The Persistence of Animation

Autobiographical elements in animated films of Czech female directors

Abstract: In my paper I analyse and discuss autobiographical elements in short animated films of several contemporary Czech female directors. The paper employs data that I obtained from in-depth interviews with individual directors. As the main methodological tool for conducting these I used oral history. These data are further combined with the gender-specific textual analysis and interpretation of their films. I focus on identifying possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of theory-practice inter-relating research. In doing so, I point out useful methodological overlaps of only seemingly distant disciplines such as gender studies, oral history and animation studies.

Biographical Statement: Eliška Děcká (born 1982) is a Film Studies MA program student at the Film Studies Department, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. She is currently working on her MA thesis, which is entitled “Autobiographical Elements in Animated Films of Czech Female Directors.” The thesis is part of her 3-year research project, “Female Heroines in Animated Film,” which is funded by the Charles University Grant Agency. She writes on animation for various Czech film and cultural journals and works with the Czech animated festival Anifest, where she is a member of the film selection committee. In 2008, she also collaborated as a dramaturge for the animated films section ofthe Femina Film Festival.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Animated documentaries, Czech animation, Women in animation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.