Co Hoedeman, Oscar-Winning Canadian Animator, Dies at 84
Co Hoedeman, the Canadian animator and director best known for winning an Oscar for best animated short in 1977, has died. He was 84.
Hoedeman died Monday in Montreal, the National Film Board of Canada, for whom he directed 27 films during his career, said. No cause of death was specified.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Rick Derringer, Singer-Songwriter Known For 'Hang On Sloopy' and 'Rock And Roll, Hoochie Coo' Dead at 77
Marilyn Howard Ellman, Daughter of The Three Stooges' Curly Howard, Dies at 86
Taina Elg, Actress in 'Les Girls' and 'The 39 Steps,' Dies at 95
'Co Hoedeman was a master animator whose long career at the NFB was distinguished by innovative filmmaking and powerful humanitarian themes,' Suzanne Guèvremont, government film commissioner and NFB chairperson, said in a statement. 'He cared deeply for the well-being of children and was also a fierce defender of the importance of public filmmaking. The NFB and the Canadian animation community have lost a dear friend and colleague. Fortunately for us, we have his legacy of beloved works, which embody so much of his unique spirit.'
A master of stop-motion animation, Hoedeman earned his Academy Award statuette for Le Chateau de Sable (The Sand Castle), a 13-minute puppet animation short for the NFB. The film features a sandman and the creatures he sculpted out of sand. The creations then build a castle and cheer the completion of their new home, only to be interrupted by an uninvited guest.
Born in Amsterdam on Aug. 1, 1940, Hoedeman as a child enjoyed using his hands to make puppets, kites and other figures. In his 2021 biography, Frame by Frame: An Animator's Journey, he wrote: 'At a time when there was no television and little access to any kind of entertainment, puppet shows were the most brilliant experience imaginable. Puppet theatre and puppet animation have a lot in common. The animator and his team, just like the puppet master in a puppet show, are in control of everything: the storyline, the movements, the sets, the puppets, the animation and the emotions of the audience.'
Hoedeman started his career working in TV commercial production in Holland. But after seeing the films of NFB pioneer Norman McLaren at an animation festival, he came to Montreal in 1965 with not much more than a film reel in hand to possibly work for Canada's publicly funded film producer in its animation unit.
'I fell in love with [NFB films]. I was fascinated by the making of experimental films. We decided to emigrate to Canada,' Hoedeman recalled in the 2013 short documentary Making Movie History: Co Hoedeman. In the film, he recalled not being especially fazed by the Oscar nomination for The Sand Castle: 'So what? Perhaps it's my Dutch character, being overly pragmatic, perhaps. I don't know.'
His reticence extended to the Oscars when Hoedeman thought another nominated NFB film in that year's competition, Ishu Patel's Bead Game, had been announced as the winner. 'So I got up to congratulate him. But no, no, no. It wasn't him. It was me!' Hoedeman recalled of that dramatic moment he became an Oscar winner.
After directing his early films with the NFB, well before the age of computer-generated animation, including his award-winning Oddball (1969), Hoedeman traveled to then-Czechoslovakia in 1970 to study puppet animation. Returning to the NFB, he began a series of iconic stop-motion films for the Canadian producer, using old-school techniques like a 35mm camera on a tripod and a film set.
Those included the 1972 film Tchou-tchou, which was created with wooden blocks and received a BAFTA for best animated film. During the 1970s, Hoedeman created a series of animated films based on Inuit traditional stories, working closely with artists from Nunavut and Nunavik.
Following The Sand Castle, Hoedeman continued to experiment with a range of filmmaking techniques and themes. In 1992, he worked with Indigenous inmates at the La Macaza Institution to create The Sniffing Bear, a cautionary tale about substance abuse.
In 1998, he began work on a beloved children's series about Ludovic, a young teddy bear, available in the NFB collection as Four Seasons in the Life of Ludovic. His final film for the NFB was Marianne's Theatre in 2011.
That was followed by collaborations between the NFB and Hoedeman, now an indie filmmaker, including the 2011 film 55 Socks. That project drew on his childhood memories in Holland during World War II and especially during the Hunger Winter of 1944–45. He would also adapt his Ludovic character into a popular children's TV series.
In 2003, the Cinémathèque Québécoise and the NFB paid tribute to Hoedeman with the exhibition Exposition Co Hoedeman – Les Jardins de l'Enfance in Montreal.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT
'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
6 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Natalie Sue wins Leacock Medal for Humour for novel ‘I Hope This Finds You Well'
Natalie Sue's debut novel 'I Hope This Finds You Well' has won this year's Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. The $25,000 award is given to the best Canadian book of literary humour published in the previous year. The novel follows the story of an office worker in her early thirties who one day stumbles upon all of her colleagues' private emails and decides to use their gossip to help save her job. 'I Hope This Finds You Well' was published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Sue is a Calgary-based author of Iranian and British descent who spent her early years living in western Canada. Runners-up, who received $5,000 each, were Greg Kearney for 'An Evening With Birdy O'Day,' about an aging hairstylist who lost connection with his childhood best friend when he left to pursue a pop music career, and Patricia J. Parsons for 'We Came From Away: That Summer on the Rock,' which follows one woman's attempt to reconnect her family with Newfoundland. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
11 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Montreal's Canada Day parade cancelled for a second year in a row, organizer says
MONTREAL - Montreal has cancelled its once-annual Canada Day parade for the second time in as many years, event organizers announced this week. Chief organizer Nicolas Cowen announced the decision in a news release, citing a number of reasons for the cancellation including potential municipal worker job action, difficult relations with city departments and planning problems. It's the second consecutive year in which Montreal won't have a parade — an event that began in 1977. Thursday's announcement came less than two weeks before Canada Day. 'We understand this news is disappointing to many, especially the families, performers, volunteers, and attendees who look forward to this cherished tradition,' organizers said in a Facebook post. 'The parade has not only been a celebration of Canada but a proud reflection of Montreal's diversity, resilience, and community spirit.' Cowen blamed red tape and politics for the 2024 cancellation, citing issues in securing permits and funding and getting approval from government officials. When the event was last held in 2023, Cowen said he was forced to complete some sets of paperwork multiple times and find 148 last-minute volunteers to satisfy city rules. The event was also cancelled between 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cowen said the parade has become increasingly difficult to organize without disruptions in recent years. According to organizers, the event draws 120,000 spectators. Cowen said he remains hopeful he can mend ties with the city and the parade can return. 'With its cancellation, not only does the city lose a major tourism draw, but Canadian culture itself takes a hit on one of the most important national holidays,' organizers said. A City of Montreal spokeswoman disputes the assertions, saying the organizer failed to submit a project proposal for the parade. 'As was the case last year, the promoter of the Canada Day parade, Nicholas Cowen, did not submit a project application to the City of Montreal, despite the city inviting him to do so on several occasions,' Nicky Cayer said in an email. Cayer says Canada on the Move, a brand new festival, did get a permit and the July 1 free event includes 13 totems — one for each province and territory — over a 1.2 kilometre route through historic Old Montreal. An official annual event at Montreal's Old Port will also go ahead as usual at the Quai de l'Horloge. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2025.
UPI
16 hours ago
- UPI
Russell Crowe confirms 'Highlander' casting
June 21 (UPI) -- Oscar-winning Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Thor: Love and Thunder star Russell Crowe has joined the ensemble of the new remake of the classic 1986 fantasy film, Highlander. "Yes... it's true... I shall be returning to the highlands... with a sword... it has been a few centuries..." there can be only one," Crowe wrote on X Saturday. The actor's post included a link to a Variety report about the casting news. Crowe will play the mentor to Henry Cavill's Scottish title character in the film about immortal warriors. The movie is being directed by Chad Stahelski and is expected to be released theatrically in 2026. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery starred in the original. Penn siblings, Russell Crowe attend Rome Film Festival
