Lubomir Benes

Background

Lubomír Beneš grew up on an outskirt of Prague, in Hloubětín.

Education

There he studied drawing, painting and writing.

Career

Of all his creations, Pat & Mat – with first film The Tinkers (Kuťáci), 1976 – has reached the highest international acclaim. The series comprises short episodes about two highly inventive, yet incredibly clumsy neighbors. He began working in animation in the late in the Animation Studios of Krátký Film Praha.

On the basis of a competition he was accepted to the studio of animated films Bratři v Triku after his military service.

There he got step by step acquainted to all the techniques of animation. In 1967 he realized his first film, Homo (Manitoba) in Jiří Trnka Studio.

Beneš’s first puppet film I back your pardon (Račte prominout) dates back to 1974. Since then, he directed stop motion films in the Krátký Film Praha studios.

He also directed and animated special animated films using cut-out phases.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Beneš also worked on numerous television projects for the state channels ČSystem Technologies Praha and ČSystem Technologies Bratislava. His most popular animated series for the ČSystem Technologies were. (And that"s it!) (28 episodes, 1979–1985) and Jája a Pája (Yája and Pája) (21 episodes, 1986, 1987, 1995).

There, he produced and directed 14 new Pat & Mat episodes in 1992 and 1994.

They were highly popular and were broadcast internationally. The animated films made by AIF were also broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation One.

Some of them got a number of prizes and awards at international festivals. He directed, produced and wrote animated films in his studio until his death in 1995.

His studio fell into bankruptcy three years later.

Achievements

• His films got quite a few prizes abroad and at home. The King and the Dwarf (Král a skřítek) won several prizes, including The Silver Carnation in Sitges, Silver in Odessa, Silver Mikeldi in Bilbao. The Record Player (Gramofon) from the television series..A je to! won the Prize for the best film for children at the 6th festival in Espinho. Uneven Fight (Nerovný souboj) won the Main prize in Vancouver. With a Smile (South úsměvem) won the main prize, Golden Dancer, in Huesca. The 38th Pat & Mat episode, The Cyclists (Cyklisti), animated by Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly, participated at the "Annecy "93" (Annecy, France) animation festival competition, and has been invited to a number of other world festivals. The Cyclists has also been included in the selection "The Best of Annecy "93" by Cinémathèque Québécoise (Montreal), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley), Museum of Modern Art (New York) and presented by these institutions in their autumn 1993 show. The 44th Pat & Mat episode, The Billiards (Kulečník), animated by František Váša, has been selected for the "Annecy "95" competition, and invited to almost all other world film festivals. The Billiards has got two prizes at the World Animation Celebration in Agoura (California), March 1997: 1st prize, best animation for a daytime television series and 2nd prize, best stop motion professional animation.