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 EXHIBITIONS
/ PRESS - PAT
& MAT got their place at many
exhibitions, such as the exhibition of
Czechoslovak animation at the Jane
Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum on the campus
of the Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Favorably reviewed
in an article by William Zimmer, The New
York Times, March 1991, together with Jan
Svankmajer's and Jiri Trnka's object and
puppet animation, and Gene Deitch' cel
animation films:
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The Charms of Czech Film Animation
Highly
pliable puppets are the stars of
stirring narratives
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... The country's
speciality is the animated puppet film ...
The movable puppet, with wooden frame, has
been a longtime presence in [Czech
and Slovak] culture.
The film versions [of
natural materials on a sofisticated
hand-made metal carcass],
with highly pliable extremities made of
plastic, are as versatile as any character
drawn in ink on acetate - and more
sympathetic.
The effect of using puppets, which are
less real than humans yet more immediate
than two-dimensional figures, is a
palpability that can make narratives
especially stirring.
A central component
of the exhibition is the films themselves,
shown ... in the 35-millimeter format ...
But in the gallery are many sets from the
films, inhabited by puppet characters.
These include the
green tract house that is the location of
the episodic adventures of
PAT
AND MAT, who are
ordinary, if dimwitted, fellows simply
trying to get through life. Popular on [Czech
and Slovak] television
and as shorts preceding cinematic
features, the Pat and Mat films are
perhaps the equivalent of this country's
television Simpsons ...
Contemporary [Czech
and Slovak] culture is
so imbued with animation that films are
designated for children, for adults or for
all ages ...
The amazing industry
that is [Czech and
Slovak animation] can
only become better known. If an American
sometimes wonders 'What's in it for me ?'
when hearing or reading about the changes
rocking Eastern Europe, this exhibition
reveals one of the more vivid benefits ...
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It all began with the film TINKERS
/Kutaci/ on which Lubomir Benes and
Vladimir Jiranek got for the first time
together. In the following decade 34
episodes for the Slovak TV, and Kratky
film, followed. Since 1990 the production
goes on in the authors' own studio - as
the PAT & MAT ...AND THAT'S IT ! /Pat
a Mat ...a je to!/ series. 
WORLD
WIDE SALES - up
till now distributed in over 80 countries
throughout the world. 
THE CYCLISTS have also been included in
the selection "The Best of Annecy '93"
by:
and
presented by these institutions in their
autumn 1993 show.
THE BILLIARDS has got two prizes at the
World Animation Celebration in Agoura
(CA), March '97: