Award-winning Israeli animator Gil Alkabetz has died at the age of 64

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Award-winning Israeli-born indie animator and teacher Gil Alkabetz has died, aged 64. His friends confirmed the sad news on social media earlier today (September 15). Alkabetz was best known for his witty, clever and thought-provoking animated shorts that commented on the follies of life, politics and human nature.

Born in 1957 in Kibutz Mashabei Sade in Israel, Alkabetz studied graphic design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. His first animated short film bitzbutz, quickly became a festival favourite. In the mid-to-late 1980s, he worked at the Jerusalem studio Frame by Frame as an animation director, as well as a freelance illustrator, comic artist, animation director and teacher. He made his second short Swamp at the Academy of Arts in Stuttgart.

In 1995 he moved to Stuttgart, Germany and worked with the Film Bilder studio on commissioned projects for SDR, Nickelodeon and MTV, as well as on his popular festival favorite shorts Cut off (1996) and Rubicon (1997). In 2000, he founded his own studio, Sweet Home Studio, with his wife Nurit Israel in 2000. He also taught animation at Konrad Wolf University in Babelsberg and offered workshops at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, and at the Lucerne School of Art and Design. He was also visiting professor at the Konrad Wolf Film University in Potsdam-Babelsberg.

His lovely card from 2005 the death of love, about two caged parrots recalling past memories, was another huge festival hit and won top awards around the world. Other successful shorts included the Ottawa Festival award winner Swamp (1992), Travel to China (2002), Trim time (2002) Wollmond (2009) The Da Vinci Time Code (2009), 1+1 (2015) and A stormy night (2019). Alkabetz was also the animation designer on Tom Tykwer’s hugely influential and innovative 1998 German film Run Lola Run.

“I wish I knew where my ideas come from, but I have no idea,” Alkabetz said in an interview with Film Court. “Every film comes from nowhere and my experience doesn’t help me either. When I make a film, I can’t say I learned anything for the next one. It’s like I always have to restart from scratch. I feel every film I do is the first and the last. I don’t think I can ever make another one.”

We send our condolences to Gil’s family and all his friends. The global animation community shares your grief. We will update the story as we learn more about this loss.