《Gift》 - a gift

...He left behind a wide range of profound works during his 20-year career in film, including fairy tales for children, satirical dramas for adults, tranquil poetic worlds, grand historical dramas, eerie science fiction, and medieval erotic tales. Originally a talented illustrator and puppet artist, Trnka first tried his hand at cel animation, creating The Gift (1946), a work that used graphic art that was unparalleled in the world, and drew attention, having a great influence on American Stephen Bosustow and Yugoslav Dusan Vukočić, among others. However, Trnka himself had doubts about the expressive possibilities of cel animation, and was dissatisfied with the fact that the flavor of his own drawings was lost in the animation process, so he used his experience in puppet theater to create an unprecedented world of puppet animation. From puppet design, production, drafting, scripts, storyboards, set and prop design, lighting and filming instructions, and even acting out his directorial intentions to the animators, he created animation that was completely "individual art," and his individuality, talent, and aesthetic sense can be seen in all of his works, such as "The Emperor's Nightingale of China" (1948), which sang of the yearning for freedom and the brilliance of life by entrusting it to an Andersen fairy tale, the "Private Švejk" series (1951-55), a film adaptation of Czech national satire imbued with a unique spirit of resistance, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1959), in which he challenged Shakespeare with a brilliant aesthetic and new interpretation, and his posthumous work, "The Hand" (1965), which contains a deep mystery full of anguish in the fight between artistic freedom and oppression.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "gift" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…子どものためのメルヘン，おとなのための風刺劇，静謐（せいひつ）な詩的世界，壮大な史劇，不気味なSF，中世艶笑譚など，20年間に及ぶ映画活動期間に幅広く奥深い作品群を残した。　本来優秀な挿絵画家であり，人形作家であったトルンカは，まず〈セル･アニメ〉に取り組み，世界に類例のないグラフィック･アートを用いた《贈り物》(1946)をつくって注目を集め，アメリカのスティーブン･ボサストウやユーゴのドゥーシャン･ブコチッチなどに大きな影響を与えたが，トルンカ自身は〈セル･アニメ〉の表現の可能性に疑問を抱くと同時に，動画の作画工程で自分の絵の味わいが損なわれる点に不満をもち，人形劇の体験を生かして，前人未踏の人形アニメーションの世界をつくりあげた。人形のデザインから，製作，原案，シナリオ，絵コンテ，セットや小道具のデザイン，照明や撮影の指示，そしてみずから演技を示してアニメーターに演出意図を伝えるというところに至るまで，完ぺきな〈個人芸〉に徹したアニメづくりで，その個性と才気，美意識は，アンデルセン童話に託して自由へのあこがれと生命の輝きを歌いあげた《支那の皇帝の鶯》(1948)，独特の抵抗精神をこめたチェコ国民風刺文学の映画化《シュベイク二等兵》シリーズ(1951‐55)，華麗な美学と新解釈でシェークスピアに挑んだ《真夏の夜の夢》(1959)，芸術の自由と圧政との戦いの中に苦渋に満ちた深いなぞを含む遺作《手》(1965)等々，すべての作品にうかがえる。…

※「《贈り物》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報