- Pavel Strnad, Thanassis Karathanos, Karl Baumgartner, Henrich Drziak, Jaroslav Kucera, Vít Komrzý
Director of photography
- Jan Baset Střítežský
Editor
- Petr Říha
Music
- Ondřej Ježek, Petr Kružík
Animation/VFX-Supervisor
- Noro Drziak
Animation (GER)
- Balancefilm
- Venice IFF
- Toronto IFF
- Warsaw FF
- Thessaloniki IFF
- Tallin Black Nights
- Anilogue – Int. Animation Festival Ungarn
- Palm Springs IFF
- Angers Premiers Plans
- Sofia IFF
- Holland Animated FF
- Anifilm IFF
- Zadar FF
- Best Animated Feature Film / European Film Award
- Special Mention / Anilogue
- Grand Prix / Holland Animated FF
- Animated feature prize / Anifilm IFF
- Grand Prix / Zadar FF
