
Directing
Born February 24, 1912 · Plzeň, Rakousko-Uhersko
A graduate of Prague's School of Arts and Crafts, in 1936 he created a puppet theater, which was disbanded after the outbreak of WWII. During the war he designed stage sets and illustrated children's books. In 1945 he set up an animation unit with several collaborators at the Prague film studio; they called the unit "Trick Brothers." Trnka specialized in puppet animation, a traditional Czech art form, of which he became the undisputed master. He also created animated cartoons, but it was his puppet animation that made him an internationally recognized artist and the winner of film festival awards at Venice and elsewhere. He wrote the scripts for most of his own films.

The Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka
2000

The Hand
1965

Archangel Gabriel and Mistress Goose
1965

Cybernetic Grandma
1963
Passion
1961

A Midsummer's Night Dream
1959

Why UNESCO?
1959

The Good Soldier Schweik
1956
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkova budějovická anabase
1956

The Hurvinek Circus
1955

Two Little Frosts
1955
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Švejkovy nehody ve vlaku
1955
How the Old Man Traded It All Away
1954
Kutasek and Kutilka
1954
Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka – Z Hatvanu na hranice Haliče
1954

Old Czech Legends
1953

Prince Bayaya
1951
The Golden Fish
1951

The Merry Circus
1951

The Emperor's Nightingale
1949

Story of the Bass Cello
1949

The Devil's Mill
1949

Song of the Prairie
1949

The Czech Year
1947
The Animals and the Brigands
1947
The Gift
1947

Springman and the SS
1946
Grandpa Planted a Beet
1946