Secret Delivery

Story of the great heroism of the little heroes

Director: Ján Sebechlebský

Tichá pošta

This adventurous family film takes place in the snowy Giant Mountains at the end of the German occupation. A group of child heroes rescues a downed French pilot. Their actions resemble the principle of the well-known “telephone game“ – the pilot is passed between mountain villages like a secret message – secret delivery - at school. But the children play a highly risky game. They are confronted by deadly soldiers of the occupying army, they must outwit traitors and informers and, last but not least, survive in the harsh conditions of winter in the mountains. This thrilling and visually attractive film story, which is an adaptation of the literary novel by writer and screenwriter Jiří Stránský, is based on real events. The creators want to address child viewers with the theme of courage, friendship and heroism, but also to show how people change when confronted with danger.

Why tell another story from the end of the WWII?

Because it's a children's story about empathy, rebellion, joy, courage and hope at a time when the chance of survival sometimes depends only on luck. It's one of those stories where children unite against the adult world in order to save someone. I think that such stories are needed especially today, when our kids are unexpectedly confronted with the proximity and impact of war on a daily basis.

We want to make a family historical adventure film, which I think has long been missing in the cinematographies of Central European countries.

Our story is somewhat reminiscent of the famous French film The Button War (1962), with a difference that in our case, a real war entered the world of children's games. One of the other inspirations is the film Lore (2012) directed by Cate Shortland, as well as the highly acclaimed Norwegian children's film The Crossing (2020), a thrilling winter story about children's bravery against the backdrop of war events, which won the Young Audience Award at the EFA Awards 2021. To mention a Czech title, I can think of the older film Sirius (1974) by director František Vláčil, in which a twelve-year-old boy refuses to accept an order to hand over his beloved dog Sirius to the German army.