Obituary of animation artist Gil Alkabetz

It is with profound sadness that we bid farewell to Gil Alkabetz, The award-winning and internationally renowned Israeli animation artist passed away at the age of 64 on September 15, 2022.

Alkabetz was best known for his witty, smart and thought-provoking animated shorts which commented on the follies of life, politics and human nature.

Born on December 2, 1957 in Kibutz Mashabei Sadeh, Israel, Alkabetz studied graphic design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. He graduated with honors in 1983, and his graduation film, Bitz Butz, received awards at numerous international festivals. After working in an animation studio in Jerusalem, Alkabetz became an independent animator and illustrator, and taught at schools in Israel, the United States, Switzerland, and Germany. For the last 30 years, he lived in Germany, where he served as a professor of animation at the Konrad Wolf Film University Babelsberg in Potsdam.

His lovely 2005 short Morir de Amor, about two caged parrots reminiscing about past memories, was another huge festival hit and won top prizes around the world. Other successful shorts included the Ottawa Festival prize winner Swamp (1992), Travel to China (2002), Trim Time (2002) Wollmond (2009) The Da Vinci TimeCode (2009), 1+1 (2015) and One Stormy Night (2019). Alkabetz was also the animation designer on Tom Tykwer’s hugely influential and innovative 1998 German feature Run Lola Run.

“I wish I knew where my ideas come from, but I have no clue,” Alkabetz said in an interview . “Every film comes from nothing and my experience doesn’t help me either. When I make a film, I can’t say I learned something for the next one. It’s like I always have to restart from zero. I feel every film I make is the first and the last one. I never believe I can make another.”

We send our condolences to his family and his relatives.. it’s a big lost to the global animation community.