Being the Stone of Destiny: A Conversation with Czech Director Julie Černá (GoCritic! Review)

Imagine a stone. What does it look like? Probably rugged, angular. Or maybe smooth, washed up on a shore of a faraway sea. Perhaps it’s small, cold, and still. Heavy. In any case, lifeless.

Czech visual artist and filmmaker Julie Černá’s protagonist in her animated short ‘Stone of Destiny’ is quite the opposite. It has arms and legs and a beautiful singing voice – and it is full of life. Černá plays around with these contradictions, giving her character purpose and sending it off on a journey of self-discovery. She challenges our idea of a stone as something inanimate, a symbol of total lack of expression, and admits that despite its absurdist narrative, the film is somewhat autobiographical – not literally, but emotionally. Černá depicts her own experiences and feelings in the Stones’ adventures. “Sometimes I would like to be more resistant to emotions, sadness, and happiness, and everything that comes with it. But I am not, and the Stone is not as well. This is the paradox of it.”

Černá and I spoke on the occasion of the 20th anniversary edition of Animest in Bucharest, Romania, where the film was part of the program, but its festival journey continues – ‘Stone of Destiny’ premiered at Berlinale and has been part of over fifty festival programs in more than thirty countries. Soon after its screening in Bucharest, it appeared on big screens all across Europe, in South Korea, and in Argentina.

It is Černá’s debut film, but it shines with striking maturity and wisdom for a first-timer. The film follows the anthropomorphic stone as it decides to leave its home to move to a large villa by the seaside, but even there, it fails to find happiness, reinforcing the idea that a home is something we find within, not in the outside world. Černá dives deep into symbolism with images and characters that reemerge multiple times in the film: a picture of a flower, the only object the Stone brings along on its trip, and keeps as a precious memory of a happier past, and a majestic brown horse showing up in moments of doubt and insecurity.

“Sometimes I feel like I am my own biggest enemy, because I tend to sabotage myself. So, this was the meaning behind the horse – it’s the obstacle that you can’t overcome if you can’t overcome yourself. The picture of the rose signifies remembrance optimism – how only the good memories stay, and the bad fade away. However, even if you think you were truly happy back then, it’s just your memory playing tricks on you.”

In the film, the Stone grows plants in its new villa but keeps returning to the framed rose on the wall, as if it is more alive than the ones in the pots, just as memories can seem more vivid than the present and lure you into a trap of sentimentality and nostalgia. Eventually, the Stone lets go of the picture and chooses to move forward, leaving the past behind, finally enjoying the present moment.

Watch the ‘Stone of Destiny’ trailer:

Remembering her own childhood, Julie Černá recalls watching a lot of old Czech animation. Every day at six, she used to sit in front of the TV for an episode of ‘The Little Mole’ or some old stop-motion film. Back then, she never considered becoming an animator. But she loved drawing ever since she was little and pursued it as a career, studying graphic design as early as middle school. When faced with the decision whether to continue with illustration or to study animation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM), she chose animation as a new skill to master.

“I already knew how to draw quite well, and I was making zines and comics, so the logical thing to do was to pick animation. It is a different craft that I could learn, and I’m super glad that I made this choice, because now I’m doing it for a living. Besides, earning money with animation is doable in the Czech Republic, unlike illustration.”While exploring this connection between illustration and animation, she had the idea to adapt her award-winning comic trilogy ‘Stone of Destiny’ to an animated short film.

During the process of adaptation, Černá collaborated with Johuš Matuš (Johana Novotná), a musician who had already composed an eight-minute song based on the ‘Stone of Destiny’ comic books, and who was in charge of the soundtrack for the film. Černá recalls Matuš’s involvement in the project as a logical decision.

“When the time came to pick what to do for my bachelor’s project, I realized: Yeah, I have the comic book, I have this character, and I have the song, so of course it needs to be a musical. I am super glad that I chose this genre, because it’s a very symbolic movie and sometimes that type of film is quite hard for the audience to catch on to. The song helps the viewer to understand a little better what’s happening.”

Černá would not describe herself as a mad musical theater fan, but she enjoys musicals on occasion. Some of her favorites are Leos Carax’s ‘Annette’ and a Norwegian stop-motion film called ‘The Void’, which was also one of her main inspirations for ‘Stone of Destiny’. “I love that, despite being a musical, ‘The Void’ is also very existential, so this gave me the strength to believe that a musical doesn’t have to be this choreographed, funny singing thing, it can also be a little bit philosophical and dark and melancholic.”

However, she does not keep away from humor. The Stone itself is a creative choice meant to make the film funnier. Černá came up with the character almost accidentally while doodling in her sketchbook and thinking of some Czech sayings involving stones (one of them being “emotionless as a stone”). It occurred to her that an emotional stone with human hands and legs and a stoic face could be quite absurd. To her, comedy in films is very important: “I actually really need films to be funny in order to identify with them. I don’t enjoy artworks that are meant to be taken too seriously. It’s not something I would enjoy doing as well, because I am a funny person, I need fun and humor in my life, and I think everyone else does as well.”

Her upcoming graduation film is also a comedy, with no stones in sight. Instead, it is a personal exploration of beauty standards set at the ‘Love Island’ reality TV show. This time Černá uses a claymation technique. This was not only a creative choice, but also because of a medical scare. “When I was working on ‘Stone of Destiny’, I was animating so much and drawing so much that my wrist started to hurt. I went to see the doctor, and she said I had carpal tunnel syndrome, so now I basically can’t make big hand-drawn projects anymore. I had to explore other options, other techniques.”

She has already been developing her concept for over a year, first starting during her Erasmus exchange in Estonia, then presenting it at this year’s edition of the CEE Rise and Shine storytelling, development, and pitching lab. At the same time, she continues to travel around the world with the ‘Stone of Destiny’.

Expressing further thoughts on making animated works in general, Černá knows that this is a great opportunity for her. She only wishes that auteur animation cinema could be accessible to everyone. “There is almost no platform or medium where you can watch short, animated movies. We travel around and see films at festivals, but then after that, there is nowhere else to watch them, so they kind of get lost in time, with no access to new viewers.”

The ‘Stone of Destiny’ by Julie Černá competed at the Student Competition of the 20th Animest Festival, Bucharest (3-12 October 2025).

Source：ZF Team