Frédéric Back
Occupation / Title:Date of birth:08/04/1924
Date of death:24/12/2013
Birthplace:Saarbrücken, Germany
Biography
Frederic Back was born in Saarbrucken, Germany April 8 1924. He had emigrated to Montreal, Quebec in Canada in 1948 and had become well known as an award-winning Canadian animator/producer.
He died on December 24, 2013, in Montreal, Quebec.
Family and early life
Frederic Back’s family seemed to have been influenced by their father’s interest and commitment to art. All of Frederic Backs children are involved in art. His daughter is a painter and also works with batiks. His younger son is an illustrator, who specializes in historical costumes and settings. Frederic Back’s older son is a biologist who worked for the World health Organization, for 10 years he was in Africa, and he teaches using his knowledge of graphics. He’s very clever with computers, said proud father Frederic Back (AWN).
Career outline
He started his career as a teacher and in 1952. He joined the graphics department of Radio-Canada working on educational series for Television in the 1950s and 60s and has remained there since (AWN)
Personal style
Frederic Back’s style is broad and well rounded. Frederic Back has a very loose drawing style by the look of some of the animations done in “All Nothing”. Although, these works display styles of expressionist, “The Man Who Planted Trees” and “The Mighty River” have images that show the opposite spectrum, styles of realism as well.
Honors and awards
Annie Award: Winsor McCay Award 1986 In 1980, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short Film for his film “Tout rien” (“All Nothing” in English). In 1982, Frederic Back won the Oscar for best-animated film for the work “Crac” (1981), which also enjoyed some 20 other awards. Furthermore, the film was selected from a group of 50 as the sixth-best animated film of the century at the Olympiad of Animation held in Los Angeles during the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
In 1987, he won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, for his film, L’Homme qui plantait des arbres (The Man Who Planted Trees). He was nominated for a 1989 Governor General’s Awards in the Children’s Literature – Illustration category for L’Homme qui plantait des arbres. In 1993 he produced The Mighty River (Le Fleuve aux grandes eaux). It was the grand prizewinner at the International Animated Film Festival held in Annecy, France in June 1993. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also nominated it for an Oscar for 1993 (AWN).
Filmography
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References:
- Mortitz, William. The Mighty Animator, Frederic Back. April 2004. – www.awn.com/mag/issue1.4/articles/moritzback.
- Doramius. Silent Hero Of The Land. April 2004. – www.imdb.com/title/tt0093488/usercomments
- Back, Frederic. Biography. October 2006. – www.fredericback.com
- Lenburg, Jeff. Who’s Who in Animated Cartoons. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2006.