We all remember and love him – a hurried small man who resolves all problems using his knowledge and a complex machine that produces solutions in shape of magical drops. A simple storyline in an artsy animated format that children love combined with a story that always has a happy ending and a positive message for children – those are the pedagogic and art values of this timeless animated series for children and adults that shall mark the 50th anniversary of its inception in 2018.
Professor Balthazar is the main hero of this animated film, a likeable scientist who resolves the problems his fellow citizens are face with the assistance of a complex machine, but actually with a lot of imagination and positive energy. The animated film Professor Balthazar – a total of 38 episodes each lasting around ten minutes – was produced by Zagreb film from 1968 to 1977 and is a unique work of the globally renowned Zagreb School of Animated Films. The work was co-signed by Zlatko Bourek, Zlatko Grgić, Boris Kolar, Tomica Simović and Ante Zaninović. Georges Sadoul, a famous French film theorist, gave the Zagreb School of Animated Films its name back in 1959 at the Cannes Film Festival. He described the work of the group of authors from Zagreb as a “unique art-philosophy style of animated films that originated in Zagreb“.
The series has been enjoying global popularity for the past 50 years. In the films about Professor Balthazar, one could say that imagination and power of positive thinking defeat lies, ideology and manipulation, all that hidden in a story that, along with a fairy-tale drawings with beautiful colours leave an artistic impression of a miracle. The universal message of non-violent problem resolution – in such contrast to those in other animated films where problems are resolved by violence – and the message that knowledge, not force, is the true power, has a great positive impact on children. Balthazar teaches children that happiness means giving, that people are different and that this diversity enrichens us. His likeable character who was around sixty years old when he was created and who never aged has remained a trademark of not only numerous generations, but also beliefs where knowledge and kindness, and not ideology, have the power to create reality.
Renata Brkić
Professor Balthazar Association
