Stop Motion Classics: George Pal (documentary)
The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal
Arnold Leibovit
1985, USA, 93'
Saturday, 2. 10. 2021 / 17.00 / Vetrinj mansion, big hall
An endearing tribute to the father of fantasy and science fiction filmmaking - Oscar winner George Pal. Five decades of the visionary filmmaker's groundbreaking works are presented via rare interviews and dynamic film scenes.
An endearing tribute to the father of fantasy and science fiction filmmaking - Oscar winner George Pal. Five decades of the visionary filmmaker's groundbreaking works are presented via rare interviews and dynamic film scenes. Fantasy Worlds includes a who's who of over 25 stars and industry greats that worked with the late director. The film premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and has since aired on The Disney Channel, PBS and won numerous awards.
Arnold Leibovit
An award-winning writer, director and producer. He wrote, directed and produced the acclaimed film tribute The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986) profiling the life of the Oscar winning science fiction and fantasy film pioneer, who directed the first screen telling of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Fantasy Worlds includes a who's who of over 25 stars and industry greats that worked with the late director. The film premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and has since aired on The Disney Channel, PBS and won numerous awards. The DVD was released by Image Entertainment (September 2000). Following this film, Leibovit obtained the rights to The Time Machine book and the motion picture, which led to his Executive Producing the (2002) Dreamworks/Warner Bros. remake starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons with special effects by Digital Domain, Industrial Light and Magic and Stan Winston. In addition, Leibovit directed and produced The Puppetoon Movie (1987) featuring such classic animation characters as Gumby, Pokey and Tubby the Tuba and the Oscar winning animated films of George Pal. The film premiered at the first American Film Institute Film Festival, distributed theatrically by Expanded Entertainment and has since screened at international film festivals in such cities as London, England; Annecy, France; Sitges, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Melbourne, Australia, as well as airing on Showtime. The DVD was released by Image Entertainment (November 2000) and a newly restored expanded Blu-ray was released (December 2014) that includes more newly restored Puppetoons with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and UCLA. Leibovit also produced the DVD re-release of The Great Rupert (2000), George Pal's first feature film, by Image Entertainment. Leibovit served as associate director/editor of King World Productions Rascal Dazzle featuring Hal Roach's Our Gang comedies, which was narrated by Jerry Lewis and scored by Nelson Riddle; and directed three award-winning short subjects: Penny Lane (1975) renowned film on toy mechanical banks, Judgment: An Essay on War (1974) widely televised and The Fatherland (1973) selected by The Whitney Museum of Art as part of The New American Filmmakers Series. Apart from the big screen, Leibovit produced the CD soundtrack re-scoring of The Time Machine with its original composer Russell Garcia (1988), The Fantasy Film Music of George Pal (2004) CD covering the MGM/Warner Bros. years (1958-1975). A new 35th Anniversary remastered edition of The Time Machine score with unreleased tracks is now in production for a 2021-2022 release. Mr. Leibovit served as Production Executive for Mavin Productions and the original Broadway Chicago musical comedy Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?. Next to "Grease" this was the longest running show in Chicago history. Leibovit also directed Neil Simon's Star Spangled Girl at the Neil Simon Comedy Festival in Cedar City, Utah (2005). Mr. Leibovit received the George Pal Memorial Award 'The Saturn' from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy three CINE Golden Eagles, two International Film & TV Festival Awards, two Awards of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board and many others.
Producer: The Time Machine (2002) Warners Bros./Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks, producer of a second re-imagining of The Time Machine (2021) with Andy Muschietti (IT) directing and Leonardo DiCaprio, producer of the re-imagining 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964) Warner Bros.
George Pal (1908-1980)
Hungarian/American animator, director, and producer, most famous for the 1930s-1940s series Pupetoons. 7-times nominee for the Oscar award, he received an honorary Oscar in 1943. He lived and created in Hungary until 1931, he then moved to Berlin from where he fled in 1933, eventually setting in the USA in 1939. George Pal loved sci-fi, horror movies and tricks. He tricked animation itself for Pupetoons relied on the so-called 'replacement animation': a series of hand-made wooden puppets (their heads or part of their bodies) were used in each new frame which involved the movements (instead of animating a single puppet).
Arnold Leibovit & George Pal
Much of Leibovit’s life work has centred on the Oscar winning sci-fi fantasy pioneer - George Pal - who made some of the most iconic sci-fi fantasy films of the century including the original The Time Machine (1960), The War of the Worlds (1953), Destination Moon (1950), When Worlds Collide (1951), Tom Thumb (1958), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), Houdini (1953), Atlantis the Lost Continent (1961), The Power (1968), Doc Savage: Man of Bronze (1975), Puppetoons and many more. Arnold met George Pal in the late 70s and was friends with Mrs. Pal for some 25 years which led to his directing of two seminal films on his life The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1986) and The Puppetoon Movie (1987) which premiered at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and The American Film Institute. The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 featuring more restored Puppetoons not seen in generations was released to wide acclaim in 2021 and still more Puppetoons are in being restored now for The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3. Pal is known as The Father of Science Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Film and was a driving creative force that influenced legions of industry greats from Walt Disney, Ray Harryhausen, Tim Burton, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Gene Roddenberry, Peter Jackson, James Cameron and dozens of others.
http://www.puppetoon.org/