BACK, Frederic

This posting is a stub. You can contribute to this entry by providing information through the comments link at the bottom of this post. Please organize your information following the main category headers below....

Birth/Death

1924-Present

Occupation/Title

Animator, Writer, Director

Bio Summary

Frederic Back was born in Saarbrucken, Germany April 8 1924. Frederic Back is now 82 years old. He had emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1948 and had become well known as an award-winning Canadian animator/producer.

Early Life/Family

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).

Education/Training

Frederic Back studies started from 1938-1939 in Ecole Estienne, Paris. In 1939-1945, he studied at Rennes School of Fine Arts. From 1940-1948 Frederic Back studied with noted marine illustrator and painter Mr. Meheut. Here, Frederic Back had done book illustration and murals (IMDB).

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).

Comments On 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.

Influences

Personality

Back relished the opportunity to voice an impassioned plea for the industry to use its technology and distribution resources to make better quality films. And the resulting applause didn't deter him--he really meant it. As the clapping built in intensity, Back had to raise his voice to be heard. "You can do more," he said. "You can do better" (Frederic Back). This is Frederic Back.

Anecdotes

Miscellaneous

Filmography/Other Works

Illusion (1975)(Writer/Director)
All Nothing (Tout rien) (1980)(Writer/Director) 

Crac (1980)(Director)  

The Man Who Planted Trees (L' Homme qui plantait des arbres) (1987)(Director)

The Mighty River (Le Fleuve aux grandes eaux) (1993)(Writer/Director)

Memoires de la terre (2002)(Writer/Director)

In 1967, Frederic Back created a massive stained glass mural entitled
L'histoire de la musique a Montreal ("History of music in Montreal") at the Place-des-Arts Metro station in Montreal. Unveiled on December 20, 1967, this stained glass was the first work of art to be commissioned for the Montreal metro system. Frederic Back had produced "Abracadabra" 1970 and "The Creation of Birds" in the same year. He produced "Illusion" in 1975, the animated film sequences for "The Firebird".

Honors

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).

Related Links

www.fredericback.com (Rare drawings of Frederic Back)

Bibliographic 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

Contributors To This Listing

Brother Rabbit of www.ralphbakshi.com

To make additions or corrections to this listing, please click on COMMENTS below...

You can contribute to this listing. Click on COMMENTS below to submit information.