Břetislav Pojar (7 October 192312 October 2012) was a Czech

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

animator An animator is an artist who creates 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 games. Animat ...

and director of short and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

s. Born in

Sušice Sušice (; ) is a town in Klatovy District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban mon ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, Pojar started his career in the late 1940s with his work on ''The Story of the Bass Cello'' (

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

) based on the story by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

and directed by master Czech puppet animator

Jiří Trnka Jiří Trnka (; 24 February 1912 – 30 December 1969) was a Czechoslovak puppet-maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. In addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is be ...

. Pojar served as a puppeteer under his mentor Trnka. Pojar compiled an extensive body of work as a director and animator in Czechoslovakia, where he made films in both puppet animation to the more common

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animation. He worked with the United Nations for the two films Boom and The Big If (with Vaclav Strnad worked as a producer in the latter). In the mid-1960s, Pojar emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, where he began a long collaboration with the

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. His Canadian work is some of his best known, and it has won awards at prestigious international film festivals. His film '' To See or Not to See (Psychocratie)'' won the

Canadian Film Award The Canadian Film Awards were the leading Canadian cinema awards from 1949 until 1978. These honours were conducted annually, except in 1974 when a number of Quebec directors withdrew their participation and prompted a cancellation. In the 1970s ...

for Film of the Year in 1970. Pojar's work is characterized by strong social commentary, such as in ''

Balablok ''Balablok'' is a 1972 animated short written and directed by Břetislav Pojar exploring the human propensity for resorting to violence over reason. Accolades The 7 min 27 sec film received the 1973 Grand Prix du Festival for Short Film at the ...

'', where armies of small circle- and square-shaped beings war with each other until they are all wounded into indistinguishable shapes. Often, Pojar's shorts contain little or no spoken dialogue. In the mid-2000s, Pojar moved back to the Czech film business in order to co-direct the collaborative animated feature film ''Fimfárum 2'' (based on the stories of

Jan Werich Jan Werich (; 6 February 1905 – 31 October 1980) was a Czech actor, playwright and writer. Early life Between 1916 and 1924, Werich attended "reálné gymnasium" (equivalent to high school) in Křemencova Street in Prague (where his future b ...

), which was released in 2006. Pojar died in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

at the age of 89 in 2012.

Awards

*1960—Annecy Cristal Grand Prix for ''The Lion and the Song''. *c. 1969—Canadian Film of the Year: ''To See or Not To See''. *c. 1969—

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

: Best Short Film Award for ''To See or Not To See''. *1972—

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

: Best Short Film Award for ''Balablok''. *1979—

: Best Short Film Jury Prize for ''Bum''. *1981—

: Canadian Film of the Year: Otto Dibelius Film Award for New Media for ''E''. *1987—World Animation Celebration: L.A. Film Critic's Award for ''Nightangel''. *2006—AniFest (Czech Republic): Best Feature-Length Film Award for ''Fimfárum 2''. *2007—

Festival of European Animated Feature Films and TV Specials A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...

(Hungary): Best TV Special for ''Tom Thumb'' from ''Fimfárum 2''.
KAFF 2007 Díjak
'' (English:
KAFF 2007 Awards
"). Kecskeméti Animáció Film Fesztivál. 2007.

References

External links

*
Watch films by Břetislav Pojar at the NFB website
*

Miroslav Štěpánek na ČSFD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pojar, Bretislav 1923 births 2012 deaths Czech film directors Czech animators Czech puppeteers Czech animated film directors Stop motion animators Czechoslovak film directors Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) National Film Board of Canada people People from Sušice Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Animated Short