Borivoj Dovniković 'Bordo'
Writing
Biography
Borivoj Dovniković (12 December 1930 – 8 February 2022) was a Croatian film director, animator, comic artist and caricaturist. He was a prominent member of the Zagreb school of animated films style. Dovniković was born in Osijek, Yugoslavia, on 12 December 1930. During the World War II in Yugoslavia and the existence of the Independent State of Croatia Borivoj and his father escaped to Serbia. In 1949, he arrived in Zagreb where he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts and started to work as a caricaturist and illustrator in newspapers. Subsequently, he got a job at a local newspaper called Kerempuh in 1950. He participated in the making of the first Croatian animated art film Veliki Miting (The Great Meeting) and, in 1957, he joins the Zagreb Film company, from where he created and worked on animated shorts and movies. This led to the creation of Lutkica (The Doll) in 1961, his first fully own creation. From 1977 to 1982 he was a member of the International Animated Film Association and was a board member of Animafest Zagreb festival. Between 1994 and 2022 Dovniković wrote a comic the "Čipko and Grampa Filip" for youth magazine Bijela pčela published in Rijeka by SKD Prosvjeta. Dovniković died in Zagreb on 8 February 2022, at the age of 91. In 2024, the City Assembly of Zagreb named a park in Trešnjevka-north after Borivoj Dovniković.
Known For

An animated film compiled by David Ehrlich consisting of 27 animators from different countries all explaining themselves through their animation.
Animated Self-Portraits

One train journey between two stations: the first one and the last one. In a second class compartment, a traveler meets all kinds of people with all kinds of fates but fails to find a friend. As alone as at the beginning of the journey, he takes his suitcase, gets off the train, and disappears in the night.
Second Class Passenger

Bordo's simple story of a bird who will do anything to hatch and nurture her own chick.
Strange Bird

A political satire in which an animated man with a drum is waiting for his cue.
Without Title
The Astromutts prepare for space flight.
Operation Moonshot

This is the story of Svojislav who was accustomed to walking the way he was taught by his mother. However his four friends each try to teach him their style of walking convinced that theirs is the best way. Svojislav has a hard time getting away from his "redeemers" but having done so, he continues walking the way he always has.
Learning to Walk

A man visits the panels of a comic page-like world in search for his loved Gloria.
The Exciting Love Story

While a man is trying to rest on a public bench, passersby want to know what he keeps in the bag next to him.
Curiosity

The musical pig in quest for a friend. It eventually finds one, but at what cost...
The Musical Pig
Two friends fall in love with the same girl who is actually a doll.
A Doll

N. N. wanders alone in the environment in which he lives, He tries to find a soul mate. In vain. N. N. remains alone - for the rest of his life. Dying. Funeral. Coffin covered with flowers. A solemn, sublime atmosphere. An endless crowd of people see off N. N., a man and friend whom everyone loved and respected.
N. N.

The story is about a guy that enlists in the army and brings a friend - the frog "Krek". This is not liked by the sergeant, who does everything in his power to get rid of it...
Krek

Six people are grouped in front of a wall as if for a photograph. The entire ceremony is supervised by a seventh person, who, like a photographer, looks at the group from different angles and rearranges the group by hand-signals.
The Ceremony

Goal! is a witty satire on football and the passion that flares up around that sport. Personified animals appear as characters in this film: an affinity for Disney’s world dominates again. The screenplay was written by Norbert Neugebauer, and he was also director. Borivoj Dovniković works as the main cartoonist and animator, and his assistants are Zlatko Grgić, Turido Pauš, Vjekoslav Radilović and Branko Karabajić. Scenography was created by Oto Reisinger, and music by Milutin Vandekar.
Goal!

Apartment… factory… apartment… factory. All days are monochrome, similar. What happens when a man suddenly meets a friend he hasn’t seen in a long time.
One Day of Life

Explosive flowers, a phenomenal invention, have filled the world with enthusiasm. People, usually uninterested in simple flowers, are now crazy about the new fashion. The explosive flowers have become a mania, a matter of social reputation.
The Flower Lovers

An animated short by Borivoj Dovniković Bordo.