The Island of Salamanders

Washed up on a wild island with her father, businessman at large, 10 year old Juliet meets an astonishing giant salamander. The animal and its fellows have been vegetating on the nearby small island surrounded by sharks. The girl and the beast become friends. However the old Pramana warned her: if the salamanders are freed, they will invade the world …

Director’s statement
The Czech writer Karel Capek (1890-1938), a true visionary, the man who invented the word robot, imagined how things could go off the rails almost one century ago. And here we are now. His unclassifiable novel masterpiece, War with the Newts (1936), depicts our world as it has actually become today - on the verge of ruin. We have extracted the essence out of this literary monument dealing with political, economical, geographical, scientific, cultural issues, and have created an original story with it. Its narrative, its structure and all the characters have all been invented. We have developed them into one single present-day setting. It is a story we want to tell from the point of view of a 10 year old child, with her energy, her enthusiasm and her hope - so typical of her age. It is a family film. It should talk to children and to the child we still hold inside of ourselves.