John Halas Centenary

Todays marks the centenary of John Halas, one of the most important figures in post-War British Animation. Halas was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1912, where he studied painting and learnt to animate with the renowned puppet-maker George Pal.

John moved to London in 1936 where he and his wife Joy Batchelor founded Halas and Batchelor, and went on to produce award winning films such as The Owl and the Pussycat (1952), Autobahn (1979) and Dilemma (1981). Their most famous film was Animal Farm (1954) based on the George Orwell book of the same name, and was the first feature length British Animation. John was a founder member and president of ASFIA, and also author of some of the best animation books you can lay your hands on.

There are a number of events being held this year to celebrate John Halas’ centenary, a list of which can be found here.

You can check out a 12 minute documentary on John Halas below…