Born in Prague, 1961. Graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1987. In the same year, as an end-of-study film, she made her first 2D animated short – a recurring technique in her filmography – Etuda z alba (An Etude from an Album) in which, with spare traits and light-hearted humour, the stylistic and thematic characteristics that will recur in her filmography are already noticeable.

Řeči, řeči, řeči (Words, Words, Words, 1991) is a visual representation of the thoughts and speeches that hover in a bar full of people: the creativity and originality with which Pavlátová depicts an ordinary scenario earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short in 1993.

From this point onwards, Pavlátová achieved such recognition and acclaim that she became, to all intents and purposes, the most internationally recognised animation director of the new generation, earning the praise of critics and audiences alike. With Repete (Repeat, 1995), thanks to the combination of compositional refinement and sarcasm, enhanced by pastel drawing animation, Pavlátová won two significant awards: the Special Prize of the Jury at the International Animation Festival in Annecy and the Golden Bear for Best Short Film in Berlin. Some of Pavlátová’s films also have an erotic component, sometimes shown in a suggestive manner, other times more explicitly but never vulgar: these include Karneval zvířat (The Carnival of the Animals, 2006) or Tram (2012), which won the Cristal award at Annecy and the Special International Jury Prize at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival for its ingenious and ironic presentation of female erotic fantasies.

In 2021 she finished a feature animation film My Sunny Maad, which won César in 2023, awards in Annecy, Tokyo, Zagreb, Guadalajara, etc. and was nominated for Golden Globes 2022. As an experimental feminist animator, Michaela’s work explores themes related to sex, gender, philosophy, and human relationships, always using her unmistakable graphic style and sense of humor. Besides animation, she also directed live action films Nevěrné hry / Faithless games (2004) and Děti noci /Night owls awarded in San Sebastian and Karlovy Vary. Professor Pavlátová is a head of an Animation Department at FAMU Prague.