academyawards birth_place birth_date birthname image article_title name
'' geri 's game '' ` animated short film '' ' 1998 '' prague , czechoslovakia 21 june 1963 jan jaroslav pinkava janpinkavaheadshot.jpg jan pinkava
 jan pinkava
jan pinkava

jan jaroslav pinkava , phd -lrb- born 21 june 1963 , in prague -rrb- is the director and writer of the pixar oscar-winning 1997 short film `` geri 's game '' and the originator and co-director of pixar 's oscar-winning 2007 film `` ratatouille '' .
he is the third-born of four children of the czech polymath václav pinkava alias jan křesadlo .
the family emigrated to britain in 1969 , where he obtained british citizenship .
he attended colchester royal grammar school from 1974 to 1982 showing interest and talent in the arts , music , drama and sculpture .
-lrb- one of his juvenile sculptures ` big cat ' was acquired by essex university and put on permanent display outside the library . -rrb-
after obtaining an 8mm movie camera for christmas in 1975 , he began experimenting with pixilation , stop-motion plasticine , paper-drawn and cel animation .
he had some early prize-winning successes in animation competitions .
most notably , he won the young film-maker 's competition of the year award 1980 on the long-running -lrb- 1969 to 1984 -rrb- bbc children 's quiz series `` screen test '' for his animated short `` the rainbow '' .
this was hailed in 2001 on channel 4 's `` 100 greatest kids ' tv shows '' by ex-screen test presenters michael rodd and brian trueman as `` the only occasion in the history of the competition where we came across a piece of film that was spectacularly professional '' , a clip of him receiving the award is shown in the 2007 film `` son of rambow '' .
he went on to study computer science at the university of wales , aberystwyth , where he graduated with first class honours and obtained his phd , during this time he also represented his university in archery , fencing and hang-gliding competitions , and continued developing his cartoon drawing skills .
after university he turned to a career in computer animation initially in london , with digital pictures , who specialised in tv commercials .
in 1993 he joined pixar , and moved to the usa .
his `` arrows '' tv commercial for listerine won the gold clio award in 1994 .
his 1997 animated short geri 's game won the oscar on his mother 's birthday , which prompted him to dedicate the award to her long-distance , with a message in czech and won a string of other awards .
the short film `` 67 aluminum plates '' was created during the 1998 ottawa international animation festival by a group of volunteers under the direction of jan pinkava .
the film is stop motion , filmed in one long day and edited the next .
it was shown on the closing night of the festival .
in 2000 , he began work as director on `` ratatouille '' , a european-flavoured , ultimate-outsider tale based on his original story .
this was to have been his feature film debut and the first pixar film beyond the terms of the then-expiring pixar-disney franchise .
in 2005 , pinkava was replaced as main director by `` the incredibles '' director brad bird .
in an interview given in 2006 , pinkava had `` no comment '' about this turn of events and for two years staunchly refrained from comment on the genesis of the film .
at the time when he was replaced , pinkava had written the core storyline of the film and created the styling , key characters and sets .
following his departure from the project , pinkava initially undertook other duties and then left the company .
in the final film , pinkava is credited for his original story idea -lsb- http://vzjp.cz/jjp/storyby.jpg] and as the co-director .
the film was nominated for five academy awards , including a nomination for pinkava -lrb- along with jim capobianco and brad bird -rrb- in the best original screenplay category .
he subsequently worked as a director at laika on his new film `` little white lie '' , but left in 2011 along with claire jennings .
in his most recent assignment , with motorola mobility , he came up with a new , in-phone , interactive animation genre .
