The history of Croatian animation is inevitably connected with the era of the so-called Zagreb School of Animated Films. It was established in the 50s and has had an immense influence on the history of animation.
At the beginning it produced mainly commercials but groups of filmmakers soon started to make the first animated films. The genre of satire was quickly established – it was the best genre for expressing reactions to the political situation of those days. Satire and humor become the main engines of expression in the first stage (dating from 1956) of the Zagreb School of Animated Film. Short films were produced without dialogue – instead of the author, the concert of image and sound itself was telling the story. Among its typical features were the so-called "reduced" animation and mutual co-operation of the creators. In 1953 Zagreb Film was established and became for a long time the main producer and distributor of Croatian animated films. In this historical section one of the pioneering films, Playful Robot (1956), will be shown and of course the Academy Award winning Ersatz (1961), the Oscars' first non- American film, cannot be left out.
Kristýna Bzenecká
The Playful Robot/Nestaštni robot
dir. Dušan Vukotić, Croatia, 1956, 7'36''
The Inspector Returned Home/Inspektor se vratio kući
dir. Vatroslav Mimica, Croatia, 1959, 11'34''
Don Quixote/Don Kihot
dir. Vlado Kristl, Croatia, 1961, 10'42''
Ersatz/Surogát
dir. Dušan Vukotić, Croatia, 1961, 9'36''
The Game/Igra
dir. Dušan Vukotić, Croatia, 1962, 12'42''
The Fifth One/Peti
dir. Pavao Štalter, Croatia, 1965, 2'42''
The Wall/Zid
dir. Ante Zaninović, Croatia, 1965, 3'32''
The Fly/Muha
dir. Aleksandar Marks, Vladimir Jutriša, Croatia, 1966, 8'16''
Curiosity/Znatiželja
dir. Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo, Croatia, 1966, 8'09''
11 Dec 5:00 p.m. Film Auditorium — THE SELECTION OF ZAGREB'S CLASSIC I
— series of films — Croatian Animation
