In this week’s Staff Pick Premiere, three lonely, self-centered neighbors become intertwined in a lust-fueled, comedic triangle with permanent consequences. Developed as a graduation project by David Štumpf and Michaela Mihalyi, the award-winning film draws inspiration from Biblical allegories and experiences in post-Soviet housing blocks but, perhaps, finds even greater resonance in its parallels to modern experiences of isolation and yearning for connection. 

We’re introduced to each character through cleverly constructed chapters that shift perspective between an exhausted caretaker, his sexually frustrated wife, and a widowed deer. Driving the story are serendipitous encounters and a light absurdism aptly captured in the film’s title, “Sh—t Happens.” Visually, the film’s beautiful and bright style leans into the comedy with hand-drawn animation and riso-printed backgrounds. 

Discussing the playful contrast between theme and tones, the filmmaker shared “tragicomedy has the ability to hit you – that you are somewhat laughing until you start crying. It has always been the tone that we love, and in a way, the comic relief gave us space to go more and more absurd while still being entertaining.” 

Following a fantastic festival run, from a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival followed by Sundance and many others, we’re excited to exclusively premiere “Sh—t Happens” on Vimeo.

Ahead of the release, we reached out to directors David Štumpf and Michaela Mihalyi to learn about their process and inspiration for “Sh—t Happens.” Read on to learn more:

On inspiration:

Michaela Mihalyi: “Well, it was this theme of isolation – the strangeness of being together but very much apart. We took a lot of inspiration by living in these huge apartment buildings in post-Soviet countries. And then, a lot of fables and allegories, and the bible, of course. It was nice to work in this allegorical language, it helped us tremendously with writing. We took many liberties in the adaptation of the story, so there was also a lot of inspiration for the tone of the film – Relatos Salvajes by Damián Szifron was a big one!”

On modern isolation:

Michaela: “Isolation was a constant topic in the themes that we were dealing with, and it was always somehow intriguing for us to find a way to capture it. It has a looming presence in this individualistic age, so it creeped into the script naturally. But it got a bit uncanny seeing just how relatable the film became over the past 2 years.”

On the writing process: 

Michaela: “The writing process was the longest and most challenging part. It took us a few years of on and off writing. We were not very experienced, so we tried many things that we ended up throwing out. It took some time to become more confident and figure out what we wanted. But there were two of us, so we approached it by brainstorming over beer or coffee. It was a slightly different process than we use when writing on our own. Since the beginning, we knew the main character’s frustration and the ending of the film. What happened in between was a space to fill, so the other two characters evolved during the writing process. We liked the dynamics of a triangle as well as how the trio worked in terms of chapter storytelling. Each one of them also experiences a different form of loneliness and frustration.” 

On the comedic style: 

Michaela: “We always enjoyed the contrast of the colorful and comedic flavor with darker undertones of the storyline. Tragicomedy has the ability to hit you – that you are somewhat laughing until you start crying. It has always been the tone that we love, and in a way, the comic relief gave us space to go more and more absurd while still being entertaining. Especially with animation, we could go even further. With visuals, we struggled for a while. We have changed it many times, and in the end, the risograph color palette and technique worked the best. We did some tests, and after, decided to print the backgrounds and fit the digital animation in the postproduction to complete the final look.” 

On the animation process:  

Michaela: “It was a graduation movie, so we wanted to keep the team as small as possible. David animated almost everything by himself, and Michaela, with the help of one sibling, our great friends and classmates, colored it. Before the film, Michaela worked more with stop motion, and David with animation on paper, but for the needs of the film, we decided to do digital cel animation. It was the most effective for our boot camp time schedule that we had for production. But in general, it was mostly us sitting at our desks side by side and not sleeping much.”

On the challenges of the film: 

Michaela:Oh, yes! We feel that everything was a crazy challenge. We didn’t know much in the beginning, so the fact that it exists, we can press play and people can see it is amazing!

On lessons learned: 

Michaela: “A lot! Looking back, we think that everything was some form of a learning experience. It was our first semi-professional film that was much longer than anything we have ever done before. So from the basics of script writing and directing, through planning a production, learning how to pitch without trembling, understanding the financing and distribution – the whole process. Now, we somewhat understand what we like, and we are much more confident and effective. It was released pre-pandemic, so seeing it finished at the festivals was an experience of learning to let go and look at it with the audience without sweating. It was film school 2.0.”

Advice for aspiring filmmakers: 

Michaela: “Oof! We are not sure that we are the best advice givers. But…We think that a very important thing we learned is that there is not a right way to do things. Sometimes, the best thing to do is just stick to what feels good and follow that. It can end up in a dead end, but many times it eventually works the best. And that making films should definitely be more fun than painful. So… have fun?”  

Upcoming projects: 

David Štumpf: I am currently doing freelance animation on some projects with Buck, which is a dream come true! This year I want to slowly start to work on a new animated short, which is still unclear — but it should be a stop-motion puppet film.

Michaela: “I am in the middle of writing a short animated documentary, or mockumentary? We will see.. but it revolves around menstruation, and it is slowly coming together.

Check out more Staff Pick Premieres