Jan Pinkava
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Jan Jaroslav Pinkava (born 21 June 1963, in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
) is a Czech-British-American producer, director, writer, and animator. He directed the
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
short film ''
Geri's Game ''Geri's Game'' is a 1997 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and written and directed by Jan Pinkava. The short, which shows a senior named Geri who competes with himself in a game of chess, was Pixar's first film to featur ...
'' and served as co-director and co-wrote the story for ''
Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
'', both of which went on to win Oscars.


Early life

His family immigrated to
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
in 1969, where he obtained
British citizenship British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
. Subsequently, he moved to the USA, and also obtained American citizenship. He attended
Colchester Royal Grammar School Colchester Royal Grammar School (CRGS) is a state-funded grammar school in Colchester, Essex. It was founded in 1128 and was later granted two royal charters - by Henry VIII in 1539 and by Elizabeth I in 1584.Trevor J. Hearn, ''Vitae Corona Fide ...
from 1974 to 1982 showing interest and talent in the arts, music, drama, and sculpture. (One of his juvenile sculptures, 'Big Cat', was acquired by
Essex University The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Ess ...
and put on permanent display outside the library.) After obtaining an 8mm movie camera for Christmas in 1975, he began experimenting with
pixilation Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor beco ...
, stop-motion plasticine, paper-drawn and
cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...
. He had some early prize-winning successes in animation competitions. Most notably, he won the Young Film-Maker's Competition of the Year Award 1980 on the long-running (1969 to 1984)
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
children's quiz series ''
Screen Test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a came ...
'' for his animated short "The Rainbow". This was hailed in 2001 on Channel 4's "100 Greatest Kids' TV shows" by ex-Screen Test presenters
Michael Rodd Michael Rodd (born 29 November 1943 in North Shields, Northumberland, United Kingdom) is an English television presenter and businessman. Education Rodd was educated at the independent school Trinity College, Glenalmond (now Glenalmond Colle ...
and
Brian Trueman Brian Trueman (born 16 May 1932) is an English broadcaster, writer and voice actor. He is known mainly for his work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall. He wrote and/or narrated children's cartoon series, mostly during the 1970s and 1980s. ...
as "the only occasion in the history of the competition where we came across a piece of film that was spectacularly professional". A clip of him receiving the award is shown in the 2007 film ''
Son of Rambow ''Son of Rambow'' is a 2007 comedy film written and directed by Garth Jennings and inspired by '' First Blood''. The film premiered on 22 January 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was later shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Sea ...
''. He went on to study Computer Science at the
University of Wales, Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...
, where he graduated with first class honours and obtained his PhD. During this time he also represented his university in archery, fencing, and hang-gliding competitions, and continued developing his cartoon drawing skills.


Career

After university he turned to a career in computer animation initially in London, with Digital Pictures, who specialised in TV commercials. In 1993 he joined
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
, and moved to the USA. His "Arrows" TV commercial for
Listerine Listerine is an American brand of antiseptic mouthwash that is promoted with the slogan "Kills germs that cause bad breath", Named after Joseph Lister, who pioneered antiseptic surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland, Listerine was ...
won the Gold Clio Award in 1994. His 1997 animated short ''
Geri's Game ''Geri's Game'' is a 1997 American computer-animated short film produced by Pixar and written and directed by Jan Pinkava. The short, which shows a senior named Geri who competes with himself in a game of chess, was Pixar's first film to featur ...
'' won the Oscar for Best Animated Short on his mother's birthday, which prompted him to dedicate the award to her long-distance, with a message in Czech and won a string of other awards. The short fil
"67 Aluminum Plates"
was created during the 1998
Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...
by a group of volunteers under the direction of Jan Pinkava. The film is stop motion, filmed in one long day and edited the next. It was shown on the closing night of the festival. In 2000, he began work as director on ''
Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
'', a European-flavoured, ultimate-outsider tale based on his original story. This was to have been his feature film debut and the first Pixar film beyond the terms of the then-expiring Pixar-Disney franchise. In 2005, Pinkava was replaced as main director by ''
The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...
'' director
Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born September 24, 1957) is an American film director, animator, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He has had a career spanning forty years in both animation and live-action. Bird was born in Montana and grew up i ...
. In an interview given in 2006, Pinkava had "no comment" about this turn of events and for two years staunchly refrained from comment on the genesis of the film. At the time when he was replaced, Pinkava had written the core storyline of the film and created the styling, key characters, and sets. Following his departure from the project, Pinkava initially undertook other duties and then left the company. In the final film, Pinkava is credited for his original story idea and as the co-director. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a nomination for Pinkava (along with Jim Capobianco and Bird) in the
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
category. He subsequently worked as a director at
LAIKA Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 space ...
on his new film ''Little White Lie'', but left in 2011; along with Claire Jennings, the studio's head of entertainment. In 2013, as a creative executive in Motorola Mobility, he came up with a new, in-phone, interactive animation genre. From 2014 to 2019, Pinkava was a Creative Director of
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
Spotlight Stories, an experimental unit involved in the making of 360° interactive shorts.


Personal life

He is the third-born of four children of the
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
Václav Pinkava alias
Jan Křesadlo Václav Jaroslav Karel Pinkava (; 9 December 1926 – 13 August 1995), better known by his pen name Jan Křesadlo (), was a Czech psychologist who was also a prizewinning novelist and poet. An anti-communist, Pinkava emigrated to Britain with ...
. He has two sons, named Thomas and Edward.


Filmography


Feature films


Short films


References


External links


Pinkava's website
(in Czech) *

at the official Pixar website

* ttp://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/interviews/q_and_a_jan_pinkava Computer Arts interview
ITWales interview from 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinkava, Jan 1963 births Alumni of Aberystwyth University British animators Czech animators British animated film directors Czech animated film directors Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners English people of Czech descent Living people People educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School Pixar people Google employees