Bára Anna Stejskalová is a Czech animation director and screenwriter who has emerged as one of the most promising talents in contemporary Czech animation. She began her studies at the University of Arts at Bournemouth and transferred to Prague's FAMU (Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts). In 2018 she participated in the Erasmus internship in the Production Design department at IADT in Dublin.

Stejskalová gained international recognition with her bachelor's film "The Fishermen" (2017), which was nominated for BAFTA Shortlist. The film tells "a story about a fishermen, who pulled a skeleton out of the frozen lake" and explores themes of "manipulation, humanity, puppetry."

Her master's graduation film "Love Is Just a Death Away" (2020) is presently touring worldwide festivals. The film had its US premiere at SXSW, was on BAFTA shortlist, and won 2 prizes at Palm Springs festival. The animated short is "about a parasite, living in a dog's corpse" who "searches for a soulmate" in "ugly world of landfill."

Stejskalová has also worked as art director on VR projects, including "Darkening," directed by Ondřej Moravec and produced by Czech Frame Films. She describes the project as dealing with "depression" but notes that "most of the viewers come out of the experience not depressed or very sad, but mostly touched and somehow uplifted."

She's a co-creator of HEARDT (Burning Man 2018) and continues to develop new projects. Her latest film "9 Million Colors," a Czech/German/Norwegian co-production puppet animation musical, had its premiere at the renowned Annecy Animation Festival on June 8, 2025, where it was selected as the opening film. The project was developed with Bionaut and represents her continued exploration of innovative short projects focused on LGBTQ topics.

Stejskalová represents the new generation of Czech animators who combine traditional techniques with innovative storytelling, often exploring dark yet ultimately hopeful themes through her distinctive visual style.