Vlado Kristl

Who was Vlado Kristl?

Vladislav "Vlado" Kristl was a filmmaker and artist from Zagreb, Croatia, best known for his celebrated animations and short films.

Kristl first came to international prominence for his formally challenging and rigorous animations, particularly Don Kihot. The film is a "graphical and abstract masterpiece which went beyond all existing conventions" and was suitably awarded the main prize at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Working within the highly respected Zagreb Film of animation was not easy and Kristl regarded this film, which was not his first, as the one where he "was finally given a free rein. By producing this film entirely himself, Kristl inspired the artists in Zagreb Film to liberate themselves. In 1962 Kristl made General i resni clovek, a satirical live action short film which got him into trouble with the board of censors. Kristl died in 2004 in Munich, Germany. With his partner Jelena he had two children, Madeleine and Pepe Stephan.

He published two books of poetry: Neznatna lirika, 1959, and Pet bijelih stepenica, 1961 in Croatian, and several books in German.