Award-winning Czech animator and film director, Michaela Pavlátová brings her latest offering in the form of My Sunny Maad, based on the novel “Frista.”   The film follows the adventures of a young Czech woman, Herra, who is led by her heart when she leaves her home country for the man she loves. In following Nazir to his country, in post-Taliban Afghanistan, she has no idea of what is in store for her. Herra enters into a new family life replete with unfamiliar customs full of unexpected joys and challenges.

What was it about this story that propelled you to make a movie about it?

I was trying to find a book or a script with a strong female character. And when I read this book, “Frista,” I immediately fell in love with the main character, Herra. I loved the way in which she was described, and I also loved the way she described life in the Afghan family with such humor and understanding. And from a European point of view, I suddenly felt that I was there in her place. It was also that kind of book not primarily meant for animation. I wanted something based on real-life, real stories because I always like those the most. Because I wanted again and again to show the general audience that animation can also tell different kinds of stories for an adult audience and not only funny things for all the family or only for kids. 

When you say that you’ve been in her shoes, in what sense are you referring to? What is it about her journey you relate to?

Well, it was slightly similar to what I had experienced, although I didn’t go to Afghanistan. But I also met the man of my life, or I thought he was at that moment, and I followed him to the United States. It’s a big difference but still, it means that you are coming from the place where you used to live to somewhere else where you have to build a new life without your own family around like Herra did. Back in Prague I have a lovely family who took a little bit too much care of me [laughs] so I was kind of also escaping that, but Herra is the opposite, she is trying to find a new family because in Prague her mother doesn’t care that much about her. She is also happy that she will find a new family.

What other aspects of Herra’s story did you relate to?

To see the change in her partner. When you are with him in your own country, then he somehow behaves slightly differently because he is a foreigner, and when he returns back to his country, as Nazir did, suddenly he changes because he is part of his own community. So, this was for me very interesting. 

When you leave your country, for whatever reason, something in you changes as well. You’re out of your comfort zone without the security of friends and family. 

Well, I made that big trip, following the man of my heart to his country, but it was also part of a challenge because my way of life was very easy and simple. I was born in a very loving and supportive family and then when I was 15, I studied high fine arts at school. Then I continued to the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts, in the Animation Department. I made my short films and then I played in some movies, and then I taught at the school. I was like the first young lady of animation. Suddenly, I felt that I needed to face something difficult. I wanted to be taken out of my comfort zone to feel what real life is when I don’t have this loving circle around me. I know many people would wish to have such a nice easy life with a loving circle and a loving family around, but I wanted to be on my own. I wanted to start again. 

What did you learn about yourself?

I realized (laughs) being in America how much of a European I am because I really missed my country. 

Where did your love for animation come from?

When I was a child, I was surrounded by animation so much that I even somehow didn’t realize that it was there, because it was just a part of our environment. In the Czech Republic, films were shown in cinemas and on television, as part of our culture. And at the Academy of Arts, I originally wanted to study illustration because I always drew funny drawings. And then I realized that it was very difficult to get into an illustration department because there were always the most applicants for those positions and the animation department had much fewer applicants. So, I entered into animation, studied for six years, mostly to be a designer of animation films.

And then you made the leap to directing.

Yes. One day, a Japanese animator, Aihara Nobuhiro, came to visit. And he was an experimental animation director and also a teacher from Japan, and he brought me a Super 8 camera, which had this frame-by-frame shooting. Because at the school we were not trained much in directing so I had to learn everything by myself. The school prepared us for a different profession, for designers of animation. But then suddenly I had my own camera and I found that I could make animation at home. I didn’t need anyone, I didn’t need school, I didn’t need teachers, I only needed the peg bars, some lights, and a frame-by-frame camera.  And so I shot the first film on Super 8 film and this was suddenly a miracle that I was the creator of the new universe. I could create a story and I didn’t need anyone. If you make your animation simple and short, you can really do it as one person and you don’t have to wait for any money. It built my addiction to animation and it has [evidently] stayed with me.  

One of the main themes of the film is, of course, the importance of following your dreams, but what were the other messages, if any, that you would like the audience to take away?

There is one obvious and very simple message. And it would be to realize that people are not as different as we think, and also, there are countries which sometimes seem unfriendly to us or countries which are dangerous, and we somehow automatically suppose that all of the people there can be a threat to us.  But it is not like this, because in each nation, I think that most people recognize life. And so, it is somehow a reminder for us not to judge other people so quickly.  Also, in Afghanistan, there are some liberal people and also some women who don’t want to have their freedom. We must be really sensitive to judging other countries and also to be open in our humanity and to realize that we all have our dreams and our desires, just in some countries it is easier for us to fulfill our dreams than in others where they are not that lucky.