Krvava pani, 1980, Czechoslovakia, Language: Slovak, Subtitles: English (72’) Introduction by Vanda Vacvalová (Slovak Film Institut). Screening: 09.07, 12.00, Toldi Cinema, Nagyterem

If there is a single jewel worthy of discovery in Slovak animation, then The Bloody Lady, a work by Viktor Kubal, the reworking of the story of Erzsébet Báthory – as regards its animation technique and use of music similar to The Mole – is certainly it. At the beginning of the movie it is as though the little countess is living in the fairy-tale world of charming Czech animation films: her companions are the mouse, the mischievous bear, the moles taking part in a tunnel-digging competition, but she gets a cold in a sudden storm. Soaked to the skin, she is taken to the hut of a woodcutter where – literally – she leaves her good heart. The slightly sketched-out gestures, characters resembling Lego figures, and expressions of the deepest fears of the soul as seen in the bloody sequences of the film mediate that raw reality which has at least as much to do with the sad tale of the infamous, blood-drinking countess as original, unabridged Grimm fairy tales.

Directed by: Viktor Kubal
Screenplay by: Viktor Kubal
Director of photography: Otto Geyer
Music by: Juraj Lexmann
Narrator: Jela Lukesová
Genre: Animation
Production: Slovenská filmová tvorba, Štúdio krátkych filmov Bratislava
Format: colour, 4:3

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