Lubomír Beneš

• Name — Lubomír Beneš • Born — 7 November 1935 • Birthplace — Prague, Czechoslovakia • Died — 12 September 1995 • Place of death — Roztoky, Czech Republic • Known for — Co-creator of Pat & Mat

Lubomír Beneš grew up in Hloubětín, a suburb of Prague. As a child, he was artistically talented, so his parents paid for private art lessons, in which he studied drawing, painting and writing. He began working in animation in the late 1950s in the animation studios of Krátký Film Praha. After winning a competition he was accepted to the animated film studio Bratři v triku after his military service, where he became acquainted with various animation techniques. He worked in SFX on the animated film like Gallina Vogelbirdae by Jiri Brdecka. In 1967, he transferred from Bratři v triku to the Loutkovy Film Praha/Jiří Trnka Studio. There he created and directed his first film, Homo (Man) in 1969. Beneš’s first puppet film, Beg your pardon (Račte prominout), was made in 1974. He directed over a hundred short films, mostly puppet stop motion animation, and many of them for children. Some of his films also used cutout techniques. During the 1970s and 1980s, Beneš worked on numerous TV projects for the state channels Československá televize (ČST) Praha and ČST Bratislava. His most popular animated series for ČST were... a je to! (... and that's it!) (28 episodes, 1979–1985) and Jája a Pája (21 episodes, 1986, 1987, 1995). From 1990, he worked in the aiF Studio, which he had founded together with his son Marek, Pat & Mat co-creator Vladimír Jiránek and producer Michal Podhradský. There, he produced and directed 14 new Pat & Mat episodes in 1992 and 1994, which were highly successful and broadcast internationally. The animated films made by aiF were also broadcast on BBC One. Beneš directed, produced and wrote animated films in his studio until his death in 1995. His studio declared bankruptcy four years later.

Beneš lived in Roztoky, near Prague. He was married to his wife Vera Smetanova-Benesova, and had a son and daughter. His son Marek is the current director of the Pat & Mat series.