50 Ani de Pantera Roz

Pink Panther 50th Anniversary

We all know his smile! We all know his style! And when that silky smooth sax music plays, there’s no question who’s on the scene. 2014 is the 50th birthday of everyone’s favourite hip and shrewd feline.

In the 1960s, the animation team of David DePatie and Fritz Freleng created the famous character for Blake Edwards’ live-action comedy The Pink Panther, featuring Peter Sellers playing confused Inspector Clouseau. In their attempt to personify the precious ‘pink panther’ jewel at the heart of the film, DePatie, Freleng and their company of animators designed over 100 sketches of cats. When they presented them to Edwards, he immediately responded to one drawn by Hawley Pratt, exclaiming, “That’s the guy!”.

The film was a hit. It became so popular, that Time magazine featured Pink Panther on its April 1964 cover, and the character’s creators soon started working on a long series for theatrical release. The first short of the series, The Pink Phink, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1964. By the 1970s, the shorts were being broadcast on Saturday morning television and new shorts continued to be produced.

The special screening called 50 Years of Pink! gathers the most representative shorts of the series, restored and digitalized, screened from DCP.