Peter Foldès
Directing
Biography
Budapest-born Peter Foldes (1924-1977) 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. 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. 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, which received the Jury Prize in the "short film" category at Cannes Film Festival as well as an Academy Award nomination. (from WIkipedia)
Known For
The amazing story of the animograph, a machine created in France in the sixties by the cartoonist and self-taught inventor Jean Dejoux (1922-2015), whose creation was intended to revolutionize the animation industry.
The Animograph, or I Was Born in a Shoebox
This short experimental film from Peter Foldès hails from the very early days of computer animation. Created entirely on a computer belonging to the National Research Council of Canada, it registered hundreds of movements to produce a fluid, evolving effect with images seamlessly morphing into one another.
Metadata
In this Oscar-nominated animated short film, director Peter Foldès depicts one man’s descent into greed and gluttony. Rapidly dissolving and ever-evolving images create a contrast between abundance and want. One of the first films to use computer animation, this satire serves as a cautionary tale against self-indulgence in a world still plagued by hunger and poverty.
Hunger
The leaders, the wise men, the leopard, the deer, the owl and the rat all look up in the sky in fear as a strange object flies through the sky.
A Short Vision
"Without leaving his own garden, a man may know the world" - an abstract study of the wildlife found in every garden.
On Closer Inspection
Little did this pretty brunette know when she applied for a babysitting job that her employer was an artist and that everything at his place differed from the outside world. What struck her the most was to find out that her boss had shrunk his wife and kept her in the fridge in order, as he said, to keep her safe from a hostile world!
I. You. They.
The story of the evolution of life on Earth in animated form.
Animated Genesis
An old man plays the flute to feel more youthful, but as soon as he stops playing, he is quickly reminded of how old he really is.
Visage
A poetic tale where nothing truly dies as objects and memories within “play-back” reveal the persistence of presence across generations. Elegantly crafted, this César-winning short blends emotion, memory, and visual rhythm into a quietly powerful cinematic experience.
Play-Back
A businessman and his secretary are moving around the world; as they have no time to lose, they use the most expeditious means.
Plus vite
A graphic variation where a new-born baby devours its mother, then turns into a bloodthirsty monster. Some music touches him. He calms down a bit, then returns to his destructive ways, before getting squashed.
A Boy Full of Future
Based on the Greek myth of Narcissus and Echo, Foldes employed live-action photography and visual feedback synthesizers from France's Computer Image Corporation to tell the tale in a disquieting, psychedelic manner.
Narcissus-Echo
ElectroRhythmes is a short videographic essay.
ElectroRythmes
Artistic short film about a man's pursuit of a woman, and its implications.
A Bird's Appetite.
No description available.
Indicatif d'ouverture et fermeture d'antenne d'Antenne 2
Videographic dream.
La Belle cérébrale
Peter Foldès uses video effects to transpose in his own way three choreographies by Dora Feilane.
Bongo Fuego
A surrealist impression of psychic voyage via sexual union. Released posthumously, comprised of an extract from Foldes' unfinished feature-length animated film. Music by Pink Floyd.
Au-delà du temps
A César winning short animated film depicting ghostly apparitions of a woman inspired by ancient Greek romantic fiction.
Dream
Awakening is sort of the history of mankind transposed through the dream world of Peter Foldes who conceived, directed and designed this original work.