Dave Bossert & Aljon Go chat with Bob Kurtz, founder of Kurtz & Friends Animation about his career and working with Walt Disney. Kurtz, Peabody Award-winning animation director, writer, designer, and founder of Kurtz & Friends Animation has created/produced animated theatrical titles for most major studios including the Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, MGM, Sony Entertainment, Columbia Tri-Star Picture Group, and Warner Brothers.
Kurtz is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Emmy for the PBS special Roman City, the Peabody Award for the Lily Tomlin special Edith Ann’s Christmas, the Annie Award for Lifetime Achievement, and over 250 international awards. His films are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, and the ASIFA Archive, Germany. Kurtz was AdWeek’s animator of the year and also recognized as Japan’s Artist of the Year. He has also directed, produced, and co-designed animated sequences for HBO’s George Carlin Special.
Bob Kurtz was born in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts.) “My philosophy is fairly simple-I am a communicator. Therefore the message comes first, then the graphics. I want to stimulate, excite, scare or create laughter. I don’t want a passive audience. I don’t expect a captive audience. It is the film artist’s obligation to reach out and touch that audience; to rediscover and share our common humanity.
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