Jaroslava Kretschmerová

From Jan Svankmajer, award-winning director of Faust, comes a dark, surreal fable about parental responsibility. Bozena and Karel long to have a baby and when one day he uproots a tree stump that looks like a child, her runaway maternal desires bring it to life. It proves, however, to have an insatiable appetite as it devours both the cat and the postman. In desperation they lock it in the cellar to starve it but their next door neighbour feeds it secretly and is eventually forced to offer Karel and Bozena when leftovers aren't enough.

Czech schoolboy Jenik has an unconventional home life. His father is a shipboard doctor who spends long stretches at sea, and his overprotective mother won't let him play with the rough neighborhood boys. As he makes friends with fellow misfit Lucy, his father sends him a butterfly larva from an exotic port of call. When Jenik and Lucy hatch it, a magical fairy appears in their lives.