Introduction

The database “Animation in Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1945-1990” covers animated movies produced by three Central European studios: Filmové studio Gottwaldov (Gottwaldov Film Studio), Bratři v triku (Brothers in T-Shirts), and Studio Małych Form Filmowych “Se-Ma-For” (“Se-Ma-For” Studio of Small Film Forms). The first two studios were based in the Czechoslovak cities Zlín and Prague, while the latter operated in Łódź, Poland.

The dataset includes individual animated films, series, and serials. Although the production output of these studios also encompassed live-action films and documentaries, these were excluded from the dataset, as its focus is solely on animation.

Additionally, the database includes 212 biographies of filmmakers working on animated movies across the three film studios. This also encompasses 24 biographies based primarily on interviews conducted by Czech and Polish team members. Many of these are biographies of animation workers who previously had no publicly available biographies.

Context

The database was developed by a Czech-Polish research team as part of the project "Animation Studios in Gottwaldov and Lodz (1945/47-1990) – Comparative Collective Biography" led by Pavel Skopal and Ewa Ciszewska [2021-2024]. The main research goal of the project was to compare the structure and intensity of the personal, material, and institutional ties forming a network of actors participating in animated film production of the selected animation studios in Poland and Czechoslovakia. For the output of the project that utilizes database data see section Publications.

Data collection

The basic source for the data collection were datasets provided by National Film Archive in Prague and The Library of Lodz Film School in Lodz, operator of the filmpolski.pl database. These datasets were cleaned and supplemented with additional data. The data for the Czech movies were provided by the National Film Archive or obtained by the Czech team from published sources or title sequences of the respective movies. For the Polish movies supported data are from the National Film Archive-Audiovisual Institute in Warsaw and Archive of Modern Files in Warsaw.

Sources for the biographies

The biographies of selected people working in the animation sector have been compiled from archival sources, oral texts and secondary sources. Many previously unavailable biographies of animation staff were compiled from induced sources – structured interviews conducted for the study. The database contains biographies that represent a wide range of roles within the studio, such as CEOs, screenwriters, directors, animators, cinematographers, and technical staff such as copyists, painters, phasers, puppeteers, editors, production managers, prop makers, and sound effects authors.

Copyright

Animation in Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1945-1990 [dataset], authored and created by Masaryk University and University of Lodz, can be used in accordance with the following licence:

How to cite the database:

The recommended form of citation, according to the Harvard format, if you are citing the database as a whole (e.g., in acknowledgements):

Skopal, P – Ciszewska, E – Pospíšil, J – Bochinová, T – Czajkowska, A – Hofelmajer-Roś, A – Gonciarz, M – Kos, M – Kunkelová, K – Nadarzycka, O – Pabiś-Orzeszyna, M – Piekarski, D – Porubčanská, T –Rawska, M – Szul, S – Šrámková, K – Večeřa, M – Veinhauer, P, Animation in Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1945-1990, online database, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Faculty of Philology, University of Lodz, viewed 10 01 2025, https://animation.phil.muni.cz/

Funding statement

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Animation Studios in Gottwaldov and Lodz (1945/47-1990) – Comparative Collective Biography, GF21-04081K) and National Science Centre, Poland (2020/02/Y/HS2/00015).

Publications

Animation Studios: People, Places, Labor. Special issue of “Iluminace” 3/2024, guest editors: Pavel Skopal and Ewa Ciszewska

Bochinová Tereza, Hofelmajer-Roś Agata, The Agency and Effect of Technical Equipment on Animation Production in Studios Se-Ma-For and FS Kudlov in the 1970s and 1980s, “Iluminace” 3/2024, p. 33-60

Ciszewska Ewa, Materialne warunki wytwarzania konwencji filmu lalkowego w Polsce. Działalność Ryszarda Potockiego i Zenona Wasilewskiego w latach 1945-1950 jako architektów Studia Małych Form Filmowych “Se-Ma-For” w Łodzi. „Pleograf. Historyczno-Filmowy Kwartalnik Filmoteki Narodowej”, 4/2023, p. 6-31. DOI: doi.org/10.56351/PLEOGRAF.2023.4.01.

Ciszewska Ewa, Szymon Szul. “Animation workers from ‘Se-Ma-For’ Studio of Small Film Forms in Lodz (dataset),” Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, https://repozytorium.uni. lodz.pl/handle/11089/52081

Ciszewska Ewa, Hofelmajer-Roś Agata, Lalka filmowa — perspektywy badań: Rozważania na podstawie wybranych produkcji lalkowych zrealizowanych w Studiu Małych Form Filmowych ‘Se-Ma-For’ w Łodzi, „Acta Universitatis Lodziensis: Folia Litteraria Polonica”, no. 2 (2024)

Ciszewska Ewa, Hofelmajer-Roś Agata, Pabiś-Orzeszyna Michał, and Szul Szymon. Społeczne światy Studia Małych Form Filmowych “Se-Ma-For” w Łodzi, University of Lodz Press, Łódź 2025 (forthcoming).

Ciszewska Ewa, Szul Szymon, Animation Workers From ‘Se-Ma-For’ Studio of Small Film Forms in Lodz (Dataset), “Journal of Open Humanities Data”, no. 10 (2024), 1–7, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.238

Skopal Pavel, Ciszewska Ewa, and Večeřa Michal, Functionality in The Production of Animated Films: Czechoslovak And Polish Film Studios, 1945–1960, “JCMS — Journal of Cinema and Media Studies” to be published in 2025

Skopal Pavel, ed. Lidé — práce — animace: Světy animovaného filmu na Kudlově, Host, Brno 2024

Szul Szymon, Inaczej rozdane karty. Ze Stefanem Schabenbeckiem rozmawia Szymon Szul, „Pleograf. Historyczno-Filmowy Kwartalnik Filmoteki Narodowej”, 4/2023, p. 116-140. DOI: doi.org/10.56351/PLEOGRAF.2023.4.07.

Večeřa Michal, Szul Szymon, How Serials Reshaped Animation Production. Comparative Analysis of Animated Film Serials Produced by the Studio in Gottwaldov and ‘Se-Ma-For’ Studio of Small Film Forms (1960s–1980s), “Iluminace” 3/2024, p. 9-32