Henri Heidsieck

Animator and director Henri Heidsieck was born on December 8, 1947, in the city of Reims in the Champagne region of France. In Reims he studied at the School of Art and Design and founded PHAR 3 animation workshop in 1973. His first major film credit was "Les douze travaux d'Astérix" (The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, 1976) in which he worked as a trace and paint artist. Heidsieck collaborated with director Bernard Germain in the documentary films "Annapurna, premier 8000 à ski" (1979) and "Un pic pour Lénine" (1981). In 1981 Germain also wrote a book "Sentiers de l'Himalaya" which Heidsieck illustrated. Heidsieck also served as an assistant director for Jean-François Laguionie, first in the animated science fiction film "Gwen, le livre de sable" (Gwen, the Book of Sand) in 1985 and later on in the feature films "Le château des singes" (A Monkey's Tale, 1999) and "L'île de Black Mór" (Black Mor's Island, 2004). Between 1989 and 1990 Heidsieck directed a TV series "Histoires de la Maison Bleue", written by Gabriella Verna, and in 1990 he directed a short film "Jojo & Paco" based on a comic book characters created by Isabelle Wilsdorf. In 1992 he was the first assistant director on the TV series "Tales of the Tooth Fairies". Through the 1990s, Heidsieck directed a number of animated short films and television specials with Christmas themes, which were also popular in America in television and in home video. "Le Père Noël et les enfants du desert" (Santa's Christmas Crash, or, Santa and the Desert Children, 1994) and "Le Père Noël et le magician" (Santa's Christmas Snooze, or, Santa and the Magician, 1995) revolved around Santa Claus, and "La merveilleuse Histoire de Noël" (The Story of Christmas, 1994) was an animated retelling of the story of Christ's birthday. "Santa's Last Christmas", featuring the voice of the actor Hugh Laurie, was released in 1999 and to date has aired in over 40 different countries. In 1996 Heidsieck also served as a unit director in the British animated series "Romuald the Reindeer", focusing on the adventures of a Christmas reindeer. In 2000, Heidsieck directed "Le tour du monde en 80 jours" (Around the World in 80 Days), which was one of the animated TV adaptations made from the classic novels by Jules Verne. In 2003 he co-directed another animated TV series "Viva Carthago", which was a partnership between various companies and countries in the Mediterranean region. His notable short films from the 2000s include "Un cadeau pour Sélim" (A Gift For Selim, 2001), "L'Oiseau Do" (The Dream Bird, 2004) and "Petit Wang" (Wang and the Dragon, 2005). In 2009 he also worked in Dominique Monféry's feature film "Kérity, la maison des contes" (Eleanor's Secret) as a pre-production director. Through his career Henri Heidsieck participated regularly in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France. Among his short films shown at the festival include "Tant qu'il y aura des feuilles" (1973), "Dé profondis" (1976), "Spirale" (1985) and "La Montagne du Loup" (1986). He has also created an animation workshop for children in Reims. In 2011 Heidsieck was the head of the International Competition Jury at the 18th KROK International Animated Films Festival in Ukraine.