Summer 1989. Alois Nebel, a lonely train dispatcher at a small railway station on the Czechoslovak border, lives a quiet life. Only sometimes the fog rolls in and he hallucinates, seeing ghosts and shadows from the dark times of the World War II. One day, a silent stranger appears at the station and propels Alois on the journey to resolving his nightmares.
The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel Alois Nebel by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromír 99. Alois Nebel is the first modern graphic novel to be published in the Czech Republic. It began as a single volume, Bílý Potok, which appeared in 2003. After its initial success, two more volumes followed — Central Station and Zlaté Hory — completing a trilogy which was released as a single collection in 2006. The story is captured in raw, black-and-white drawings, illustrating contrasts between the narrative tone and history.
Release dates:
4 September 2011: Italy (The 68th Venice International Film Festival)
9 September 2011: Canada (Toronto International Film Festival)
29 September 2011: Czech Republic
„Alois Nebel seems to flow effortlessly across the screen. Visually, this film is an absolute delight, its rotoscope animation allowing director Tomáš Lunák to concentrate on the essential in every shot, while the choice of black and white perfectly matches the tone of the story. Atmospheric and drenched in mood, Alois Nebel is destined to become a classic of the form. (…) Alois Nebel evokes fairy tales — the dark forest; the lonely rural outpost; storms, rain and floods — but is utterly modern in every other way. The film looks back to troubled and still resonant moments in history, yet as Alois goes about his daily life, another more insidious reality surrounds him. Though Alois Nebel, the character, is stoic and often passive on the exterior, there is nevertheless a wealth of feeling bubbling away beneath the surface of this wondrous gem of a film.“ Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival
„Premiering in Venice and Toronto, Czech animated feature Alois Nebel is one of the more intriguing animation projects to arrive on screens in recent years. Adapted by director Tomáš Luňák from the dark graphic novels by Jaroslav Rudiš and Jaromír 99 and shot in a rotoscope style similar to the technique used for Waking Life – which is why the observant among you may recognize the face of Karel Roden up above – this is gorgeous animated work for adult audiences.“ twitchfilm.com
Starring – Miroslav Krobot, Marie Ludvíková, Karel Roden, Leoš Noha, Alois Švehlík, Tereza Voříšková
Director – Tomáš Luňák
Screenplay – Jaroslav Rudiš, Jaromír 99
Producer – Pavel Strnad
Designer – Jaromír 99
Music – Petr Kružík, Ondřej Ježek
Director of Photography – Jan Baset Střítežský
Editor – Petr Říha
Sound – Viktor Ekrt, Ondřej Ježek
Set Designer – Henrich Boraros
Costume Designer – Katarína Hollá
Animation and VFX Supervisor – Noro Držiak
Post-production Supervisor – Aleš Baumgartner
© Negativ, Pallas Film, Tobogang, Česká televize, UPP, Soundsquare, 2011