Hermína Týrlová (1900-1993)

Founder of Czech animated film, director, artist.

She was born on 11 December 1900 in Březové Hory in the family of a miner Antonín Týrl and his wife Marie. Her father died while working in the Marie mine in 1904, her mother in 1912. She grew up in an orphanage until she was 14, from where she went to Prague to work. She became acquainted with the theatrical environment in 1915 at the Urania in Holešovice, where she played small roles and danced. In the early 1920s she met her future husband Karel Dodal there. After 1925, Dodal brought her to work with Elekta Journal, a company dedicated to the production of newsreels, scientific, advertising and educational films. Here, Dodal and Týrlová gradually mastered the principles of trick film processing. In addition to commercials, they also made a cartoon, The Waterboy in Love.

After the company was liquidated, the Dodals tried to go into business for themselves. Týrlová made instructional films for the Ministry of Agriculture, but she did not estimate the costs and the project ended in a loss. The failure of the business eventually led to an estrangement with her husband and their separation. Dodal remarried and with his wife Irena founded the production company IRE-Film in 1934, and Týrlová worked with them for the next six years. Her first puppet film, The Secret of the Lantern, was made as a commercial in 1936, and its success led to another major commission for the director. For Radiojournal she made Všudybyl's Adventures, a cartoon film complete with a Hurvínek puppet.

In 1938, the tense pre-war situation began to manifest itself. Karel Dodal decided to emigrate and Hermína Týrlová lost her collaborator. For some time, she drew for the magazine Puňťa, but she was looking for an opportunity to make her own puppet film - Ferd the Ant. She succeeded with her design in the film studios of Bata's auxiliary factories. In the early 1940s, a new phase of her life began - she worked in Zlín until the end of her life, directing more than 60 films, most of which she also wrote the theme and screenplay.

Shortly after the war, she managed to realise her idea of a film where a puppet performs together with an actor. Toy Riot won the Best Children's Film Award at the 1947 Venice International Film Festival and the Best Puppet Film Award at the Brussels Film Festival. This was followed by Lullaby, again awarded a gold medal at the 1948 Venice Festival. Her other films were also successful, such as The Failed Doll (1st Prize for Puppet Film at the 6th International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary 1952, and a great success at the International Film Festival in India). In the following years, she made classic fairy tales with puppets (The Pig Herder, Goldilocks) and modern ones (The Dragon's Tale, The Little Train).

The road to Hermina Týrlová's international success was not easy. At its beginning was the story of an orphan from a poor mining region. The memory of a beautiful nativity scene and a father carving a holy family. An inspiration that influenced her whole life. And also a lot of diligence, courage and an extraordinary feeling for experimenting with unconventional materials (Wool Fairy Tale, Bead Fairy Tale). Knot on a Handkerchief from 1958 (successes at the Cannes, Locarno, Mar del Plata festivals) is considered the pinnacle of her directorial output. She made her last film, The Tale on a String, at the venerable age of 85.

The long list of domestic and international awards (Karlovy Vary, Prague, Kroměříž, Warsaw, Edinburgh, Teheran, Gijón, San Sebastian, Locarno, Montevideo, Cannes) was crowned by the Lifetime Achievement Award, which Hermína Týrlová received at the 1981 IFF in Paris.

She died in Zlín on 3 May 1993.

She elaborated: Hana Ročňáková