HEART OF A TOWER (2021)

ABOUT THE FILM

animation, SK/CZ/BE, planned release: 2021

There is absolutely nothing to like about these grey, steep concrete blocks mother made me move to. No wonder dad doesn’t want to visit or even call. Nobody cares about me anymore. So I will stop caring as well. It’s time to go.

Riki, a 10 year old boy, runs away from home, following a mysterious emergency signal sent by a shiny stone. The strange artefact seems to have a mind of its own, it takes Riki to the breathtaking parallel world of “Yourland” where wonderful machines roam golden deserts, monkeys and ravens talk and science peacefully coexists with nature.

The shining stone merges with Riki by hiding in his heart and asking him for protection. It seems everybody in Yourland is eager to procure this treasure, as it is the core of Yourland’s power and owning it gives a great deal of influence.

Who should Riki share his secret with? His new cheeky friend, Emma? Metal Man, the mighty robot? Tidling, a monkey general? Or nobody? Who can he trust?

We accompany Riki on his enchanting adventurous journey full of perils, traps and humor, to restore the stone, also called the “Heart of a Tower”, to its „nest”. It’s the only way for Riki to make it back home and save his own heart.

Heart of a Tower is feature animated film for children directed by Peter Budinsky.

The project is co-produced by plutoon (SK), Stacka (BE), BFILM.cz (CZ) and RTVS (SK). The development and realisation of the film was financially supported by Audiovisual Fund, Czech Film Fund, screen.brussels, Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, flamish film fund VAF, the programme of European Union Creative Europe MEDIA and Bratislava Self-Governing Region.

TRAILER

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Project was presented at these forums:

Regional Pitching Forum, Animafest Zagreb 2015, Zagreb, Croatia
Coming Soon, Fantoche International Animation Film Festival 2016, Baden, Switzerland
Cartoon Springboard 2016 in Halle, Germany

AUTHORS

Director: Peter Budinský
Screenplay: Katarzyna Gondek, Peter Budinský, Barbora Budinská, Patrik Pašš, ml., Phil Parker
Script Editor: Kristína Májová
Producers: BFILM (SK) – Peter Badač, plutoon (SK) – Barbora Budinská
Co-producers: Stacka (BE) – Jan Hameeuw, BFILM.cz (CZ), RTVS (SK)
Editor: XXX
Sound Design: Jan Paul
Music: Michal Rataj

PETER BUDINSKÝ

Peter (1983) graduated in Animation film department from the Film and TV Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia. He studied an Erasmus Program at Animation department of RITS in Brussels, Belgium. That created the base for the current cooperation with Belgium, as Peter had a great experience there. He created three short animated films – Alfonz’s fly, Bird of Prey and tWINs, all of them presented and awarded on the international festivals.

After graduating, he started to work as a freelancer in Bratislava, Slovakia on different animated projects, short films and music videos. In 2013, he founded his own production company and animation studio plutoon in Bratislava, Slovakia. plutoon is offering complex services in the animation field not only to the filmmakers but also to the advertising agencies, other production companies, and individual clients. The studio creates animated TV spots, instructional videos, music videos, product presentations, post-production, special effects and other audiovisual content for a wide range of companies and projects.