Gerrit van Dijk, a Dutch animated short film director (President of the Jury of Magma this year), was born in 1938. After finishing his studies, he limited himself to teaching only. When he picked up the brush after many years to paint for himself, his work met enthusiasm at home and abroad. He worked intensively with other artists from other disciplines on projects that often raised controversy. His painting career ended abruptly when he saw Norman McLaren’s films and bought a Double-8 camera. He made his first film It’s good in Heaven and hasn’t stopped since. He sees his shift to film as a logical continuation of his work as a painter, and considers his films to be moving paintings. His films are collages that combine photographic images and the image-by-image technique.Van Dijk continually searches for new forms and techniques. Cell, cut-out, rotoscoping, pixilation or live action combined with animation: there are few two-dimensional techniques that he has not used. Van Dijk’s extensive filmography includes films shown at various international festivals and many prize winners.
For his films Pas a Deux (made together with Monique Renault) and I move, so I am he received a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1989 and in1998.
Magma 2008 will devote a special retrospective to the President of the Jury, titled I move so I am: the art of Gerrit van Dijk