Vlasta Pospíšilová Obituary: 1935 – 2022
Skwigly
The animator and director, Mrs. Vlasta Pospíšilová, the last of Jiří Trnka’s famous animators’ guard, has died at the age of 87.
Vlasta Pospíšilová graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1956, majoring in puppetry and stage design, and as a fresh graduate she joined the then world-famous Jiří Trnka Studio, where the celebrated feature film Midsummer Night’s Dream was being made. Already in this film, she demonstrated her extraordinary animation acting talent and was then entrusted with the most demanding acting tasks by Master Trnka. Her animation of Mistress Goose from Trnka’s Boccaccio inspired film „Archangel Gabriel and Mistress Goose“ is especially renowned. In addition to the animation of classic puppets, Vlasta Pospíšilová was also brilliant at cutout stop motion animation and object animation, which she demonstrated especially in Jan Švankmajer’s films Jabberwocky and Dimensions of Dialogue. Director Jaroslav Boček paid homage to her animation mastery when, in 1977, he initiated the puppet film Three Etudes for an Animator (with an epilogue). The animator was, of course, Vlasta Pospíšilová, and the film thus became a celebration of her work.
Vlasta Pospíšilová used her great skills and experience in puppet film also in film directing. In 1979, she made her debut with screenwriter Edgar Dutka with the beautiful puppet fairy tale About Mary and the Wolf Castle, and then, already independently, she directed more than 45 films. Jan Werich’s already popular Greedy Barbara has won the minds and hearts of the audiences, and her Werich puppet films have become the bedrock and crown jewel of all three feature Fimfarum films. With great love and feeling she also shot the extensive puppet series of Jan Karafiát’s Fireflies.