Campari: Milano
Commercial for the Italian aperitif drink Campari.
Geesink Restored 1
35 minutes
For years, the EYE Film Institute Netherlands has been steadily and successfully preserving and restoring our animation-historical legacy, regularly presenting the results at HAFF. This year, EYE lifts a corner of the veil on the preservation of the collection of the Geesink Studio, which used to be run by famous animation pioneer Joop Geesink.
Over fifty years ago, the Netherlands had a professional film studio specialising in puppet films: the Geesink Studio. From the 1940s to the 1970s, this company was run by producer Joop Geesink (1913-1984) and conceived hundreds of puppet films. This large collection of animation films is stored in the archives of the EYE Film Institute Netherlands. This special heritage in the field of Dutch animation is currently safeguarded for the future as part of the ambitious preservation project Images for the Future. EYE presents the first films preserved from the Geesink collection at HAFF.
Joop Geesink was one of the big animation pioneers in the Netherlands in those days, along with Marten Toonder and George Pál. The general public may know Joop Geesink as the spiritual father of Loeki de Leeuw, the animated puppet that bridged TV commercials in Holland for years. The Geesink Studio mainly produced commercials. Apart from big Dutch clients like Philips and the Nederlandse Zuivelbureau, Geesink’s international clientele was also quite impressive. The studio produced commercials for markets in Europe, Asia, South and North America. The puppet films are little gems that strike the eye by their professional animation techniques, immaculate backgrounds, cute puppets and funny stories. The productions typically show a safe world populated by cheerful characters.
The Geesink collection boasts over 2,500 copies of usually short material, ranging from seven seconds to four minutes. As many commercials lack production data, the preservation and disclosure of this material poses a huge logistic and thematic challenge to EYE. The programme includes commercials for brands like Campari (for Italy and England), the British beer Mackeson and the American beer Ballantine. Other Italian commercials range from brilliantine, gas and coffee to detergent and wool. Furthermore, the programme comprises commercials for Cypriot almond syrup, Swedish butter and soup of the Swiss brand Maggi for the Dutch market. Since the commercials were made for different markets, various languages are used: Dutch, English, Italian, Swedish and Greek. The direction – as far as is known - was done by Jószef Misik (Lane-rossi), Henk Kabos (Campari and Ballantine, supposedly Jószef Misik was involved in the Ballantine animation), Jan Coolen and Ton van der Meyde (some Mackeson commercials; Jószef Misik did the animation).
Leenke Ripmeester is responsible for the disclosure of the collection at EYE. She will elucidate these works at HAFF.
This program screened as part of HAFF 2010
Showing in this program
Campari: Milano 2
Commercial for the Italian aperitif drink Campari.
Campari: The Discovery of America
Advertising film about the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. Made for Italian drinks company Campari.
Lane-rossi: L’Anitra Famosa
Italian commercial for Lanerossi wool.
Lane-rossi: Una Lettera Dall’Italia
Advertising film for blankets from the Lanerossi brand in which an Australian sheep makes a career in Italy as a wool supplier.
Lanitis Amandelsiroop: Almonds
Commercial for almond syrup from the Lanitis brand from Cyprus.
Lanitis Amandelsiroop: Squash
Commercial for almond syrup from the Lanitis brand from Cyprus.
Mackeson Stout: Boksen
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Two beer bottles play a boxing match in a hall while two male voiceovers provide commentary.
Mackeson Stout: Boksen 2
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Two beer bottles play a boxing match in a hall while two male voiceovers provide commentary.
Mackeson Stout: Boogschieten
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. A bunch of Mackeson beer bottles are doing archery.
Mackeson Stout: Bowls
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A group of Mackeson beer bottles are playing a game of boules.
Mackeson Stout: Cricket
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. A team of Mackeson bottles and kangaroos play cricket.
Mackeson Stout: Dogshow
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. The commercial is a combination of model animation, paper doll technique and cartoon animation. A Mackeson beer bottle (model animation) with a sun above it (cartoon animation) walks through a dog show (paper doll technique).
Mackeson Stout: Duiken
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A bottle of beer stands on a high diving board and does not dare to jump.
Mackeson Stout: Fencing
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Two beer bottles practice fencing.
Mackeson Stout: Footbal 1
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. A team of Mackeson bottles play football while an audience of Mackeson bottles provide commentary.
Mackeson Stout: Goal Football 2
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Beer bottles play football.
Mackeson Stout: Horse Racing
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Beer bottles are riding a horse race.
Mackeson Stout: Motorcycling
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Two beer bottles are riding a motorbike.
Mackeson Stout: Penalty Kick
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Beer bottles play football.
Mackeson Stout: Penalty Kick 2
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Beer bottles play football.
Mackeson Stout: Rowing
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A team of Mackeson beer bottles are rowing a boat in a race.
Mackeson Stout: Skiing
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Mackeson beer bottles ski.
Maggi: ‘t Is Allemaal Echt Hoor!
Advertisement for Maggi soups in which cheerful vegetables travel by bus to the Maggi factory and a cook comes to the aid of a housewife with a package of Maggi soup that is indistinguishable from real soup.
Tre Ess Boter: Broodtrommel
Swedish spoken commercial for Tre ess butter. A knife puppet knocks on a lunchbox to tell the sleepy sandwich puppets about the delicious Tre ess butter.
Tre Ess Boter: Microfoon
Swedish spoken commercial for Tre ess butter. A sandwich man in front of a microphone promotes Tre ess butter.
Tre Ess Boter: Telefoon
Swedish spoken commercial for Tre ess butter. On a breakfast table sandwich figures and a salt shaker figure talk to each other about the delicious Tre ess butter.
