Oscar Shortlist Interviews: Director Jan Saska Shares His Favorite Shot From ‘Hurikán’ (EXCLUSIVE)

We invited the filmmakers behind each of this year’s 15 Oscar-shortlisted animated shorts to share their favorite shot from their film and explain why it’s special to them.

Nomination voting starts on January 12 and runs through January 16.

In today’s profile, Czech filmmaker Jan Saska walks us through his favorite scene from Hurikán, a black-and-white adventure about a reckless romantic tearing through Prague’s gritty Žižkov district to save his favorite beer stand and impress the barmaid he’s fallen for. Blending noir-inspired aesthetics with contemporary references, the film balances urban realism and surreal exaggeration to capture the Czech capital’s frenetic chaos, where determination, desire, violence, and slapstick collide.

This shot is the very first time we introduce the main character, Hurikán. Although Hurikán is more of an anti-hero, he is originally a comic-book character, and comics naturally come with a certain sense of exaggeration. That is why I wanted to present him as majestically as possible — as if the shot were directed by Michael Bay.

The upward movement from an extreme low angle toward his head also comes from my intention to consider viewers who do not know Hurikán and have no idea that he is a man with a pig’s head. I wanted to treat this fact as a surprise, revealing it only at the very last moment.

Additionally, the entire opening scene is frozen in time, and only at the end of this shot does it come into motion. Since the film revolves heavily around beer, it felt appropriate to initiate the transition from frozen moments into real-time action through beer itself.

With many elements coming together, I was pleased when everything aligned — including the background opening up to reveal the Žižkov Television Tower. This real structure is a dominant landmark of Prague’s Žižkov district, where the film is set. Although we always knew it would appear in the film, its initial role was purely scenographic. Over time, we realized it functions as a powerful visual tool, helping the viewer orient themselves in the space as the story begins to unfold. That realization led us to give it increasing importance, and I am glad we were able to incorporate it into this establishing shot.

From a technical perspective, this shot tested our attempt to achieve dynamic perspective changes using only static, multi-plane background drawings. The shot would not have reached its final form without close collaboration with Marek Pokorný, the film’s lead animator, who was involved from the layout stage and later took over its technical development.

Because the scene is frozen in time while the camera slowly moves around it, maintaining consistent volumes and correct perspective foreshortening proved especially challenging. Although we used 3D references, the limitations of the rig made it difficult to achieve a fully convincing hand-drawn result. I am deeply grateful for the one-shot collaboration with the exceptionally talented Camille Chao and Hugo de Faucompret, and I only wish I had given them a better assignment — ideally something more fun — next time.