In 1946, in the very first year of the famous Cannes Film Festival, the award for best short film went to the animated children’s short Animals and Bandits (Zvířátka a Petrovští). The film was the first international success not only for its creator, Jiří Trnka, but also for the newly founded studio Bratři v triku which had produced it. The golden age of Czech animated films had begun. In the years to come Czech animated films would influence generations of viewers the world over.
Painter, illustrator, puppet-maker, sculptor, and scenographer Jiří Trnka was one of the founders of Czech animation. The communist regime nurtured animated films because they brought prestige at festivals and significant revenues from the West. The Bratři v triku studio, part of the Krátký film state company, alone produced hundreds of films, including the very popular Večerníček bedtime stories.