Marcell Jankovics

Marcell Jankovics has written, designed and directed several hundred animated short films: singles and series. He directed the first full-length animated film produced in Hungary, Johnny Corncob (1973). He was the leading director of the series Gustavus, Hungarian Folktales and Legends from the Hungarian History. Besides directing, he was the writer, storyboard and graphic designer, and part animator of his three full-length animated films: the aforementioned Johnny Corncob, Son of the White Mare (1981), and Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002), as well as of his independent short films. Since 1989 he had been working on the drama The Tragedy of Man, an animated feature adapting the work of noted Hungarian dramatist, Imre Madách, which was ultimately completed and released in 2011. His short films have been equally celebrated with Sisyphus (1974) having been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 48th Academy Awards, and Fight (1977) receiving a Palme d’Or for short film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.

Marcell Jankovics was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1941. In 1960, one year after leaving high school, he joined the Pannonia Film studio, where he began as an apprentice, but was soon appointed to as- sistant animator and then to animator. Since 1963 he has made animated films independently. In 1964 he was chosen to be a member of the directing triumvirate of the worldwide popular animated series Gustavus. Since 1965 he has worked as a film director. In 1995 he became Art Director of Pannonia Film studio, and was then its Managing Director from 1996–2007.

Since 1988 he has regularly made television programs and given talks on the radio on film-related sub- jects. He is the co-founder the DUNA TV (1992), a Hungarian-speaking channel with English subtitles covering half of the world. He was the co-author of the New Hungarian Encyclopaedia (1993–1997), and participated in the Hungarian pavilion of the EXPO 2000 in Hannover. 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 (since 1998) and president of the St Stephen Founda- tion (since 2006). – World Cultural Council