History of French animation
Encyclopedia
The first pictured movie was from Frenchman Émile Reynaud, who created praxynoscope, animation system of 12 pictures, and films of about 500~600 pictures, projected on its own théatre optique, system near from modern film projector, at Musée Grévin
in Paris, France, the October 28, 1892.
Émile Cohl
(1857–1938) created what is most likely the first real animated cartoon
to be drawn on paper, Fantasmagorie
in 1908.
, a device invented by Alexieff and Parker that gives the impression of animated engravings.
Le Roman de Renard
(The Tale of the Fox), 1930/1937, directed by Ladislas Starevich
. The first French animated feature film. The animation was finished in 1930 but a soundtrack was only added in 1937, and it was a German one. A French-language version was released in 1941.
La Demoiselle et le violoncelliste (The Girl and the Cellist), 1965, directed by Jean-François Laguionie
. Laguionie's first film, which won the Annecy Grand Prix in 1965.
1967 saw the release of Astérix
le Gaulois (Asterix the Gaul
), directed by Ray Goossens
. This was the first movie based on the long-running Asterix comics; however, it was made without the knowledge of the comics' creators René Goscinny
and Albert Uderzo
, and is not widely liked by fans. The following year (1968), Goscinny and Uderzo worked with co-director Lee Payant on a sequel, Astérix
et Cléopâtre (Asterix and Cleopatra
).
René Laloux
's first feature film La Planète sauvage
(The Savage Planet, 1973), a cutout animation science fantasy
that was animated in Czechoslovakia
, which won the Grand Prix
at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival
. Laloux went on to direct two other features; Les Maîtres du temps
(1981, a collaboration with the famed French comics artist
Mœbius
animated in Hungary
) and Gandahar (1987, animated in North Korea
).
Bouli
1989 - 1991, directed by Denis Olivieri The moon magically transforms Bouli the snowman and his snowman friends into life and gives them all the power not to melt.
Le Roi et l'oiseau
(The King and the Mockingbird), 1980, directed by Paul Grimault
. Begun in 1948 as The Sheperdess and the Chimney Sweep; cited by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki
as an influence.
Les Aventures de Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin
), began 1990, directed by Stéphane Bernasconi. TV series based on the famous Belgian comic of the same name
.
Kirikou et la sorcière
(Kirikou and the Sorceress), 1998, directed by Michel Ocelot
. Critically acclaimed movie based on a West African folktale; the Japanese dub was written by Isao Takahata
and released by Studio Ghibli
.
Les Triplettes de Belleville
(The Triplets of Belleville), 2003, directed by Sylvain Chomet
. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Kaena: La prophétie (Kaena: The Prophecy
), 2003, directed by Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon. A CGI fantasy movie co-produced with Canada.
Totally Spies, began 2001, created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel. TV series co-produced with the USA; one of French animation's biggest hits Stateside.
Persepolis
, directed by Marjane Satrapi
, was released in 2007 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
at the 80th Academy Awards
.
Musée Grévin
The Musée Grévin is a waxwork museum in Paris located on the Grands Boulevards in the IXe arrondissement on the right bank of the Seine, at 10, Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, France. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged....
in Paris, France, the October 28, 1892.
Émile Cohl
Émile Cohl
Émile Cohl , born Émile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet, was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "The Oldest Parisian".-Biography:Émile's father Elie was a rubber salesman, and his mother, Emilie...
(1857–1938) created what is most likely the first real animated cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
to be drawn on paper, Fantasmagorie
Fantasmagorie (1908 film)
Fantasmagorie is an 1908 French animated film by Émile Cohl. It is one of the earliest examples of traditional animation, and considered by film historians to be the first animated cartoon.-Description:...
in 1908.
Other notable French animations
Une Nuit sur le Mont Chauve (Night on Bald Mountain), 1933, directed by Alexandre Alexeieff. Animated entirely using the pinscreen apparatusPinscreen animation
Pinscreen animation makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows...
, a device invented by Alexieff and Parker that gives the impression of animated engravings.
Le Roman de Renard
The Tale of the Fox
The Tale of the Fox was stop-motion animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich's first fully animated feature film. It is based on the tales of Renard the Fox. Although the animation was finished in Paris after an 18-month period , there were major problems with adding a soundtrack to the film...
(The Tale of the Fox), 1930/1937, directed by Ladislas Starevich
Ladislas Starevich
Vladislav Starevich , born Władysław Starewicz , was a Russian and French stop-motion animator who used insects and other animals as his protagonists...
. The first French animated feature film. The animation was finished in 1930 but a soundtrack was only added in 1937, and it was a German one. A French-language version was released in 1941.
La Demoiselle et le violoncelliste (The Girl and the Cellist), 1965, directed by Jean-François Laguionie
Jean-François Laguionie
Jean-François Laguionie is a French animator, film director and producer of animation born 1939 in Besançon.-Biography:Laguionie was originally interested in theatre but his encounter with Paul Grimault gave him the opportunity to learn the techniques of animated film...
. Laguionie's first film, which won the Annecy Grand Prix in 1965.
1967 saw the release of Astérix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
le Gaulois (Asterix the Gaul
Asterix the Gaul (film)
Asterix the Gaul is a 1967 Belgian/French animated film, based on the comic book of the same name, which was the first book in the highly popular comic series Asterix by Goscinny and Uderzo. The film sticks to the book's plot very closely....
), directed by Ray Goossens
Ray Goossens
Ray Goossens was a Flemish artist, animator and director best known for creating Musti.-Biography:Ray Goossens was born in Merksem, Belgium in 1924. Interested in animation from before World War II, he created the animation studio AFIM in Antwerp in 1940, together with Jules Luyckx and Henri...
. This was the first movie based on the long-running Asterix comics; however, it was made without the knowledge of the comics' creators René Goscinny
René Goscinny
René Goscinny was a French comics editor and writer, who is best known for the comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.-Early life:Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to a family...
and Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo
Albert Uderzo is a French comic book artist, and scriptwriter. He is best known for his work on the Astérix series, but also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny.-Early life:...
, and is not widely liked by fans. The following year (1968), Goscinny and Uderzo worked with co-director Lee Payant on a sequel, Astérix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
et Cléopâtre (Asterix and Cleopatra
Asterix and Cleopatra (film)
Asterix and Cleopatra is a Belgian/French animated film released in 1968; it is the second Asterix adventure to be made into a feature film...
).
René Laloux
René Laloux
René Laloux was a French animator and film director.-Biography:He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychiatric institution where he began experimenting in animation with the interns...
's first feature film La Planète sauvage
Fantastic Planet
Fantastic Planet is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by...
(The Savage Planet, 1973), a cutout animation science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
that was animated in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, which won the Grand Prix
Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)
The Grand Prix is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. It is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d'Or...
at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. Laloux went on to direct two other features; Les Maîtres du temps
Les Maîtres du temps
Les Maîtres du temps is a 1982 Franco-Hungarian animated science fiction feature film directed by René Laloux and designed by Mœbius. It is based on the 1958 science fiction novel L'Orphelin de Perdide by Stefan Wul...
(1981, a collaboration with the famed French comics artist
Comics artist
A comics artist is an artist working within the comics medium on comic strips, comic books or graphic novels. The term may refer to any number of artists who contribute to produce a work in the comics form, from those who oversee all aspects of the work to those who contribute only a part.-Comic...
Mœbius
Jean Giraud
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the...
animated in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
) and Gandahar (1987, animated in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
).
Bouli
Bouli
Bouli is an animated television series originally produced in France between 1989 until 1991.-Synopsis:The Moon magically brings Bouli the snowman and his snowman friends to life and keeps them from melting....
1989 - 1991, directed by Denis Olivieri The moon magically transforms Bouli the snowman and his snowman friends into life and gives them all the power not to melt.
Le Roi et l'oiseau
Le Roi et l'oiseau
Le Roi et l'oiseau is a 1980 traditionally-animated feature film directed by Paul Grimault...
(The King and the Mockingbird), 1980, directed by Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault was one of the most important French animators. He made many traditionally animated films that were delicate in style, satirical, and lyrical in nature....
. Begun in 1948 as The Sheperdess and the Chimney Sweep; cited by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
as an influence.
Les Aventures de Tintin (The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)
The Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of books by Hergé. It debuted in 1991, and 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons...
), began 1990, directed by Stéphane Bernasconi. TV series based on the famous Belgian comic of the same name
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
.
Kirikou et la sorcière
Kirikou and the Sorceress
Kirikou and the Sorceress is a 1998 Franco-Belgian animated film written and directed by Michel Ocelot. Drawn directly from West African folk tales, it tells of how a newborn boy saves his village by ridding them of the evil witch Karaba...
(Kirikou and the Sorceress), 1998, directed by Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot
Michel Ocelot is a French writer, character designer, storyboard artist and director of animated films and television programs and a former president of the International Animated Film Association...
. Critically acclaimed movie based on a West African folktale; the Japanese dub was written by Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...
and released by Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
.
Les Triplettes de Belleville
Les Triplettes de Belleville
The Triplets of Belleville is a 2003 animated comedy film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It was released as Belleville Rendez-vous in the United Kingdom...
(The Triplets of Belleville), 2003, directed by Sylvain Chomet
Sylvain Chomet
Sylvain Chomet is a French comic writer, animator and film director.- Early career :Born in Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, near Paris, he studied art at high-school until he graduated in 1982. Chomet moved to London in 1988 to work as an animator at the Richard Purdum studio...
. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Kaena: La prophétie (Kaena: The Prophecy
Kaena: The Prophecy
Kaena: The Prophecy is a 2003 French-Canadian computer-generated fantasy movie. The United States release of the film is distributed by Sony Pictures and features the voices of Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris, Anjelica Huston, Keith David and Ciara Janson.The idea originally started out as a...
), 2003, directed by Chris Delaporte and Pascal Pinon. A CGI fantasy movie co-produced with Canada.
Totally Spies, began 2001, created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel. TV series co-produced with the USA; one of French animation's biggest hits Stateside.
Persepolis
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
, directed by Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
, was released in 2007 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at the 80th Academy Awards
80th Academy Awards
The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...
.