Animator Paul Driessen will receive an award for life achievement.
Paul Driessen, film director and animator, nominated in 2000 for Oscar for his short “3 Misses” will receive the Dragon of Dragons Award at the 53rd Krakow Film Festival.
The Dragon of Dragons Award – life achievement award, has been given by the organizers of Krakow Film Festival to outstanding documentary and animation filmmakers since 1998. Among previous winners there are such well-known artists as Kazimierz Karabasz, Allan King, Albert Maysles, Werner Herzog, Stephen and Timothy Quay, Raoul Servais, Jerzy Kucia and Jonas Mekas. Last year, for the first time a woman – Helena Trestíková, the author of the famous documentary „Rene”, become a laureate.
Paul Driessen was born in 1940, in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. He drew cartoons from an early age, in 1964 he graduated from the Art Academy in Utrecht and was offered a job as an animator at a commercial animation film & TV studio in Hilversum, near Amsterdam. In 1967 he was invited by George Dunning to work on his Beatles’ story “The Yellow Submarine”, which now is considered a forerunner for modern intertextual animations for adults like “Shrek”, “Futurama”, “South Park” or “The Simpsons”.
In 1970 Paul Driessen emigrated to Canada and started a freelance animation career, working mainly for the National Film Board of Canada. Since 1976 he also animated and directed many of his films for independent producers in The Netherlands. Driessen’s unique style can be easily recognised by the incessantly wobbling lines and smooth movements of his characters. As a narrator he often uses split screen technique, while keeping the story integrated.
In the 1980s Driessen started teaching animation at the University of Kassel, Germany, after Jan Lenica. He continued till 2005 and under his guidance two of his student’s films, "Balance" (1989) by Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein, and “Quest” (1996) by Tyron Montgomery and Thomas Stellmach, won Academy Awards.
Paul Driessen has won over 50 international awards for his work. He was honored with life achievement awards at the animated film festivals in Ottawa (1984) and Zagreb (2002), in 1987 ASIFA Hollywood presented the Annie Award to him for "his distinguished contribution to the art of animation". In 2005 he was given the Special Golden Dinosaur Award at the Etiuda & Anima Film Festival in Krakow. In 2000 his short film, interlocking three tales of damsels in distress, “3 Misses” earned him an Oscar nomination.
Lately he wrote and illustrated a couple of books – “The Fiddle Fumble Stories” series, typical of the style which characterizes the rest of his work. Paul Driessen is currently working on a new animated short, a coproduction between Canada and The Netherlands.
The Dragon of Dragons Award ceremony will be held during 53rd Krakow film Festival, on 28th May 2013 in Kijow.Centrum cinema. During the Festival a retrospective of films by Driessen and his masterclass are planned.