Hafan Film

Jan Balej's animated film One Night in One City (2007) from the Czech Republic. Very little dialogue throughout, but instead a rich world of sounds and music which more than match the detailed animation and curious vignettes that create the film.

With humor our adventure story deals with the timeless theme of the conflict between unlimited power on the one hand, and the desire for freedom, courage and love on the other. A troupe of buskers lands on an island governed by a despotic ruler with strict police control. When, during their performance, a shot fired from a circus cannon goes astray, it triggers a series of unexpected events. A young man and woman, Drin and Tuvi, and Nathan the seagull have to enter into an uneven struggle with totalitarian power. A struggle which eventually changes the fates of all the island inhabitants - both human and feathered.

The Song of the Gallows is based on a medieval, seventeenth-century story about a magic violin that saves the life of a Roma man from the gallows. The Polish princess Katarina Jagellonica arrives in Finland in order to get married to Duke Juhana; after listening to the Romani musician playing his instrument she agrees to his request that all the gallows should be torn down in the country to save the Roma from execution.