Karel Zeman | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1910-11-03)3 November 1910 |
| Died | 5 April 1989(1989-04-05) (aged 78) |
| Occupation(s) | Film director,animator |
| Children | Ludmila Zeman[1] |
| Awards | |
Karel Zeman (3 November 1910 – 5 April 1989) was a Czechfilm director,artist,production designer andanimator. He is best known for directing fantasy films combininglive-action footage withanimation, includingJourney to the Beginning of Time (1955) andInvention for Destruction (1958).[4] Because of his creative use of special effects and animation in his films, he has often been called the "CzechMéliès".[5][6][7]
Zeman was born on 3 November 1910 inOstroměř,Bohemia,Austria-Hungary (present-dayCzech Republic).[8] At his parents' insistence, he studiedbusiness at high school inKolín.[9] In the 1920s, he studied at a French advertising school, and worked at an advertising studio inMarseille until 1936.[10] It was in France that he first worked with animation, filming an ad for soap.[9] He then returned to his home country (by now theFirst Czechoslovak Republic, known asCzechoslovakia), after visitingEgypt,Yugoslavia, andGreece. Back in Czechoslovakia, Zeman advertised for Czech firms likeBaťa andTatra.[8] In 1939 he attempted to make an extended stay inCasablanca, but was barred by theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia established byNazi Germany; unable to get the necessary papers in time, Zeman was required to remain in his home country during theGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia.[9]
During the war he worked as a head of advertisement at Dům služeb in Brno. Film directorElmar Klos came to Brno to film a newsreel about window-dressing competition, which Zeman won. Klos offered Zeman a job atZlín's animation studio.[9] After some consideration (his wife and children were already established inBrno), Zeman accepted the job in 1943.[8] At the studio, Zeman worked as an assistant to the pioneering animatorHermína Týrlová, and in 1945 he became the director of thestop-motion animation production group.[11] The same year, in collaboration withBořivoj Zeman, he made his first short film,Vánoční sen ("A Christmas Dream"). The short, which combined animated puppets withlive-action footage, marked the beginning of Zeman's experiments with new techniques and genres.[12]
Zeman then went on to solo work, including a series of satirical cartoon shorts starring a puppet calledMr. Prokouk; the series was a wide success and the character became a Czech favorite.[2] A bet Zeman accepted, challenging him to discover a method of working with glass in animation,[12] led to the unusual shortInspirace ("Inspiration," 1948), which tells a wordless, poetic love story using animated glass figurines.[8] Zeman then went on to the half-hour filmKrál Lávra (1950), based on the satirical poem byKarel Havlíček Borovský;[11] the film won a National Award.[8] In 1952, Zeman completed his first feature film,Poklad ptačího ostrova ("The Treasure of Bird Island," 1952). It was based on a Persian fairy tale and took its visual inspiration from Persian paintings,[11] combining multiple animation techniques intwo- andthree-dimensional space.[12]
It was in 1955, however, that Zeman began the work for which he is best known: six feature films designed artistically to combinelive-action andanimation techniques.[13] These were:
He was a member of the jury at the2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1961[16] and at the7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971.[17] The Czechoslovakian government awarded him the title of National Artist in 1970.[2]
After his live-action films, Zeman experimented with more classical forms of animation, beginning with seven shorts aboutSinbad the Sailor which were then expanded into the feature filmAdventures of Sinbad the Sailor (1974). His final films wereKrabat – The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1977), from the novelThe Satanic Mill byOtfried Preußler, andThe Tale of John and Mary (1980). On 3 November 1980, in celebration of Zeman's seventieth birthday, PresidentGustáv Husák awarded him the Order of the Republic.[3]
Zeman died in Gottwaldov (present-dayZlín) on 5 April 1989,[2] a few months before theVelvet Revolution.
Zeman's works were influential to the Czech animatorJan Švankmajer,[18] as well as to the filmmakerTerry Gilliam,[19] who said of Zeman: "He did what I'm still trying to do, which is to try and combine live action with animation. His Doré-esque backgrounds were wonderful."[20] The filmmakerTim Burton described Zeman's creative process as "extremely inspirational" to his own work, and identified Zeman and the animatorRay Harryhausen as his influences "in terms of doing stop motion and a more handmade quality … Karel Zeman did that amazingly."[21] Harryhausen himself also spoke in interviews of his admiration for Zeman,[22] and the films of the directorWes Anderson have included homages to Zeman's works.[23]
The film historianGeorges Sadoul identified Zeman as having "widened the horizons of the eighth art, animation," adding:
He is justly consideredMéliès's successor. He undoubtedly brings the old master to mind, not only because he is an artisan impassioned by art, creating his "innocent inventions" with infinite patience rather than with large budgets, but also because of his ingenuous and always ingenious fantasies. Less intellectual thanTrnka, but nonetheless his equal, he has great zest and a marvelous sense of baroque oddities and poetic gags.[12]
On the occasion of an animation exhibition in 2010, curators at theBarbican Centre said of Zeman: "although his influence outweighs his global fame, he is unarguably one of the greatest animators of all time."[23]
In 2012 a museum dedicated to Zeman and his work, the Muzeum Karla Zemana, opened near theCharles Bridge in Prague.[24]
| Year | Original Czech title | Standard English title | US release title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Poklad ptačího ostrova | The Treasure of Bird Island | N/A |
| 1955 | Cesta do pravěku | Journey to Prehistory | Journey to the Beginning of Time |
| 1958 | Vynález zkázy | Invention for Destruction | The Fabulous World of Jules Verne |
| 1962 | Baron Prášil | Baron Munchausen | The Fabulous Baron Munchausen |
| 1964 | Bláznova kronika | A Jester's Tale | War of the Fools[25] |
| 1967 | Ukradená vzducholoď | The Stolen Airship | N/A |
| 1970 | Na kometě | On the Comet | On the Comet |
| 1974 | Pohádky tisíce a jedné noci | Tales of 1,001 Nights | Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor |
| 1977 | Čarodějův učeň | Krabat — The Sorcerer's Apprentice | N/A |
| 1980 | Pohádka o Honzíkovi a Mařence | The Tale of John and Mary | N/A |
| Year | Original Czech title | English title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Vánoční sen | The Christmas Dream | Released in the US asA Christmas Dream |
| 1946 | Křeček | The Hamster | |
| 1946 | Podkova pro štěstí | Horseshoe for Luck | The first Mr. Prokouk film[26] |
| 1947 | Pan Prokouk ouřaduje | Mr. Prokouk, Bureaucrat | |
| 1947 | Brigády | Voluntary Work | The third Mr. Prokouk film |
| 1947 | Pan Prokouk v pokušení | Mr. Prokouk in Temptation | |
| 1948 | Pan Prokouk filmuje | Mr. Prokouk Filming | |
| 1948 | Inspirace | Inspiration | |
| 1949 | Pan Prokouk vynálezcem | Mr. Prokouk, Inventor | |
| 1950 | Král Lávra | King Lávra | |
| 1955 | Pan Prokouk, Přítel zvířátek | Mr. Prokouk, Friend of the Animals | |
| 1958 | Pan Prokouk detektivem | Mr. Prokouk, Detective | Writer only; directed by Zdeněk Rozkopal |
| 1959 | Pan Prokouk akrobatem | Mr. Prokouk, Acrobat | Writer only; directed by Zdeněk Rozkopal |
| 1971 | Dobrodružství námořníka Sindibáda | Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor | |
| 1972 | Druhá cesta námořníka Sindibáda | The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor | |
| 1973 | V zemi obrů. Třetí cesta námořníka Sindibáda | In the Land of Giants (the third voyage) | |
| 1973 | Magnetová hora. Čtvrtá cesta námořníka Sindibáda | The Magnet Mountain (the fourth voyage) | |
| 1973 | Létající koberec. Pátá cesta námořníka Sindibáda | The Flying Carpet (the fifth voyage) | |
| 1974 | Mořský sultán. Šestá cesta námořníka Sindibáda | The Sultan of the Sea (the sixth voyage) | |
| 1974 | Zkrocený démon. Sedmá cesta námořníka Sindibáda | Taming the Demon (the seventh voyage) |
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