Midhat "Ajan" Ajanović (born 20 October 1959) is a

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

film theorist,

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. He is a lecturer on animation and in 2009 defended his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

thesis on animation, the second one on the subject in Sweden. Since 1983 he has written several novels, most often with Yugoslav/Bosnian themes and published in Bosnian, Croatian or Swedish. In 2010 Ajanović was a laureate at the Animafest Zagreb animation festival, for his achievements in the study of film animation.

Biography

Background

Ajanović was born and brought up in the Bosnian capital of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. He studied literature in Sarajevo and animation in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. In the 1980s he worked as an editorial cartoonist for the newspaper '' Oslobođenje'',"Ajan"
Optimalpress.com. Retrieved 15 January 2014. while at the same time producing a couple of animation shorts at the local production company ''Bosna'' and both drawing short comic strips and articles for various magazines. From 1985–1990 the weekly ''Nasi dani'' printed his weekly comic ''Ajan''. A comics album with the locally well-known pranksters ''Mujo'' and ''Suljo'' was also published. In June 1992 Ajanović presented his animation short ''Voajer'' on Animafest Zagreb. This was the first film produced in

Bosnia and Hercegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

to be presented at an international film festival, following its independence in April of the same year."Animations".
Ajan.se. Retrieved 15 January 2014.

New country

After the outbreak of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

(April 1992), living conditions declined considerably. In 1994 Ajanović and his family managed to flee the country, settling in Sweden where the family has since been living. In Sweden he has to some degree continued to draw, but more seldom in animated form. He has regularly drawn cartoons and written texts on animation for several local newspapers,Rånlund, Sven (2005-06-13)
"En animerad värld av tekniska snillen och kreativa galningar".
GP.se. Retrieved 15 January 2014. and many of his biographical texts on international animators has since been collected into two books. Ajanović was, for a couple of years, appointed as a lecturer in film studies at the University of Gothenburg, while also lecturing at the college school in animation at Eksjö. In 2009 he successfully defended his doctorate thesis, ''Den rörliga skämtteckningen'' ("The Moving Cartoon"). This was the second time a doctorate thesis about animation was successfully defended at a Swedish university. Since 2009 he has worked as a lecturer in informatics and animation at University College West.

Book production

Midhat Ajanović has written eight books on film theory, mainly devoted to animated film. Besides this, he has authored several novels, often centered around the history and milieu of his former homeland Yugoslavia/Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first one, the satirical ''Kultura srca'' ("Culture of the Heart") was published in 1983 in Sarajevo, and the following novels has beginning 1998 been published alternatively in Croatian, Bosnian and

. ''Portret nacrtan ugljem i kišom'' ('Portrait Drawn in Charcoal and Rain') from 2001 is a dark and atmospherical recollection of memories, where the narrator talks about his history as both cartoonist and hardened criminal. It was translated into Swedish in 2009, and the following year it received the award ''Klas de Vylder-priset''.

Published works

Bibliography (first editions)

*1983 – ''Kultura srca'' ('Culture of the Heart'), (publisher:) Cedus, Sarajevo (satire, published in

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

) *1987 – ''Strip i film'' ('Comic Strips and Film'), Sineast, Sarajevo (

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

essays, Serbo-Croatian) *1993 – ''Mujo i Suljo'' ('Mujo and Suljo'), Bemust,

Zenica Zenica ( ; ; ) is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna (river), Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. Th ...

(comics album, Bosnian) *1996 – ''Ajan karikature/Ajan's Cartoons'', Bemust, Zenica (cartoons, Bosnian/English) *1998 – ''Jalijaš'', Borac, Travnik (novel, Bosnian), *1999 – ''Gađan'' ('The Pitcher'), International Peace Center, Sarajevo (satire, Bosnian), *1999 – ''Useljenik'' ('The Immigrant'), Bosniskt kulturcenter, Örebro/Sweden (novel, Bosnian), *2001 – ''Situationer'' ('Situations'), Optimal Press, Göteborg (cartoons, Swedish), *2001 – ''Portret nacrtan ugljem i kišom'' ('Portrait in Charcoal and Rain'), Ljiljan, Sarajevo (novel, Bosnian) *2003 – ''Katapult'', Hrasce, Zagreb (Croatian) *2003 – ''Moji filmovi'' ('My Films'), Harfograf, Tuzla (essays, Bosnian) *2004 – ''Animation and Realism = animacija i realizam'', Hrvatski filmski savez, Zagreb (essays, English/Croatian), *2006 – ''De visuella tonsättarna – animationens mästare i urval'' ('The Visual Composers – a choice of masters of animation'), Optimal Press, Göteborg (essays, Swedish), *2008 – ''Karikatura i pokret'' ('Caricature and Movement'), Hrvatski filmski savez, Zagreb (essays, Croatian) *2009 – ''Den rörliga skämtteckningen'' ('The Moving Cartoon'), Optimal Press, Göteborg (doctorate thesis, Swedish), *2010 – ''Život u crtanom filmu/Life in a Cartoon'', Hrvatski filmski savez, Zagreb (monography, Croatian/English) *2010 – ''Salijevanje strave'' ('Digesting Fear'), Una förlag, Göteborg (novel, Bosnian), *2012 – ''De visuella tonsättarna 2'', Optimal Press, Göteborg (essays, Swedish),

Filmography

*1984 – ''Heroj'' ('Hero'), (produced by:) Forum, Sarajevo (animation) *1985 – ''Post scriptum'', Bosna film, Sarajevo (animation) *1987 – ''Poruka'' ('The Message'), Bosna film, Sarajevo (animation) *1988 – ''Rekorder'', Bosna film, Sarajevo (animation) *1989 – ''Goya – Munch – Lautrec'', Bosna film, Sarajevo (animation) *1990 – ''Ikar'' ('Icarus'), Bosna film, Sarajevo (partly animated) *1992 – ''Voajer'' (also known as ''Voyeur''), Atlanta, Sarajevo (partly animated) *2001 – ''The Journalist'', Karivold film,

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

, Norway (documentary) *2010 – ''Point of Mouth'', SaGa, Sarajevo (partly animated) *2011 – ''Mi'' (also ''Us''), SaGa, Sarajevo + Zagreb film, Zagreb (animation/spelfilm)

Awards and honours

* 2010 – ''Klas de Vylder-priset'' ("the Klas de Vylder Award") * 2010 – ''Special Contribution to Animation Studies Award'' ( Animafest Zagreb)"Animafest Wednesday!".
Animafest.hr, 1 June 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajanovic, Midhat Bosnia and Herzegovina writers Bosnia and Herzegovina cartoonists Swedish male writers Swedish illustrators Swedish editorial cartoonists Swedish people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Yugoslav animators Bosnia and Herzegovina animators Swedish animators Bosnia and Herzegovina animated film directors Bosnia and Herzegovina animated film producers Film theorists Living people 1959 births