Ion Popescu-Gopo

Who was Ion Popescu-Gopo?

Ion Popescu-Gopo was a Romanian graphic artist and animator, but also writer, movie director and actor born in Bucharest, Romania. He was a prominent personality in the Romanian cinematography and the founder of the modern Romanian cartoon school. He was, together with Liviu Ciulei and Mirel Ilieşiu one of the few Romanian film artists who won an award at Cannes in the 20th century. His film "Scurtă Istorie" won the Short Film Palme d'Or for best short film in 1957. His 1965 film The White Moor was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival where he won the award for Best Director. In 1969 he was a member of the jury at the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1977 he was a member of the jury at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1983 he was a member of the jury at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.

Ion Popescu-Gopo attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest. He also attended animation courses in Moscow. He made Maria, Mirabela which is a Romanian-Russian co-production.

His career started as a designer and cartoonist in 1939, publishing caricatures and editorial cartoons in newspapers. 1949 brought his debut in the film industry with "Punguţa cu doi bani". Since 1950 he started working for Studioul Cinematografic Bucureşti in the animation department, that later broke into a separate animation studio, Animafilm.