Vera Neubauer
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Vera Neubauer is a Czech born British experimental filmmaker, animator, feminist activist and educator. She is known for her jarring, provocative and anti establishment approach. Her life's work spans genres, from cinematic short film to television series for children. Neubauer has received two BAFTA Cymru awards.


Early life

Vera Neubauer was born to Dr. Helene and Dr. Karl Neubauer in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. In December 1965, several years before the
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...
, Neubauer fled the totalitarian regime with her parents and siblings. Arriving in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Neubauer gained refugee status and traveled on to
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. Here she studied Print-making at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart under professor Gunter Bohmer. In 1968 Neubauer journeyed to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. She continued to study printmaking at the
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...
and in 1970 switched departments to study film-making. She struggled to survive and
squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
in central
Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...
. During this period she worked in a local Brixton Youth Centre and taught print-making at Isleworth Polytechnic.


Career

Neubauer's experiences of life as a refugee and the loss of her family, often inform her works. As do her personal takes on the themes of birth, death, abuse, femininity, myth and existence. In the UK Neubauer became one of founding members of the film collective 'Spectre' that included Stephen Dwoskin, Phil Mulloy, Simon Hartog, Anna Ambrose, Michael Whyte, John Ellis, Keith Griffiths, and Thaddeus O'Sullivan. Neubauer's collected works are distributed by the BFI,
LUX The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the irradiance, as perceived by ...
and New York based
The Film-Makers' Cooperative The Film-Makers' Cooperative (a.k.a. The New American Cinema Group, Inc.) is an artist-run, non-profit organization founded in 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Jack Smith (film director), Jack Smit ...
. Neubauer is known for her work in multiple moving image disciplines and for her nuanced feminist stance. She has won multiple awards for her work including two BAFTA Cymru Awards.


Animation

She is a key figure in the History of British animation and is linked to the Second Wave of British Animation (1979–1996). Neubauer has been active as a filmmaker, animator and instigator of social reform for five decades.
''Vera Neubauer's films are the terrorist branch of the art form, the Red Brigade of the animated film.'' (Animating the Unconscious: Desire, Sexuality and Animation by Leslie Felperin)
Her first animated series after graduation was 'Pip and Betssie' that was commissioned for three years by the Germany television station
Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...
. Neubauer's oeuvre of animated works is often considered experimental and ‘cutting edge’.
''Vera Neubauer is one of Britain’s most innovative and provocative animators. Her highly idiosyncratic style uses an array of techniques, combining animated sequences with documentary and live action drama, provoking and entertaining in equal measure.'' (British Animation Awards)
She is frequently cited for her ability to combine her personal stories of pain, loss and rebirth, underpinned by a wider societal commentary. Her canon of work mixes various techniques such as 2D drawing with photography, scratching into film emulation, cut out collage and giving character to found objects.


Live action

Neubauer's works often center around, and are created within her own neighborhood. Many of her films are short and meditative. Neubauer often uses the camera, much as a painter would use a brush, to create broad poetic strokes. Neubauer's first drama film “Don’t be Afraid” made in 1990 starred a young
Nick Moran Nick Moran (born 23 December 1969) is an English actor and filmmaker. His roles include Eddie the card sharp in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' and as List of Harry Potter characters#S 2, Scabior in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hall ...
in the lead. It was based on the life of a squatting white couple who gave birth to a mixed race baby. The film gave an insight into issues facing young urban youth, both political and personal, whilst confronting audience's expectations and prejudices. Her narrative and experimental films make use of guerrilla production techniques and are often socially critical and focus on social issues, poverty, women's rights, abuse and the homelessness.


Education

Neubauer taught for nearly 30 years at
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...
,
Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...
and
Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...
.


In literature / film

Neubauer is the subject of Maria Anna Tappeiner's 2012 45 minute documentary for
3sat 3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...
'Das Ganze Leben im Trickfilm' ('An Entire Life in Animation').http://www.imdb.com
"Vera Neubauer - Das ganze Leben im Trickfilm"
''IMDB'', 2012 (Retrieved 02 July 2020)


Retrospectives

*The International Festival of Animation Bristol 1987 *
Unity Theatre, Liverpool The Unity Theatre is a theatre in Liverpool, England. Formed by directors Gerry Dawson and Edgar Criddle as the Merseyside Left Theatre in the 1930s, the theatre became known as the Merseyside Unity Theatre in 1944. The company was known for b ...
1987 * Fantoche Film Festival Switzerland 1997 *Animania Mostra Internationale Del Nuovo Cinema, Rome 1998 * Metro Cinema (Derby) 2000 *Lleida International Animation Film Festival (now known as Animac) 2002 *Mecal International Short Film Festival Barcelona 2002 *
Tampere Film Festival The Tampere Film Festival () is a short film festival held every March, mostly at the Finnkino Plevna movie theatre, in Tampere, Finland. It is accredited by the film producers' society FIAPF, and together with the short film festivals in Oberhau ...
2003 *
Anima Mundi (event) Anima Mundi is a competitive Brazilian video and film festival devoted exclusively to animation, held every July in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil. History The first edition of Anima Mundi happened in 1993, in Rio de Janeiro ...
2003 *
Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Infor ...
2004 *Interfilm Berlin 2005 * Volda University College Norway 2006 *International Animated Film Festival Sienna 2009 *Mediawave, Hungary 2010 *
China Academy of Art The China Academy of Art (CAA; ) is a provincial public college of fine arts in Hangzhou. Zhejiang, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Zhejiang. The academy is part of the Double First-Class Construction The World First-Class Un ...
Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...
, China 2012 * Anifilm
Třeboň Třeboň (; ) is a spa town in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,300 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monum ...
2015 *Epos Art Film Festival Tel Aviv 2018 * Fantoche
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
2018 *Cinanima Espino Portugal 2018 *
Animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...
in
Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
, Poland 2018


Filmography


External links


Vera Neubauer at the British Film InstituteVera Neubauer at The Film-Makers' Cooperative


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neubauer, Vera Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the Royal College of Art British experimental filmmakers British animators Feminist filmmakers Czech animators Czech women animators Czech animated film directors British animated film directors Women animated film directors British women film directors English animators British women animators Stop motion animators State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart alumni British collage artists British women collage artists Czech collage artists Czech women collage artists