Hungarian animation legend Marcell Jankovics dies at the age of 79

Acclaimed animation director / writer / designer and illustrator Marcell Jankovics died early Saturday May 29, in his hometown of Budapest, according to Daily News Hungary. The news was shared by the Hungarian Academy of Arts / Magyar Művészeti Akadémia (MMA), of which he was honorary president. The 79-year-old has been described by MMA as a "visual artist and public figure, a fairytale scholar ... with an exceptionally broad and varied work."

Born in the Hungarian capital on 21 October 1941, Jankovics showed an early passion for visual storytelling: as a young man he drew comics inspired by the work of important authors such as Oscar Wilde, Ray Bradbury and Stanislaw Lem. Shortly after high school, he found a job at the local Pannonia Film Studio, the largest animation studio in the country. In 1964, he was named one of three successful directors Gustavus series of animated short films (with Attila Dargay and József Nepp). In 1965 he was director of the studio, later he was appointed artistic director of Pannonia in 1995 and then CEO from 1996-2007.

Over the course of his long career, Jankovics has created several hundred short and feature films that drew on stylistic influences from ancient folk art to 1974th-century psychedelic, displaying a wide range of bold stylistic and color choices. He was nominated for the Oscar-winning animated short for his XNUMX film Sisyphus (later used in a GMC Yukon Hybrid commercial for the 2008 Super Bowl) the brush-like monochromatic rendition of the Greek myth features distressed voices recorded by Jankovics as he pushed himself against a wall. In 1977 he won a Palme d'Or at Cannes for his short film Fight.

Jankovics has won numerous awards from the Kecskemét Animation Film Festival, held in the ancient city about 100km (60mph) outside Budapest. These accolades include the KAFF Grand Prix for Best Series for The Transylvanian woman and the devil (1985), two further awards for best series for Hungarian folk tales (1988/1996), Best animation for Tangram (1988), the Cultural History Award for Jankula (1993), the National Radio & Television Commission Award sponsored by the KAFF for Song of the miraculous Hind (2002) and Best Visual Language, as well as a Special Jury Mention for The tragedy of man - this fourth feature by the visionary animator was in production from 1988 to 2011, distributed in installments.

His noteworthy works also include Johnny Corncob (1973) and the feature film Son of the white mare (1981), which made its US debut in a virtual theater run of the new 4K restoration last year; the film (Fehérlófia in Hungarian) will receive a North American Blu-ray from Arbelos Films on June 8. In addition to his work with Pannonia, Jankovics has been involved in various creative skills on external projects, including a graphic designer assisting the pre-production team for Disney. The new rhythm of the Emperor.

Jankovics was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts in 2009, given to him by the World Cultural Council for his contributions to Art-Philosophy. In addition to his animation work which largely reflects his interests in folklore, Jankovics was a renowned authority on fairy tales, mythology, symbolism and other aspects of cultural history. He has published numerous books and over a hundred articles on the subject and has spent his time speaking at conferences, cultural societies and schools, as well as taking part in planning national programs. In addition to serving MMA, Jankovics became president of the Hungarian Cultural Society in 1998 and president of the education-focused St. Stephen Foundation in 2006.