Karel Zeman
Karel Zeman | |
---|---|
Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia | |
Occupation(s) | Film director, animator |
Children | Ludmila Zeman[1] |
Awards |
Karel Zeman (3 November 1910 – 5 April 1989) was a Czech
Life
Zeman was born on 3 November 1910 in
During the war he worked as a head of advertisement at Dům služeb in Brno. Film director
Zeman then went on to solo work, including a series of satirical cartoon shorts starring a puppet called
It was in 1955, however, that Zeman began the work for which he is best known: six feature films designed artistically to combine
These were:- Cesta do pravěku (1955), inspired by Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and the paintings of Zdeněk Burian. In 1966 a partly re-filmed US version was released as Journey to the Beginning of Time.
- Vynález zkázy (1958), based on Verne's Facing the Flag, and filmed to emulate the original illustrations for Verne's novels
- Baron Prášil (1961), celebrating the legendary Baron Munchausen and the engravings of Gustave Doré
- Matthäus Merian[13]
- 1891 Prague Centennial Exhibition[14]
- Hector Servadac
He was a member of the jury at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1961[15] and at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971.[16] 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 about
Zeman died in Gottwaldov (present-day Zlín) on 5 April 1989,[2] a few months before the Velvet Revolution.
Legacy
Zeman's works were influential to the Czech animator Jan Švankmajer,[18] as well as to the filmmaker Terry 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 filmmaker Tim Burton described Zeman's creative process as "extremely inspirational" to his own work, and identified Zeman and the animator Ray 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 director Wes Anderson have included homages to Zeman's works.[23]
The film historian Georges Sadoul identified Zeman as having "widened the horizons of the eighth art, animation," adding:
He is justly considered
Méliès'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 than Trnka, 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 the Barbican 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 the Charles Bridge in Prague.[24]
Filmography
Feature films
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 |
Short films
Year | Original Czech title | English title | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1945 | Vánoční sen | The Christmas Dream | Released in the US as A 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 | |
1959 | Pan Prokouk akrobatem | Mr. Prokouk, Acrobat | |
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) |
References
- ^ "Archived - Ludmila Zeman". Library and Archives Canada. 2002-09-25. Retrieved 2013-02-07.
- ^ a b c d "Karel Zeman: Animated fantasy in the Czech cinema". The Times. 10 April 1989. p. 16.
- ^ a b "Havlin presents award, Husak letter to artist". Daily Report: Eastern Europe. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. 4 November 1980. p. D6. Retrieved 15 June 2013.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Hames, Peter (2009). Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 188.
- ^ Wellner-Pospisil, Michael (2002). "Le Méliès tchèque" (in French). Festival International du Film de la Rochelle. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ^ "Hommages et rétrospectives 2010: Karel Zeman". Angers European First Film Festival. 2010. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ^ "Journée des enfants: Projection du film Sindbad de Karel Zeman" (in French). Cinéma Tout Écran. 2002. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Nováková, Markéta (March–April 2001). "The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman". Ahoy: Newsletter of the Czech Center New York. 6 (2). Published online: "The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman". Jules Verne: Andreas Fehrmann's Collection. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Biography: Karel Zeman". Muzeum Karla Zemana. 2013. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- ^ Richter, Václav (20 May 2010). "Karel Zeman: le centenaire du magicien du cinéma tchèque" (in French). Radio Prague. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- ^ a b c Hames, p. 196
- ^ ISBN 0520018648. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
- JSTOR 1210908.
- ^ "The stolen airship". Karel Zeman Muzeum. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "2nd Moscow International Film Festival (1961)". Moscow International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
- ^ "7th Moscow International Film Festival (1971)". Moscow International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2012-12-22.
- ^ "A Thousand and One Nights (1974) - Connections". IMDb. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ISBN 9781904764861.
- ISBN 9780203927496.
- ISBN 9781578066247.
- ^ Willoughby, Ian (27 March 2014). "Karel Zeman's work inspirational, says director Tim Burton on eve of Prague art show". Radio Prague. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ O'Neill, Phelim (1 November 2012). "Ray Harryhausen: the father of fantasy film-making". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- ^ a b "Focus: Karel Zeman". Animate the World. Barbican Centre. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ Velinger, Jan (26 December 2012). "Visionary filmmaker Karel Zeman". Radio Prague. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
- OCLC 43996060.
- ^ "Pan Prokouk: Podkova pro štěstí". Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
External links
- Karel Zeman at IMDb
- Karel Zeman filmography (in Polish)
- Karel Zeman: Genius of Animated Film at SME.sk(in Slovak)
- Gallery of Czech stop-action animation including clips from The Fabulous World of Karel Zeman.
- A Strange Introduction to Karel Zeman: The Czech Visionary (TCM Movie Morlocks)
- Website of the Karel Zeman Museum