Legendary Animation Educator Moritz Passes Away
AWN is saddened to report that legendary animation educator and historian Bill Moritz passed away on March 12, 2004 after suffering a long illness.
Dr. William Moritz is a world-renowned expert on animation, experimental film and visual music, and has authored more than 100 articles, chapters and program notes. His forthcoming book OPTICAL POETRY is the culmination of his 34 years of research and work with the Fischinger Archive. OPTICAL POETRY reveals fully his passion for the Fischinger legacy, and fully details his decades of archival work on the films.
Born in 1941 in Arizona, Moritz was raised in Arizona and Southern California. He received his doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1968 (Comparative Literature, minor in Cinema). He began teaching at Occidental College in 1965, and continued teaching film and humanities at institutions including Otis Art Institute, Pitzer College, American University Center (Calcutta, India), UCLA, Art Center College of Design, and CalArts. He worked at the Creative Film Society distributing animation, and at radio station KPFK as a film and music critic. He promoted experimental film and animation through venues like Los Angeles Filmmaker’s Cooperative, Theatre Vanguard and Los Angeles Film Oasis; and was a member of the Visual Music Alliance in the '80s.
His own 34 films, both experimental and animation, have been screened at museums in Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Tokyo, and venues including Pacific Film Archive, Anthology Film Archive, San Francisco Art Institute and Academy of Fine Arts (the Hague). He toured giving poetry readings, had many of his poems published, and two of his plays were produced including THE MIDAS WELL SHOW.
He has published widely on animation and experimental film, including articles on Oskar Fischinger, James Whitney, Visual Music, Jordan Belson, the Fleischer Brothers, Bruce Connor, Hy Hirsh and numerous other filmmakers. He was a past president of the Society for Animation Studies, and lectured at film festivals, museums, universities and conferences worldwide. He curated numerous film exhibitions and was a guest curator for several art exhibitions, including “The Spiritual in Art” and “Degenerate Art” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has appeared in television documentaries including the French PATHS OF LIGHT, the British ABSTRACT CINEMA, and the American CBS CAMERA THREE series. In 1993, he was honored with a lifetime achievement trophy for service to Visual Music by the Royal Academy of the Netherlands. In 1995, he received an American Film Institute Independent Filmmakers Grant for his animated film, ALL MY LOST LOVERS.
Most recently, he was faculty at California Institute of the Arts, department of Film/Video.
Below is a tribute letter written by Janeann Dill, M.F.A., M.A., B.A., Jules Engel biographer and artist in residence for the Creative Alliance at The Patterson, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
I am so deeply sad at this news, as many of you are as well, I'm sure. Bill was my teacher at Cal Arts and was solely responsible for placing me in the position of being the official biographer of Jules Engel. Bill, who nominated me for that position, and Jules would often say to me (especially when I was feeling overwhelmed with the task at hand ... enough to scare anyone, I think, no matter how experienced a writer). "Now don't you forget! Bill Moritz is the one who nominated you for this!" (Jules would pick up on the smallest hint of loss of confidence and this was his way to bolster that.)
Dr. William Moritz is a world-renowned expert on animation, experimental film and visual music, and has authored more than 100 articles, chapters and program notes. His forthcoming book OPTICAL POETRY is the culmination of his 34 years of research and work with the Fischinger Archive. OPTICAL POETRY reveals fully his passion for the Fischinger legacy, and fully details his decades of archival work on the films.
Born in 1941 in Arizona, Moritz was raised in Arizona and Southern California. He received his doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1968 (Comparative Literature, minor in Cinema). He began teaching at Occidental College in 1965, and continued teaching film and humanities at institutions including Otis Art Institute, Pitzer College, American University Center (Calcutta, India), UCLA, Art Center College of Design, and CalArts. He worked at the Creative Film Society distributing animation, and at radio station KPFK as a film and music critic. He promoted experimental film and animation through venues like Los Angeles Filmmaker’s Cooperative, Theatre Vanguard and Los Angeles Film Oasis; and was a member of the Visual Music Alliance in the '80s.
His own 34 films, both experimental and animation, have been screened at museums in Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Tokyo, and venues including Pacific Film Archive, Anthology Film Archive, San Francisco Art Institute and Academy of Fine Arts (the Hague). He toured giving poetry readings, had many of his poems published, and two of his plays were produced including THE MIDAS WELL SHOW.
He has published widely on animation and experimental film, including articles on Oskar Fischinger, James Whitney, Visual Music, Jordan Belson, the Fleischer Brothers, Bruce Connor, Hy Hirsh and numerous other filmmakers. He was a past president of the Society for Animation Studies, and lectured at film festivals, museums, universities and conferences worldwide. He curated numerous film exhibitions and was a guest curator for several art exhibitions, including “The Spiritual in Art” and “Degenerate Art” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He has appeared in television documentaries including the French PATHS OF LIGHT, the British ABSTRACT CINEMA, and the American CBS CAMERA THREE series. In 1993, he was honored with a lifetime achievement trophy for service to Visual Music by the Royal Academy of the Netherlands. In 1995, he received an American Film Institute Independent Filmmakers Grant for his animated film, ALL MY LOST LOVERS.
Most recently, he was faculty at California Institute of the Arts, department of Film/Video.
Below is a tribute letter written by Janeann Dill, M.F.A., M.A., B.A., Jules Engel biographer and artist in residence for the Creative Alliance at The Patterson, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
I am so deeply sad at this news, as many of you are as well, I'm sure. Bill was my teacher at Cal Arts and was solely responsible for placing me in the position of being the official biographer of Jules Engel. Bill, who nominated me for that position, and Jules would often say to me (especially when I was feeling overwhelmed with the task at hand ... enough to scare anyone, I think, no matter how experienced a writer). "Now don't you forget! Bill Moritz is the one who nominated you for this!" (Jules would pick up on the smallest hint of loss of confidence and this was his way to bolster that.)
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