Karel Zeman

Karel Zeman

Nascimento : 1910-11-03, Ostromer u Nové Paky, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]

Morte : 1989-04-05

História

Karel Zeman was a brilliant pioneer of special effects in film. Despite his artistic talent, his parents insisted he study business. At the age of 17, he went to Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, where he studied advertising design. In 1943, the film director Elmar Klos offered him a job at the Bata Film Studios. Zeman often had to struggle against difficult conditions in the technically ill-equipped Kudlov Studios. Many of the workers with whom he started had no particular experience of filming. They, like Zeman himself, had to learn everything on the job. Journey to the Beginning of Time, released in 1955, became Zeman's breakthrough film, his first to combine live action, animation and puppetry. Four years later, Invention for Destruction saw him shoot to world-wide success. Zeman continued to develop his highly successful use of special effects in The Fabulous Baron Munchausen and the two Jules Verne adaptations that followed. In the 70's, Zeman returned to making strictly animated films. In the late 70's Zeman was threatened with the loss of his sight, but he overcame the disease and continued working. In the final stages of his life he suffered from heart problems.

Perfil

Karel Zeman

Filmes

Film Adventurer Karel Zeman
Self (archive footage)
A look at the life, work and importance of Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman (1910-89), a genius of world cinema, a wizard of special effects, revealing his sources of inspiration and his revolutionary filming techniques.
Santa Claus und seine Freunde
Director
Sindbad
Scenario Writer
The Tale of John and Marie
Animation
Young knight John travels the world in search of fame and fortune, but also to help others and prove himself. However, things go dire fast and he becomes burdened with life's hardships. But then he meets a pretty water nymph, Mary.
The Tale of John and Marie
Art Direction
Young knight John travels the world in search of fame and fortune, but also to help others and prove himself. However, things go dire fast and he becomes burdened with life's hardships. But then he meets a pretty water nymph, Mary.
The Tale of John and Marie
Writer
Young knight John travels the world in search of fame and fortune, but also to help others and prove himself. However, things go dire fast and he becomes burdened with life's hardships. But then he meets a pretty water nymph, Mary.
The Tale of John and Marie
Director
Young knight John travels the world in search of fame and fortune, but also to help others and prove himself. However, things go dire fast and he becomes burdened with life's hardships. But then he meets a pretty water nymph, Mary.
Karel Zeman for Children
Self
Karel Zeman for Children
Director
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Animation
Krabat, a beggar boy, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. With a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill while learning black magic. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use a secret spell: The Koraktor.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Dialogue
Krabat, a beggar boy, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. With a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill while learning black magic. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use a secret spell: The Koraktor.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Screenplay
Krabat, a beggar boy, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. With a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill while learning black magic. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use a secret spell: The Koraktor.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Director
Krabat, a beggar boy, is lured to become an apprentice to an evil, one-eyed sorcerer. With a number of other boys, he works at the sorcerer's mill while learning black magic. Every Christmas one of the boys has to face the master in a magical duel, where the boy never stands a chance because the master is the only person who is allowed to use a secret spell: The Koraktor.
A Thousand and One Nights
Animation
Five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor where he gets mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life.
A Thousand and One Nights
Screenplay
Five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor where he gets mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life.
A Thousand and One Nights
Director
Five different exploits of Sinbad the sailor where he gets mixed up with the pretty daughters of exotic potentates, with powerful monsters that threaten his existence, and with all sorts of teeming jungle life.
Prokouk hodinářem
Director
Prokouk the watchmaker
On the Comet
Art Direction
When a comet passes the Earth very closely, it pulls a small part of North Africa, and a small swathe of humanity, along with it.
On the Comet
Screenplay
When a comet passes the Earth very closely, it pulls a small part of North Africa, and a small swathe of humanity, along with it.
On the Comet
Director
When a comet passes the Earth very closely, it pulls a small part of North Africa, and a small swathe of humanity, along with it.
O Dirigível Roubado
Art Direction
Primeiro filme de Zeman em formato widescreen marca sua volta ao mundo de Jules Verne. Inspirado pela Art Nouveau e usando colagens de jornais, ele conta a história de dois anos de aventuras de cinco garotos que roubam um dirigível.
O Dirigível Roubado
Screenplay
Primeiro filme de Zeman em formato widescreen marca sua volta ao mundo de Jules Verne. Inspirado pela Art Nouveau e usando colagens de jornais, ele conta a história de dois anos de aventuras de cinco garotos que roubam um dirigível.
O Dirigível Roubado
Director
Primeiro filme de Zeman em formato widescreen marca sua volta ao mundo de Jules Verne. Inspirado pela Art Nouveau e usando colagens de jornais, ele conta a história de dois anos de aventuras de cinco garotos que roubam um dirigível.
Os Dois Mosqueteiros
Story
An anti-war black comedy set during the Thirty Years' War. The film combines live action with animation to suggest the artistic style of the engraver Matthäus Merian.
Os Dois Mosqueteiros
Screenplay
An anti-war black comedy set during the Thirty Years' War. The film combines live action with animation to suggest the artistic style of the engraver Matthäus Merian.
Os Dois Mosqueteiros
Director
An anti-war black comedy set during the Thirty Years' War. The film combines live action with animation to suggest the artistic style of the engraver Matthäus Merian.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Art Designer
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Screenplay
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Story
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
Director
The 20th century's first man lands on the moon and discovers - that Baron Munchausen has already beaten him to it, along with Cyrano and characters from Jules Verne's lunar-landing novel. The Baron spirits the young cosmonaut by horse-drawn ship back to an ancient "Earth", where they insult a sultan, rescue a princess, fall in love with the princess, and then as a trio have further experiences in a world of pastel colors, ornate dreamlike settings, and the inevitable angry disrupters of peacefulness and love.
Laterna magika II
Writer
A film of the Czech multimedia theatre production, Magician's Lantern
Laterna magika II
Director
A film of the Czech multimedia theatre production, Magician's Lantern
Pan Prokouk akrobatem
Set Decoration
Pan Prokouk akrobatem
Writer
Invention for Destruction
Screenstory
As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.
Invention for Destruction
Screenplay
As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.
Invention for Destruction
Art Designer
As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.
Invention for Destruction
Director
As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.
Pan Prokouk - O Detetive
Animatronics Designer
Curta metragem da série de Mr. Prokouk. Mr. Prokouk, absorvido pelas histórias de detetive que lê, sai à caça de ladrões e criminosos por toda a cidade.
Pan Prokouk - O Detetive
Idea
Curta metragem da série de Mr. Prokouk. Mr. Prokouk, absorvido pelas histórias de detetive que lê, sai à caça de ladrões e criminosos por toda a cidade.
Pan Prokouk - O Detetive
Screenplay
Curta metragem da série de Mr. Prokouk. Mr. Prokouk, absorvido pelas histórias de detetive que lê, sai à caça de ladrões e criminosos por toda a cidade.
Black diamond
Screenplay
Black diamond
Story
Strakonický dudák
Special Effects
Viagem à Pré-História
Special Effects
O mais jovem dos quatro meninos de um dia encontra um fóssil de trilobita. Então, seu amigo mais velho os leva e visitam uma exposição de dinossauros no Museu de História Natural de Nova York. Eles então vão remar no Central Park Lake, onde encontraram uma caverna secreta e então começa uma jornada pela pré-história, até o começo dos tempos, para ver trilobites reais ao vivo. E continuam remando em um mundo pré-histórico maravilhoso, cheio dos dinossauros que acabaram de ver no museu.
Viagem à Pré-História
Art Designer
O mais jovem dos quatro meninos de um dia encontra um fóssil de trilobita. Então, seu amigo mais velho os leva e visitam uma exposição de dinossauros no Museu de História Natural de Nova York. Eles então vão remar no Central Park Lake, onde encontraram uma caverna secreta e então começa uma jornada pela pré-história, até o começo dos tempos, para ver trilobites reais ao vivo. E continuam remando em um mundo pré-histórico maravilhoso, cheio dos dinossauros que acabaram de ver no museu.
Viagem à Pré-História
Story
O mais jovem dos quatro meninos de um dia encontra um fóssil de trilobita. Então, seu amigo mais velho os leva e visitam uma exposição de dinossauros no Museu de História Natural de Nova York. Eles então vão remar no Central Park Lake, onde encontraram uma caverna secreta e então começa uma jornada pela pré-história, até o começo dos tempos, para ver trilobites reais ao vivo. E continuam remando em um mundo pré-histórico maravilhoso, cheio dos dinossauros que acabaram de ver no museu.
Viagem à Pré-História
Screenplay
O mais jovem dos quatro meninos de um dia encontra um fóssil de trilobita. Então, seu amigo mais velho os leva e visitam uma exposição de dinossauros no Museu de História Natural de Nova York. Eles então vão remar no Central Park Lake, onde encontraram uma caverna secreta e então começa uma jornada pela pré-história, até o começo dos tempos, para ver trilobites reais ao vivo. E continuam remando em um mundo pré-histórico maravilhoso, cheio dos dinossauros que acabaram de ver no museu.
Viagem à Pré-História
Director
O mais jovem dos quatro meninos de um dia encontra um fóssil de trilobita. Então, seu amigo mais velho os leva e visitam uma exposição de dinossauros no Museu de História Natural de Nova York. Eles então vão remar no Central Park Lake, onde encontraram uma caverna secreta e então começa uma jornada pela pré-história, até o começo dos tempos, para ver trilobites reais ao vivo. E continuam remando em um mundo pré-histórico maravilhoso, cheio dos dinossauros que acabaram de ver no museu.
Pan Prokouk, A Friend of Animals
Writer
Pan Prokouk, A Friend of Animals
Director
The Treasure of Bird Island
Animation
People living on an island finds a treasure, but it does not only do them good.
The Treasure of Bird Island
Screenplay
People living on an island finds a treasure, but it does not only do them good.
The Treasure of Bird Island
Director
People living on an island finds a treasure, but it does not only do them good.
King Lavra
Adaptation
A king hides an embarrassing secret - and it causes him to execute every barber who cuts his hair.
King Lavra
Screenplay
A king hides an embarrassing secret - and it causes him to execute every barber who cuts his hair.
King Lavra
Director
A king hides an embarrassing secret - and it causes him to execute every barber who cuts his hair.
Inspiration
Screenplay
A glass blower imagines that his creations come to life. A story of love contained within a single drop of rain. A voyage into ethereal beauty.
Inspiration
Story
A glass blower imagines that his creations come to life. A story of love contained within a single drop of rain. A voyage into ethereal beauty.
Inspiration
Director
A glass blower imagines that his creations come to life. A story of love contained within a single drop of rain. A voyage into ethereal beauty.
Mr. Prokouk Inventor
Story
After a hard day at work, Mr. Prokouk decides to invent a machine to ease his labor. But inventing is work too, and Mr. Prokouk spends more time dreaming about inventions than actually inventing anything. Can he find an easy solution?
Mr. Prokouk Inventor
Screenplay
After a hard day at work, Mr. Prokouk decides to invent a machine to ease his labor. But inventing is work too, and Mr. Prokouk spends more time dreaming about inventions than actually inventing anything. Can he find an easy solution?
Mr. Prokouk Inventor
Director
After a hard day at work, Mr. Prokouk decides to invent a machine to ease his labor. But inventing is work too, and Mr. Prokouk spends more time dreaming about inventions than actually inventing anything. Can he find an easy solution?
Mr. Prokouk Filmmaker
Story
O senhor Prokouk tem seu roteiro negado pelo chefe e resolve gravar algo diferente com ajuda de um grupo de pedreiros.
Mr. Prokouk Filmmaker
Screenplay
O senhor Prokouk tem seu roteiro negado pelo chefe e resolve gravar algo diferente com ajuda de um grupo de pedreiros.
Mr. Prokouk Filmmaker
Director
O senhor Prokouk tem seu roteiro negado pelo chefe e resolve gravar algo diferente com ajuda de um grupo de pedreiros.
Brigade
Animation
Brigade
Director
Brigade
Screenplay
Brigade
Story
Cukr
Special Effects
Mr. Prokouk Officer
Screenplay
Cobler Mr Prokouk starts working in an office where there is a lot of paperwork too big for him.
Mr. Prokouk Officer
Animation
Cobler Mr Prokouk starts working in an office where there is a lot of paperwork too big for him.
The Temptation of Mr. Prokouk
Director
While building a house, Mr. Prokouk is interrupted by a chap in a barrel with a seemingly endless supply of free liquor. This does not improve Mr. Prokouk's building skill. Can he regain sobriety long enough to finish his house?
Mr. Prokouk Officer
Director
Cobler Mr Prokouk starts working in an office where there is a lot of paperwork too big for him.
The Hamster
Director
Animals try to escape from a flood.
A Horseshoe for Luck
Director
A walking on the street finds a horseshoe, thinks it's a good luck charm. So, he decides to take it with him home and find a suitable place for it. He soon discovers that the horseshoe brings him nothing but bad luck.
A Christmas Dream
Art Designer
Christmas has arrived. As a little girl and her parents enter the room, the little girl finds all kinds of toys under the Christmas Tree. She immediately throws her old doll aside and starts playing with her new dolls. But that night she has a dream. Or maybe it isn't a dream?
A Christmas Dream
Animation
Christmas has arrived. As a little girl and her parents enter the room, the little girl finds all kinds of toys under the Christmas Tree. She immediately throws her old doll aside and starts playing with her new dolls. But that night she has a dream. Or maybe it isn't a dream?
A Christmas Dream
Director
Christmas has arrived. As a little girl and her parents enter the room, the little girl finds all kinds of toys under the Christmas Tree. She immediately throws her old doll aside and starts playing with her new dolls. But that night she has a dream. Or maybe it isn't a dream?
La Magie Karel Zeman
Director