About &Black&White

The Series

&Black&White is a wordless animated comedy series of 13 short episodes, each approximately two minutes long. Every episode follows Bo — a small, stubborn, eternally unlucky character — as he stumbles through a world built entirely from black and white.

There is no dialogue. No narration. No subtitles. The comedy is entirely visual: every joke is built from contrast, silhouette, timing, and the tension between what you see and what you expect. Bo falls into traps made of lines, shadows, and negative space. He fails constantly. But he always gets up and tries again.

The series spans wildly different historical settings — the Stone Age, the Viking era, medieval times, the North Pole, colonial-era exploration, and modern city life — but the format stays the same: Bo enters a world, the world fights back, and the audience watches the beautiful disaster unfold.

Because there are no words, &Black&White works everywhere. No translation. No dubbing. No localization. A child in Tokyo, a teenager in Lagos, and an animation student in Berlin all see the same show, and all understand it instantly. This is not a limitation — it is the creative engine of the series.

The Character: Bo

Bo (known as "Micek" in production files) is the central character of &Black&White. He is small, bald, wide-eyed, and perpetually unprepared. In each episode, Bo appears in a different historical costume — as a Viking, a knight, a cave dweller, an Inuit hunter, an explorer — but his personality never changes. He is the eternal underdog: no plan, no help, no chance. But he tries anyway.

Bo has no mouth. All of his acting — fear, surprise, determination, defeat — comes through his eyes and body language. This makes him universally readable across ages and cultures. A three-year-old and a thirty-year-old both understand what Bo is feeling, without a single word being spoken.

His emotional arc is simple and repeatable: he encounters a problem, he fails, he gets up. This cycle — fail, try again — is the emotional core of the series. It resonates with children learning to persist, teenagers dealing with setbacks, and adults who recognize the absurdity of everyday struggle.

The Visual Style

The entire series is rendered in pure black and white. No gray. No color. This constraint is not a budget decision — it is the creative premise. The world of &Black&White is built from two elements: black and white. Every visual gag, every trap, every joke exploits the tension between these two values.

Characters hide in shadows. White objects disappear against white backgrounds. Black traps are invisible on black surfaces. The audience learns to read the frame like a puzzle — and the comedy comes from the moment the puzzle snaps shut on Bo.

Each episode is animated by a different artist from the team at EmpowerNow Media in Zagreb, Croatia. This gives each world a slightly different texture and personality while maintaining the unified black-and-white visual language. The result is a series that feels handcrafted, not industrial.

The Format

Each episode runs approximately two minutes — designed for short attention spans and digital platforms. The format is built for the way audiences actually watch content today: in bursts, on phones, between other activities. Two minutes is long enough for a complete story arc (setup, escalation, punchline) and short enough to replay, share, and meme.

The series currently consists of 13 completed episodes. Future seasons are in development.

The Team

&Black&White is created by Darko Bakliža and produced by Tihana Pavić through EmpowerNow Media d.o.o. in Zagreb, Croatia. The series is co-produced with John D. Heinsen and owned by The MaNaBu Movement Inc, a U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable and educational organization (EIN: 85-3028431).

The animation team includes Manuel Šumberac (animation supervisor), Paula Konjušić, Iva Božić, Antonija Veljačić, Rustem Leto, Anaid Mekić, Dženan Spahić, and Filip Gašparović. Sound design is by Vjeran Šalomon. Script advisor: Ed Hooks. Special thanks to Alexei Alexeev.

Recognition

The series has screened at over 20 international film festivals, including Animation Day in Cannes, Cinekid (Amsterdam), Animafest Zagreb (European premiere), AnimaSyros, Tromsø International Film Festival, and the L.A. Animation Festival (Best Short from a Series, 2nd place).

Three episodes have been adopted into the Croatian national school curriculum for visual literacy education. Educators at Have Dreams, a leading U.S. organization serving individuals and families living with Autism Spectrum Disorder, have documented exceptional engagement with the series among autistic students.

Production has been supported by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC), the EU Regional Development Fund, and Creative Europe MEDIA.