"It would be hard to meet a Czech whose childhood was not touched (perhaps unconsciously) by the art of Jiří Trnka, a painter, puppeteer, illustrator and above all, the founding father of Czech animated film." So begins Ruth Fraňková's 2007 profile for Radio Praha, for which she spoke with several of the innovator's admirers and colleagues. "His poetic drawings brought immortality to books that would otherwise be long forgotten. And his animated films bestowed dozens of puppets and drawings with life."
Trnka was born in Pilsen 100 years ago today and died in 1969 at the age of only 57; to here Fraňková tell it, he more or less worked himself to death. In 2010, Paul Gallagher posted a few clips at Dangerous Minds, adding that, having drawn since he was a child, Trnka "wanted to bring his pictures to life. So, he started making puppets and opened a wooden puppet theatre on Prague's Wenceslas Square.
Trnka was born in Pilsen 100 years ago today and died in 1969 at the age of only 57; to here Fraňková tell it, he more or less worked himself to death. In 2010, Paul Gallagher posted a few clips at Dangerous Minds, adding that, having drawn since he was a child, Trnka "wanted to bring his pictures to life. So, he started making puppets and opened a wooden puppet theatre on Prague's Wenceslas Square.
- 2/24/2012
- MUBI
Inventive stop-motion animator and puppet maker who garnered a worldwide reputation
Kihachiro Kawamoto, who has died aged 85, was best known in Japan for creating the vast array of puppets populating the live-action historical television series Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1982-84) and Tale of Heike (1993-95). He was also highly regarded internationally for haunting stop-motion animations, such as Dojoji Temple (1976) and House of Flame (1979), in which the figures are manipulated and photographed frame-by-frame so that they appear to move on their own.
Like his one-time collaborator Tadanari Okamoto, with whom he toured his independent films from 1972 to 1980, his exercises in stop-motion puppetry were influenced by European practices. But Kawamoto's ornate works are also deeply rooted in Japanese folklore and aesthetics, with an overarching philosophy based on Buddhism. They are a powerful reminder of the more artisanal traditions within Japanese animation that are often ignored by western commentators' focus on commercial anime.
Kihachiro Kawamoto, who has died aged 85, was best known in Japan for creating the vast array of puppets populating the live-action historical television series Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1982-84) and Tale of Heike (1993-95). He was also highly regarded internationally for haunting stop-motion animations, such as Dojoji Temple (1976) and House of Flame (1979), in which the figures are manipulated and photographed frame-by-frame so that they appear to move on their own.
Like his one-time collaborator Tadanari Okamoto, with whom he toured his independent films from 1972 to 1980, his exercises in stop-motion puppetry were influenced by European practices. But Kawamoto's ornate works are also deeply rooted in Japanese folklore and aesthetics, with an overarching philosophy based on Buddhism. They are a powerful reminder of the more artisanal traditions within Japanese animation that are often ignored by western commentators' focus on commercial anime.
- 9/5/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
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