Geoff Dunbar is an English animator and director known for his animated music video ''Rupert Bear and the Frog Song'' for Sir

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

and ''The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends'' from the stories by

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...

. He championed a hand-sketch style of animation.

Career

He left school at 15 and joined Larkins Studio when he was 18/19. where he learnt animation. He later joined

Halas and Batchelor Halas and Batchelor was a British animation company founded by husband and wife John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Halas was a Hungarian émigré to the United Kingdom. The company had studios in London and Cainscross, in the Stroud District of Glouc ...

's animation company where he started directing. In 1973 he joined Dragon Productions with Oscar Grillo, who with the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ...

co-financed ''Lautrec''. He later formed his own company, Grand Slamm Animation, where he produced ''Ubu''. ''Lautrec'' won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

in 1975 and ''Ubu'' won the Golden Bear award for Best Short Film at the 1979

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

Works

He went on to produce three animations with the soundtrack by Sir Paul McCartney. He produced three episodes for the BBC of

The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends ''The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends'' is a British animated anthology television series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, featuring Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphic animal characters created by Potter. 14 of Potter's stories were ...

. Using his 'sketched' style of animation he produced ''Daumier's Law'' based on the work of the 19th century French artist

Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...

. It won a BAFTA in 1993 for best short animation. In collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney he adapted the Caldecott Prize-winning children's novel ''Tuesday'' by

David Wiesner David Wiesner (born February 5, 1956) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books including some that tell stories without words. As an illustrator he has won three Caldecott Medals recognizing the y ...

using computer animation. The film received a BAFTA nomination in 2000. His current company is High Eagle Productions. Geoff Dunbar's first stop frame camera (1962)

Geoff Dunbar's first stop frame camera (1962)

In 2019 the Barbican Music Library held an exhibition of his work: ''Geoff Dunbar: Art into Animation''.

Filmography

References

External links

Official website

Lautrec (1974) BFI National Archive

Geoff Dunbar Ubu

Daumier's Law Parts 1,2,3.

Rupert And The Frog Song - We All Stand Together

Heineken - Worm (1989, UK)

Janáček: The Cunning Little Vixen (Opus Arte)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunbar, Geoff English animators People from Abingdon-on-Thames Living people Year of birth missing (living people)