Agip: Pranzo Nella Jungla
Commercial for Agip gas. In a cannibal village, the chieftain is served his dinner: a cooked Italian explorer.
Geesink Restored 2
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
Ballantine Double L: Jager en Konijn
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American company Ballantine. A hunter hunts rabbits.
Ballantine Double L: Kelner
Commercial for Light Lager beer by the American company Ballantine. A waiter walks through a hallway with a huge pile of plates, cups and bowls.
Ballantine Double L: Ligstoel
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American brand Ballantine. A man tries to unfold a deck chair on a balcony.
Ballantine Double L: Schilder
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American brand Ballantine. A painter is working on a scaffolding. He is busy painting the word 'flavor' on a sign while two crows look on. But then he falls off the scaffolding onto the ground and the pot of paint also falls on his head.
Ballantine: Brewmaster
Commercial for Brewer's Gold Ale by the American company Ballantine. Puppet film with some live action shots of the product.
Ballantine: Jager en Kangoeroe
Commercial for light lager beer from the American company Ballantine. A hunter sets up a trap. Then a kangaroo comes jumping but doesn't fall for it.
Ballantine: Jager en Konijn
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American company Ballantine. A hunter hunts rabbits.
Ballantine: Kelner
Commercial for Light Lager beer by the American company Ballantine. A waiter walks through a hallway with a huge pile of plates, cups and bowls.
Ballantine: Ligstoel
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American brand Ballantine. A man tries to unfold a deck chair on a balcony.
Ballantine: Schilder
Commercial for Light Lager beer from the American brand Ballantine. A painter is working on a scaffolding. He is busy painting the word 'flavor' on a sign while two crows look on. But then he falls off the scaffolding onto the ground and the pot of paint also falls on his head.
Ballantine: Stage Coach
Advertisement for Brewer’s gold ale by the American brand Ballantine. The puppet animation shows a stagecoach in the Wild West, which is attacked by two robbers, while Ballantine’s song “Big Ale Taste” plays in the background.
Hag: La Storia del Caffé Hag
Italian spoken commercial for Hag coffee. Happy Hag coffee beans arrive at the port from their country of origin.
Mackeson Stout: Brassband
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. The Mackeson bottles play in a brass band.
Mackeson Stout: Christmas 1
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Santa Claus happily loads his sleigh with presents.
Mackeson Stout: Circus
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A beer bottle performs a tightrope act in a circus without much success.
Mackeson Stout: Dancing
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. Mackeson beer bottles make music and dance in a barn.
Mackeson Stout: Grasmachine
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A man is mowing the lawn with sweat on his head. A voice tells him that what he needs is a Mackeson.
Mackeson Stout: House Painting
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. A beer bottle stands listlessly in front of his house that needs painting.
Mackeson Stout: Hyde Park 1
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A cheerful Mackeson bottle walks into London's Hyde Park.
Mackeson Stout: Hyde Park 2
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A cheerful Mackeson bottle walks into London's Hyde Park.
Mackeson Stout: Juggler
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A beer bottle tries to juggle balls without much success.
Mackeson Stout: Klokken
Commercial for stout beer by the British brand Mackeson. The bells strike at a church tower. Then various figures appear on screen (including a sailor, a miner, a police officer and a woman) who sing the praises of Mackeson beer in choir.
Mackeson Stout: Kop van Jut
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A beer bottle is at the high striker at the fair but he can't manage to hit it hard enough.
Mackeson Stout: Marching
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. A group of Mackeson beer bottles march near a castle.
Mackeson Stout: Opera
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Two beer bottles sing together in the theatre in a romantic duet in an opera.
Mackeson Stout: Railway
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Three trains meet at a crossing. Two trains with a locomotive made from a Mackeson beer bottle have to wait for the third locomotive which is made from a beer bottle of another brand and looks lifeless.
Mackeson Stout: Singers
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Three Mackeson beer bottles form a variety act.
Mackeson Stout: Skating
Commercial for stout beer from the British brand Mackeson. Mackeson beer bottles skate on the ice in a winter landscape.
Mackeson Stout: Stratenmaker
Commercial for stout beer from British brand Mackeson. A beer bottle is a road worker working with a drill.
Radiopol: Arriva la Mama
Italian spoken commercial for Radiopol detergent. Having a baby results in a lot of dirty laundry. Fortunately, Radiopol offers a solution.
Royco: Koning Smulpaap op Bezoek
Advertisement for Royco chicken broth soup. The chef is busy preparing a soup for King Smulpaap's dinner. Unfortunately, he drops the soup tureen on the floor just before serving.
Tricogen: Allarme per Venere
Italian spoken commercial for Tricogen Brillantine. A fireman comes across a giant woman with beautiful legs on the street. He quickly has the truck pulled out so he can climb up the fold-out ladder to inspect her face and hair.
