ONLY CROATIAN ACADEMY AWARD WINNER DUSAN VUKOTIC DIES

( Editorial: --> 6613 ) ZAGREB, July 9 (Hina) - The only Croatian recipient of an Academy Award of the US Motion Picture Industry died aged 71 on Wednesday. A renowned director, screenwriter and drawer, Dusan Vukotic won the Oscar in 1961 for "Surrogate", the first animated motion picture outside the United States to be given the award. Vukotic received awards at international film festivals in Bergamo, San Francisco, Belgrade, London, Cannes, Melbourne, Paris, Milan, as well as significant domestic awards, including "Vladimir Nazor" and an award from the City of Zagreb. He was a member of ASIFA, the International Animated Film Society. Vukotic taught film directing at the Zagreb Theatre, Film and Television Academy, and also wrote about animation theory. Vukotic was "one of the most brilliant directors in the history of world animation", the director of the World Animated Film Festival Josko Marusic said on the occasion of Vukotic's passing. "His filmography is closest to what we define as the Zagreb school of animated films, and this means humanism and irony in ideas, and stylisation as a creative principle in bringing characters to life", Marusic said. (hina) ha jn 091427 MET jul 98