The Magic Reindeer – Consept

Puppet animation series for children (6 – 12 years), 35mm film/digi-Beta, 13 x 7 minutes

All the stories are made in the puppet animation genre, with full-jointed skeletons and hand-made figures. All the decorations and props are hand-made as well, and mostly only natural materials are used.

The series is filmed with 35mm film equipment, in classical studio environment, to ensure the best colour scale and lightning conditions. The crew is international, with mostly Czech and Finnish artists working together. The main studio is the Prague-based Hafan Film in Czech Republic.

The project is based on the old legends and fairytales of the small northern minorities like the Sámi people of Scandinavia ( Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian Lapland ) , the small Finno-Ugrian nationalities of Siberia, the Arctic Indian tribes of Alaska /Canada and the Inuits of Greenland.

The beliefs of the nomadic tribes and the mysterious rituals of shamans are still alive in the isolated villages beyond the Polar Circle, but very few films – mostly documentaries – have ever found their way for the wider audience. Puppet animation is a perfect tool to describe this rich and unique culture, where wonders are part of the daily life and the different worlds buoyed realism co-exist with the every day life.

In a very gentle but effective way this kind of artistic approach can also support the struggle of the vanishing minorities against the overwhelming westernisation. The spiritual and physical heritage of the indigenous people will be treated with respect.

The soundtrack is a very important part of the project. The shaman drums, bone-flutes and mouth-harps are the most used instruments. The special Sámi “ joiku “ singing ( singing without words ) is present in most of the episodes.

These old fairytales and legends share same the kind of principle of dealing with the nature : a human soul is only a small part of the system and alone one will never survive. All the good things under the sun are meant to be shared , and all the sorrows will be easier to bear with the help of the others. Simple things, but so rare in our hectic post-modern world nowadays.

The stories are very mystic, full of action and adventures. Just like in all good fairytales, the good wins and the evil pays bitter price for it’s dirty tricks. In many episodes, children are the heroes, and they’re making really fun when dealing with the ugly witches, sorcerers and trolls of the North.

A very special black humour is present always, a humour that can only be understood when thinking of the harsh reality of the northern tribes. When temperature drops below –50 degrees Celsius, there is no space for light sentimentalism or poetical fairies. Even the visual style of the characters resembles their hard environment. Life is marking everybody and everything heavily under the Arctic sun , no matter if you are rich or poor, the lines on your face remain the same.