Czech Animated Short ‘Weeds’ Wins Emile Award for Best Animation | Maurfilm Scores Third Win in Two Years
Skwigly
The Czech animated short Weeds, directed by Pola Kazak and produced by Maurfilm in collaboration with the Film Academy of Miroslav Ondricek in Pisek, has won the 2026 European Animation Award (Emile Award) for Best Animation in a Short Film. The award was announced on International Animation Day, 28 October, at the Emile Awards ceremony in Krakow, Poland, held during the Etiuda&Anima International Film Festival.
Created using the technique of oil painting on glass, Weeds is a visually striking 13-minute animated short exploring fear, otherness and resistance to change. Set in a seemingly idyllic garden surrounded by endless fields of wild vegetation, the film follows a Gardener whose carefully controlled world is threatened when a storm carries unwanted seeds into her territory. Her increasingly desperate attempts to eradicate the intruders gradually turn an innocent encounter into a struggle for survival.
What begins as a simple conflict between order and chaos develops into a universal allegory about our instinctive fear of the unknown and the destructive consequences of refusing change. Originally inspired by the European refugee crisis, Kazak’s story evolved into a broader reflection on human behaviour, acceptance and the tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
I conceived the film as an animated myth about chaos entering the ordered and logical world of human beings. But the real danger lies in our fear of the unknown and the impulsive reactions it provokes. Encountering something new doesn’t necessarily have to end in catastrophe,”
Pola Kazak, director
Weeds began its international festival journey in 2024 with its selection for La Cinef, the official student film competition at the Festival de Cannes. The film subsequently screened at major animation festivals including Annecy and Animafest Zagreb, establishing Kazak as a distinctive emerging voice in European auteur animation. In 2025, it received the Magnesia Award for Best Student Film at the Czech Lion Awards.
For Maurfilm, the latest recognition follows a particularly successful 2025 edition of the Emile Awards, where two of the company’s international co-productions received awards. I Died in Irpin, an animated documentary directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Anastasiia Falileieva and co-produced by Maurfilm (Czech Republic), Artichoke (Slovakia) and Plastic Bag Films (Ukraine), won Best of the Best in Short Film. Joko, directed by Izabela Plucińska and co-produced by Animoon (Poland), Clay Traces (Germany) and Maurfilm (Czech Republic), received the award for Best Character Design and Backgrounds in a Short Film.