Karel Zeman

The recorded working language is Czech and French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Zlín. Works named in the authority record are Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, On the Comet, The Stolen Airship and Krabat – The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Work by Karel Zeman is recorded in the collections of Karel Zeman Museum. Distinctions recorded are Národní umělec.

• Name — Karel Zeman • Born — 3 November 1910 • Birthplace — Ostroměř, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary • Died — 5 April 1989 • Place of death — Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia • Occupation — Film director, animator • Children — Ludmila Zeman • Awards — * 1970: National Artist • 1980: Order of the Republic

Zeman was born on 3 November 1910 in Ostroměř, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (present-day Czech Republic). At his parents' insistence, he studied business at high school in Kolín. In the 1920s, he studied at a French advertising school, and worked at an advertising studio in Marseille until 1936. It was in France that he first worked with animation, filming an ad for soap. He then returned to his home country (by now the First Czechoslovak Republic, known as Czechoslovakia), after visiting Egypt, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Back in Czechoslovakia, Zeman advertised for Czech firms like Baťa and Tatra. In 1939 he attempted to make an extended stay in Casablanca, but was barred by the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia established by Nazi Germany; unable to get the necessary papers in time, Zeman was required to remain in his home country during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. During the war he worked as a head of advertisement at Dům služeb in Brno. Film director Elmar Klos came to Brno to film a newsreel about window-dressing competition, which Zeman won. Klos offered Zeman a job at Zlín's animation studio. After some consideration (his wife and children were already established in Brno), Zeman accepted the job in 1943. At the studio, Zeman worked as an assistant to the pioneering animator Hermína Týrlová, and in 1945 he became the director of the stop-motion animation production group. The same year, in collaboration with Bořivoj Zeman, he made his first short film, Vánoční sen ("A Christmas Dream"). The short, which combined animated puppets with live-action footage, marked the beginning of Zeman's experiments with new techniques and genres. Zeman then went on to solo work, including a series of satirical cartoon shorts starring a puppet called Mr. Prokouk; the series was a wide success and the character became a Czech favorite. A bet Zeman accepted, challenging him to discover a method of working with glass in animation, led to the unusual short Inspirace ("Inspiration," 1948), which tells a wordless, poetic love story using animated glass figurines. Zeman then went on to the half-hour film Král Lávra (1950), based on the satirical poem by Karel Havlíček Borovský; the film won a National Award. 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, combining multiple animation techniques in two- and three-dimensional space. • Illustration — American poster for Zeman's Vynález zkázy It was in 1955, however, that Zeman began the work for which he is best known: six feature films designed artistically to combine live-action and animation techniques. These were: • Journey to the Beginning of Time (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. • Invention for Destruction (1958), based on Verne's Facing the Flag, and filmed to emulate the original illustrations for Verne's novels • The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1961), celebrating the legendary Baron Munchausen and the engravings of Gustave Doré • A Jester's Tale (1964), a satire of the Thirty Years' War, suggested by the drawings of Matthäus Merian • The Stolen Airship (1966), inspired by the Verne novels Two Years' Vacation and The Mysterious Island, the Art Nouveau style, and the 1891 Prague Centennial Exhibition • On the Comet (1970), an anti-war fantasy based on Verne's Hector Servadac He was a member of the jury at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival in 1961 and at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971. The Czechoslovak government awarded him the title of National Artist in 1970. After his live-action films, Zeman experimented with more classical forms of animation, beginning with seven shorts about Sinbad the Sailor which were then expanded into the feature film Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor (1974). His final films were Krabat – The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1977), from the novel The Satanic Mill by Otfried Preußler, and The Tale of John and Mary (1980). On 3 November 1980, in celebration of Zeman's seventieth birthday, President Gustáv Husák awarded him the Order of the Republic. Zeman died in Gottwaldov (present-day Zlín) on 5 April 1989, a few months before the Velvet Revolution.

• 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 • 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 as A Christmas Dream • 1946 — Křeček — The Hamster • 1946 — Podkova pro štěstí — Horseshoe for Luck — The first Mr. Prokouk film • 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)