Peter Foldes (22 August 1924 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

– 29 March 1977 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a Hungarian-British director and animator.

Biography

Budapest-born Peter Foldes was one of a number of Hungarian artists (another was the film's composer Mátyás Seiber) who ended up working with fellow countryman John Halas on the latter's animated films after he moved to Britain in 1946. After leaving Halas, Foldes made a number of animated films in collaboration with his British wife Joan (b. 1924), starting with the allegorical ''Animated Genesis'' (1952), ''On Closer Inspection'' (1953) and '' A Short Vision'' (1956). ''A Short Vision'' became one of the most influential British animated films ever made, when it was screened on US television as part of the popular ''

Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Nig ...

''. Although children were advised to leave the room while it played, it still caused outrage and alarm with its graphic representation of the horrors of nuclear war. In the film, wild creatures flee in terror as a strange missile flies overhead. As it passes over the sleeping city, the world's leaders and wise men look upwards. The missile explodes, destroying humans, wild creatures and the Earth itself. It caught the mood of the times, since the mid-1950s was the height of both the Cold War and nuclear paranoia. Foldes later moved to Paris, where he became an early pioneer in computer animation. Foldes was one of the first animators to use the

Tweening Inbetweening, also known as tweening, is a process in animation that involves creating intermediate frames, called inbetweens, between two keyframes. The intended result is to create the illusion of movement by smoothly transitioning one image in ...

method. In the 1960s, he worked for the Research Service of the ORTF. He is one of the pioneers of computer animation with his film ''

Hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

'', which received the Jury Prize in the "short film" category at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film at the

47th Academy Awards The 47th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, April 8, 1975, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1974. The ceremonies were presided over by Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis Jr., an ...

in 1975. In 1997, scientists Nestor Burtnyk and Marceli Wein earned an Academy Award for their technical achievement in computer animation with Foldes for their "pioneering work" on ''Hunger''."Retired NRC Scientists Burtnyk and Wein honoured as Fathers of Computer Animation Technology in Canada"
''Sphere'' (

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

) 4. 1996. Retrieved 2011-04-20.

Filmography

* 1952 : ''Animated genesis'', animated short film * 1953 : ''On Closer Inspection'', animated short film * 1956 : '' A Short Vision'', animated short film Brooke, Michael
"Short Vision, A (1956)"
BFI Screenoline. Retrieved 2011-04-20. * 1964 : ''Appétit d'oiseau'', animated short film * 1965 : ''Un garçon plein d'avenir'', animated short film * 1965-1971 : '' Dim Dam Dom'', television series * 1966 : ''Plus vite'', short film * 1967 : ''Éveil'', short film * 1968 : ''La Belle cérébrale'', short film * 1969 : ''Je, tu, elles...'' * 1971 : ''Metadata'', animated short film * 1971 : ''Narcissus-Echo'', animated short film * 1974 : ''

'', animated short film * 1977 : ''Rêve'', animated short film * 1977 : ''Envisage'', animated short film

Paintings

* « Histo - Art N°1 », 1962, oil on canvas, 161 x 129 cmReproduction in "Beaux Arts magazine" n°72, October 1989, p. 20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foldes, Peter 1924 births 1977 deaths British animators British animated film directors British animated film producers People in the computer animation industry Hungarian animators Hungarian animated film directors Hungarian animated film producers Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom Hungarian horror film directors British horror film directors