The story
Founded by Ion Popescu-Gopo in 1964.1
Period 1964–1989
The Animafilm studio was created in 1964 from the animation team of the Bucharest Cinematographic Studio, and the most famous artist and animator who worked there was the filmmaker Ion Popescu-Gopo. During the period 1964–1989, around 1260 cartoons were produced here, including 7 feature films and 15 series. Some of the Animafilm studio's productions were sold abroad, bringing in about 40% of the foreign exchange income obtained by the Socialist Republic of Romania from film exports.
The studio was led by directors Marin Pârâianu (1964–1971), Lucia Olteanu (1971–1983), George Anania (1983–1987) - interim and Mihaela Vârtopeanu (1987–1989).
The period after 1990
Animafilm, which was originally a state studio, was reorganized after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 into a joint-stock company with state capital. The deteriorating economic situation and the underfinancing of culture had dramatic effects on the old film studio. Thus, only 15 animated films were made here until 2001, of which two were its own creations. The studio only received orders from various companies or foundations that wanted to transmit educational messages through images.
As a result, Animafilm S.A. had only ten employees in 2004, and the only production that year was an educational short film entitled Un alt fel de Love Story, made following an order received from the Bucharest Public Health Directorate, without any contribution from the state budget. The company had a profit of 248 million lei that year.
In December 2009, Animafilm produced, in collaboration with a private company, the documentary film Gopo – a legendary name directed by Manuela Hodor. This film was shown only once at the Cinemateca Eforie.
The studio was led in the post-communist period by Manuela Hodor (1992–2022) and then by Elisa Covaliu (since 2022).
From Wikipedia’s article on Animafilm, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3