Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts 2009
Area of Work: Art – Philosophy
Date: 25 November 2009
Place of Ceremony: Academic Hall
Host Institution: University of Liège
Host Country: Liége, Belgium
The Hungarian short film-maker Marcell Jankovics has been awarded the 2009 Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts.
Jankovics was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1941. After leaving high school, he joined Pannonia Film studio, where he soon became an animator. He has worked as a film director for over 40 years, becoming the Art Director and subsequently Managing Director of Pannonia Film studio from 1996–2007.
Following on from his childhood interest and his productions of tales and legends, in the 1970s he began to write articles, studies and books in the field of cultural history. Some of his main themes are symbolism, fairy tales, comparative mythology, archeo- and ethnoastronomy, religious and popular beliefs, sacred art and recently cultural policy and strategy.
Since 1988 he has regularly made television programmes and given talks on the radio on film-related subjects. He is the co-founder of DUNA TV (1992), a Hungarian-speaking channel with English subtitles. He was the co-author of the New Hungarian Encyclopaedia (1993–1997). From 1998–2000 he was the President of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, the President of the Hungarian Cultural Society, and President of the St Stephen Foundation.
Jankovics has written, designed and directed several hundred animated short films, both singles and series. The first full-length animated film produced in Hungary – Johnny Corncob (János Vitéz) – is associated with his name. He was the leading director of the series Gustavus, Hungarian Folktales and Legends from Hungarian history. Since 1989 he has been working on the animated adaptation of the drama The Tragedy of Man of the greatest Hungarian dramatist, Imre Madách; the play, written in the 19th century, was translated into 90 languages, and put on stage at major world theatres. The production will be finished at the end of 2009.
He is also involved in different capacities in other directors’ films. In 1997, he worked as a graphic designer in the pre-production creative team of the feature-length Disney production The Emperor’s New Groove, at Burbank Studio, Los Angeles, USA.
Jankovics has published fifteen books and over a hundred articles. The digital Hungarian edition of five books (Mythology of the tree, Book of the sun, Where doesn’t the bird fly yet, Symbol-Calendar, Deep is the well of the past) is available on the Internet (www.neumann-haz.hu). One book and four studies of his have also been translated into other languages (English and Italian).
Marcell is a renowned authority, speaking at conferences and in cultural societies; giving lectures at universities, academies, and schools; taking part in national programme-planning; and addressing audiences on festive occasions.
