By Will Espero

Babookums are magical animals, robots, and creatures with individual super powers. The super powers are unique to each babookum and include a laser in place of a missing arm, light shining from a butt, loud burping, lightning antennas, and singing. Babookums: Seven Fantastic Stories is a feature animation with a human host directed by Tadas Vidmantas of Lithuania. The bakookums are cute, adorable little creatures who live in the city and the forest. They are very different in looks, shape, personality and style. 

The main babookums in the story are Micito the singing cat, Uto, Boiler, and Laser. Their daily life includes situations and predicaments similar to humans. The stories usually express a message about people and one’s self. Respect, being nice, happiness, and feeling good are common themes from the animated little guys. Helping others and being yourself are the essence of most babookum’s thoughts and actions as portrayed in the film. The messaging from this animated film steers the audience in a positive, meaningful direction. It’s easy to see one’s self through the eyes of the babookums.

The feature animation is in Lithuanian with English subtitles.

Tadas Vidmantas

Tadas Vidmantas is a Lithuanian-born film director, scriptwriter and copywriter. Vidmantas started his career as an award-winning playwright in 2001. Two years later he began directing short films and comedy sketches. From 2004 to 2008, he studied graphic design at Vilnius Academy of Arts and earned a bachelor’s degree.

Since May 2009, Vidmantas is freelancing as film director, scriptwriter and producer and, in 2010 he moved to London, UK. After living in London with his wife for 7 years, the couple moved back to Lithuania. In 2015 he began making feature films and has made one each year since. His film, Three Million Euros, became the most profitable film ever made in Lithuania. In 2022, he received the Silver Crane Award for the most spectacular film, Night Fishing, at the Lithuanian Film Industry Awards.

The idea behind the film is the emotional and value education of children. The film is rich in colorful characters, real-life, educative situations. It is designed to be gender neutral. By watching it, children will learn to sympathize, understand, love, forgive, be able to be themselves, and accept the disabilities of others.

Film is based on the fundamental human rights and freedoms in Europe: democracy and solidarity, tolerance for minorities, respect for historical and cultural heritage. However, chosen style of storytelling is fun and full of jokes, which allows to educate, but at the same time not to become didactic.

Four main characters Uto, Micito, Laser and Boiler live at home hiding from human eye. Despite their differences they’re best friends. Sometimes they travel exploring the outside world, where they meet various challenges which they overcome by learning something new. Just as it is in our world, in babookum’s world, not everybody is kind and helpful. Viewers, together with babookums, learn how to interact with such people, not to give up when you’re struggling, as well as how to overcome your fears.

The chosen animation style is minimalistic, so the main focus remains on dialogues. Cute and colorful characters attract attention and fast pacing scenes enhances the dynamic.

The original soundtrack, which sometimes evolves into separate songs that babookums sing, is created by talented composer Vytautas Bikus, who is known in for working with the most famous singers in Lithuania.

Tadas Vidmantas

Babookums: Seven Fantastic Stories is an Official Selection at the 2023 edition of the Global Nonviolent Film Festival, and it can be watched from September 28 to October 8 on GlobalCinema.online where the Festival is being broadcast. D!