Chicory 'n' Coffee

A humorous yet touching chronicle of the marriage of a simple rural couple follows a small but significant marital deception—the wife has been serving her husband a coffee substitute, chicory, instead of real coffee for their entire lives. The animation, based on the song of the same name by renowned Slovenian singer-songwriter Iztok Mlakar, comes to life with the warmth of characters designed by Kastelic, inspired by mining marionette puppets.

"If heroes were to die at the beginning of the story, no one would care. In a short film, it's even harder—you only have a few short minutes to make the audience care enough about the characters to empathize with them." - Dušan Kastelic