Company type | Private company limited by shares |
---|---|
Industry | Animation, Film production |
Founded | 1953 |
Headquarters | , Croatia |
Website | zagrebfilm |
Zagreb Film is a Croatian film company principally known for its animation studio. From Zagreb, it was founded in 1953. They have produced hundreds of animated films, as well as documentaries, television commercials, educational films and several feature films.
Zagreb Film produced the cartoon series Professor Balthazar (Croatian : Profesor Baltazar), created by Zlatko Grgić, about an amusing professor who solved various imaginative problems. Another popular cartoon of theirs was Inspector Mask (Inspektor Maska).
Zagreb Film was founded in 1953 with the main profile of an animated films production company. Since then, more than 600 animated films, 14 feature films, about 600 documentaries and 800 commercials as well as 600 educational films were produced in this studio.
The company operates at three locations; one with ateliers for artists, shooting equipment, small theater and one with film warehouse, video multiplication room and administration. The third location is used for commercial purposes. During all these years, Zagreb Film received more than 400 awards on Festivals all over the world. Among them is the Academy Award - Oscar for the best animated short film in 1962 where Dušan Vukotić had become the first European animator to win the Oscar award for Surogat (Ersatz) . [1] Wealth of genres and different styles that were growing in Zagreb was the reason for Georges Sadoul, the French film theorist, critic and historian to coin the term Zagreb school of animation, what became the trademark for top grade and innovative animated films made in Zagreb. Besides artistic films Zagreb film produced films and TV series like Inspektor Maska , Professor Balthazar , The Little Flying Bears and Maxi Cat. Most of these films were distributed internationally. The biggest global success was with the famous character of Professor Balthazar. [2]
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931–32, to the present.
Bruno Bozzetto is an Italian cartoon animator and film director, creator of many short pieces, mainly of a political or satirical nature. He created his first animated short "Tapum! the weapons' story" in 1958 at the age of 20. His most famous character, a hapless little man named "Signor Rossi", has been featured in many animated shorts as well as starring in three feature films: Mr. Rossi Looks for Happiness (1976), Mr. Rossi's Dreams (1977), and Mr. Rossi's Vacation (1977).
Format Films was an animation studio which was founded by Herbert Klynn in 1959 with Jules Engel as vice president, Bob McIntosh and Joseph Mugnaini, all of whom were animators.
Dušan Vukotić was a Yugoslav and Serbian-Montenegrin cartoonist, author and director of animated films. He is the best known member of the Zagreb school of animated films.
The cinema of Croatia has a somewhat shorter tradition than what is common for other Central European countries: the serious beginning of Croatian cinema starts with the rise of the Yugoslavian film industry in the 1940s. Three Croatian feature films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, several of them gained awards at major festivals, and the Croatian contribution in the field of animation is particularly important.
Ishu Patel is an Indian-Canadian animation film director/producer and educator. During his twenty-five years at the National Film Board of Canada he developed animation techniques and styles to support his themes and vision. Since then he has produced animated spots for television and has been teaching internationally.
Ernest Pintoff was an American film and television director, screenwriter and film producer.
Surogat is a 1961 Yugoslavian animated comedy short film by Croatian director Dušan Vukotić, produced by Zagreb Film, then a Yugoslav film production company. The film is also known by several other names in other languages: Cyррогат, Der Ersatz, Le Succēdanē and Surrogatto.
World Festival of Animated Film Zagreb, best known as Animafest Zagreb, is a film festival entirely dedicated to animated film held annually in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), the event was established in 1972. Animafest is the second oldest animation festival in the World, after the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Fantastic Animation Festival is a package film of animation segments, set mostly to music and released in theaters in 1977. It was one of the earliest of the sort of collections typified by Computer Animation Festival and Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.
Zagreb school of animated films is a style of animation originating from Zagreb and Croatia, most notably Zagreb Film. It is represented by authors like Nikola Kostelac, Vatroslav Mimica, Dušan Vukotić and Vladimir Kristl. The term was coined by Georges Sadoul.
Zlatko Grgić was a Croatian animator who emigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.
My Financial Career is a 1962 Oscar-nominated animated short directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Colin Low and Tom Daly for the National Film Board of Canada.
Inspektor Maska is a Croatian and Yugoslav animated comedy television series produced for television by Zagreb Film that ran from 1962 to 1963.
Pavao Štalter was a Croatian animator, director, screenwriter, scenographer and artist. He is known for his many animation shorts he produced at Zagreb Film.
Tup Tup is a 1972 Yugoslav animated short by Nedeljko Dragić at Zagreb Film animation studio, in cooperation with Corona Cinematografica in Italy.
Nedeljko Dragić is a Croatian director, animator, cartoonist and illustrator. Since 1953 he has been a cartoonist and had exhibitions and published a book called Lexicon for Illiterate People in 1966. In 1960 he began working as a designer and animator at Zagreb Film, contributing to the works of N. Kostelac, I. Vrbanić, B. Dovniković and others. Since 1965 he has owned the rights to the movie Elegy and has become one of the most important representatives of the Zagreb School of Animation.
Animation historian Jerry Beck had posted on Cartoon Research lists of animated shorts from various studios considered for nomination of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, beginning with 1948 and ending for the time being with 1986.
Inspektor se vratio kući is a 1959 animated short film directed by Vatroslav Mimica for Zagreb Film. It is described as a dizzying existentialist parable about an inept police inspector chasing his own fingerprint. Mimica collaborated with animator Aleksandar Marks and background artist Zlatko Bourek.