Lubomír Beneš

Lubomír Beneš (Prague, 7 November 1935 – Roztoky, 12 September 1995) was a Czech animator, director and author who lived in Roztoky, near Prague. He was married, and had a son and daughter.

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.

Early life

Lubomír Beneš grew up on an outskirt of Prague, in Hloubětín. Since he was very good at art, his parents paid him private art lessons. There he studied drawing, painting and writing.

1950s

He began working in animation in the late 1950s 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.

1960s–80s

In 1967 he realized his first film, Homo (Man) 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 directed over a hundred short films, mostly puppet animation – many of them for children. He also directed and animated special animated films using cut-out phases.

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

1990s

Since 1990 he worked in his own AIF Studio in Prague, which he founded together with his son and other Czech and Slovak animation professionals in 1988. 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 BBC 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.

Awards and prizes

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 TV 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 (S 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 City) 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 (CA), March 1997: 1st prize, best animation for a daytime TV series and 2nd prize, best stop motion professional animation.

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