Festiwal Animator 2008

Artists: Animator 2008

Starewicz Władysław

Władysław Starewicz was Polish. He was born on 8 August 1882 in Moscow, Russia. Animation pioneer, designer, director, writer, cameraman. He was brought up by his grandmother in Kaunas, Lithuania. He studied at Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.

Starewicz was fascinated by insects. It is how his film carrier started out. When he was 28 Starewicz made an original experiment in his tiny home studio in Kaunas. He intended to film a battle between stag beetles, but the insects froze every time he turned on the spot lights. He had no choice but put them to sleep in order to re-create the battle. He dressed the "Knights" in costumes and boots, equipped them with arms and created stylish set design. Technique he used was representative for all his future work. But the most important was the way he filmed it. Starewicz articulated every „movement” of the beetles and shot it frame-by- frame. He just discovered a stop-motion technique. It was 1910.
Starewicz settled in Moscow in 1912 after signing a contract with a film producer Chanżonkow. In the production of the consequent films he was assisted by his wife Anna and film editor Maria Wodzińska. His beetle film was presented on March 26, 1912 after two years of experimenting. "Beautiful Lukanida" is the first puppet animation film in the history.

After very fruitful collaboration with Chanżonkow Starewicz wanted to gain a creative control and work independently. He made a number of live-action films: social parodies and political anti-war grotesques.
Starewicz fled Russia during the revolution and 1919 via Constantinople went to Rome and Paris. He rented a villa in Fontenay Sous Bois, where he produced his puppet animation films. His work was shown all over the world. Starewicz was invited to Hollywood but he rejected the offers. He wanted to move to Poland. In 1939 he signed a contract with Polish producer Stefan Katelbach but the war just broke off. Starewicz stayed in France, where he spent another two decades creating animated films. Starewicz’s popularity grew quickly. His films received many international awards.
After 1958 he was forced to do commercials in order to survive. He could not complete any of his ambitious projects like “The Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “The Creation of the World”. He died poor on January 30, 1965 in Fontenay-sous-Bois in France.