Directing

Stamatis Polenakis

Born January 1, 1908 · Athens, Greece

Died April 19, 1997 · aged 89

Stamatis Polenakis (Greek: Σταμάτης Πολενάκης; 1908 – 19 April 1997) was a 20th-century Greek artist. Although best known as a cartoonist, he was also a painter and moreover the creator of the first Greek animated film Il Duce Narrates (1945). Polenakis was born in Athens, Greece, in 1908 into a family that originated from Sifnos. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and his first illustr…

Known For

A Buddy Already Dead

A Buddy Already Dead · 2016

A Buddy Already Dead

Apart from one chicken in a freezer, a trumpet teacher, keeps also the corpse of his mother. Is there life after death?

Duce Narrates...

Duce Narrates... · 1945

Duce Narrates...

MovieAnimationComedy

The first Greek animated film was shot by the cartoonist Stamatis Polenakis (1908-1997) with the title "The Duce tells...". The seven-minute "Mickey-Mouse-style" film, as its creator mentions in the credits, satirizes the Italian invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940, and especially Mussolini, who recounts his exploits, but reality constantly contradicts him. Stamatis Polenakis, one of the leading Greek cartoonists of the 20th century and a pioneer of animation in our country, began drawing the sketches for the film in 1942 in his hometown, Sifnos, where he had taken refuge during the Occupation. He worked under the boot of the Italian conqueror, risking arrest. The film was lost during the Civil War and it was not until 1980 that a negative was found and restored.

Filmography

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A Buddy Already Dead

A Buddy Already Dead · 2016

A Buddy Already Dead

Apart from one chicken in a freezer, a trumpet teacher, keeps also the corpse of his mother. Is there life after death?

Duce Narrates...

Duce Narrates... · 1945

Duce Narrates...

MovieAnimationComedy

The first Greek animated film was shot by the cartoonist Stamatis Polenakis (1908-1997) with the title "The Duce tells...". The seven-minute "Mickey-Mouse-style" film, as its creator mentions in the credits, satirizes the Italian invasion of Greece on October 28, 1940, and especially Mussolini, who recounts his exploits, but reality constantly contradicts him. Stamatis Polenakis, one of the leading Greek cartoonists of the 20th century and a pioneer of animation in our country, began drawing the sketches for the film in 1942 in his hometown, Sifnos, where he had taken refuge during the Occupation. He worked under the boot of the Italian conqueror, risking arrest. The film was lost during the Civil War and it was not until 1980 that a negative was found and restored.

Animation