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Bio-Filmography : Ion Popescu-Gopo
Topic Started: Apr 18 2014, 09:41 AM (1,119 Views)
Edges and Ridges
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Ion Popescu-Gopo
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Animator and Director. Nationality: Romanian. Born: Bucharest, 1 May 1923. Education: Studied sculpture and graphic design at the Academy of Art, Bucharest. Career: Joined Animafilm (animation studio): first animated film, The Naughty Duck, 1950; 1953—first live-action film, The Little Liar; mid-1960s—film officer, World Health Organization, two years. Died: In 1990.


On May the 17th 1957, some 55 years ago, Romanian cinematography enjoyed its first great success in international film festivals: the short animated film “A Brief History” by Ion Popescu-Gopo, which won a Palme d’or, at the Cannes Film Festival. A talented artist, scriptwriter, actor and director, Ion Popescu Gopo was born on May the 1st 1923. “Gopo” was a pseudonym that he himself created by uniting the first syllables of his parents’ family names: Gorenco, his mother’s maiden name and Popescu, his father’s name. Film critic and historian, Manuela Cernat has more on Ion Popescu Gopo’s biography.

”He made his debut when he was 19. Back then, he was a young caricaturist and he made his debut at the National Cinematographic Office in 1942, when he was animating maps for the war films made during those years. Later on, in the early 1950’s he made his debut with an animated film, a cartoon shot in the classical Disney-style. He soon made a break with this style, taking animations intended for children to another level. He left behind animated fables and moved on to philosophical meditations, with his works becoming more metaphorical and mainly intended for adults. “

Referring to the idea of abandoning the Disney-style of making animated films, Gopo said: ”When I realized I couldn’t reach his technical perfection, I started to make anti-Disney films. Consequently there was no beauty, no color, no candor. The only domain in which I could ‘attack’ him was the subject.”


A Short History (1956)

In its turn, the Gopo style was much appreciated - and even decorated at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957. Manuela Cernat again:

”When watching that film, the jury in Cannes was surprised to find that a film which lasted only a few minutes could contain a sequence which concentrated the history of mankind, from cavemen to space travel, into a few seconds. The film ‘A Brief History’ by Ion Popescu Gopo, which won the Palme d’Or, also launched his famous animated character, a little man holding a flower. This character, drawn in a very minimal style, would make Gopo world famous.”

“A Brief History” was followed by other animated films, having Gopo’s ‘Little Man’ in the leading role. Ion Popescu Gopo also made other genres of films, most of them with fantastic touches. Manuela Cernat has further details.

”Later on, he also created feature-length films, featuring actors, and for decades he constantly vacillated between animated films and feature films with actors, sometimes elegantly combining the two cinematic formulas. This was the case in ‘Maria Mirabela’, a film which won over both adults and children. He continues to be regarded as a trailblazer in world animation and a huge personality of Romanian cinematography. He was a huge man, both figuratively and literally, leading the director Gh. Vitanidis to cast him in the role of Tsar Peter the Great in the films ‘The Romanian Musketeer’ and ‘Cantemir’, after a novel by writer Mihnea Gheorghiu.”

Gopo was also elected to top positions in filmmakers’ organizations: vice-president of the International Animated Film Association, president of the Association of Cinematographers of Romania (a position he held from 1969 until his death in 1989), and director of the film section of the World Health Organization. In Romania, the success enjoyed by Gopo’s Little Man led to the foundation of Animafilm studio in 1964, focusing exclusively on the production of cartoons. Although Ion Popescu-Gopo didn’t find an animation school in the proper sense of the term, as his style was unique, he encouraged other Romanian directors to work in this direction.

source : iRRI Encyclopaedia/Archives

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S-a furat o bomba / A Bomb Was Stolen (1961)

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De-aş fi... Harap Alb / The White Moor (1965)

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Povestea dragostei (1976)

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Galax, omul papuse (1984)

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Rămăşagul / Ramasagul ; The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1984)

Filmography (feature-length films)

YearTitle Link
1961 S-a furat o bomba / A Bomb Was Stolen imdb
1963 Paşi spre lună / Steps to the Moon imdb
1965 De-aş fi... Harap Alb / The White Moor imdb
1966 Faust XX imdb
1967 De trei ori Bucuresti imdb (Omnibus, segment "Bucuresti")
1975 Comedie fantastică imdb
1976 Povestea dragostei imdb
1981 Maria, Mirabella imdb
1984 Rămăşagul / Ramasagul ; The Sorcerer's Apprentice imdb
1984 Galax, omul papuse imdb
1986 O zi la Bucureşti
1989 Maria şi Mirabela în Tranzistoria imdb


Filmography (short)

YearTitle Link
1951 Ratoiul neascultator imdb
1951 Albina si porumbelul imdb
1952 2 iepurasi imdb
1953 Marinica imdb
1954 O musca cu bani imdb
1955 Ariciul rautacios imdb
1956 Surubul lui Marinica imdb
1956 Scurta istorie / A Short History imdb
1956 Fetita mincinoasa imdb
1956 Galateea imdb
1958 Sapte arte / The Seven Arts imdb
1959 O poveste ca-n basme imdb
1960 Homo sapiens imdb
1962 Allo! Allo! imdb
1966 Pilule I imdb
1967 Pamîntul oamenilor imdb
1967 Orasul meu imdb
1968 Sancta simplicitas imdb
1969 Pilule II imdb
1969 Sarutari imdb
1969 Eu + Eu = Eu imdb
1972 Clepsidra imdb
1975 Unu, doi, trei... imdb
1976 Study Opus 1 - Man imdb
1977 Infinit imdb
1979 Trei mere imdb
1982 Quo vadis homo sapiens? imdb
Edited by Edges and Ridges, Apr 18 2014, 09:46 AM.
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Mischa
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Maria, Mirabella is on SMz and looks fun so I'll give it a watch, though sadly there doesn't appear to be any subtitles and my Russian is not too good.

Thanks for this, I had never heard of Gopo before.
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Edges and Ridges
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@Mischa

Thanks for your attention and interest. There's a YouTube version of "The White Moor" with English subs, a hard-subbed rip for "Povestea dragostei" and a .srt file for "A Bomb Was Stolen".

This thread was originally inspired by "Romanian" Holiday Talk on shoutbox and I never really knew anything about this director before then;)
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