Jan Balej

Jan Balej (b. 1958, Prague) studied at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (1988) and has created original puppet films which cultivate the great tradition of Czech hand-crafted puppet animation. Nevertheless, he is shifting the aesthetics of the genre and, in his latest film, he deftly combines classic animation techniques with computer imaging. He continues to work on children's bedtime stories (Tom Thumb, 1994; Doings of the Hippopotamus Family, 2000;… (plus)