Biography

Ferenc Rofusz (born 19 August 1946) is a Hungarian animator. He is known for the 1980 Academy Award-winning animated short The Fly. Rofusz was born in 1946 in Budapest. His interest in animation and film making started relatively early. During his studies he took special drawing and animating courses. He started to work at the Hungarian film studio Mafilm as set designer, set painter and animator. In 1968 he joined Pannónia Filmstúdió and partnered Marcell Jankovics on the animation project Gusztáv ("Gustavus"). In 1974 he made his first animated film A kő ("The Stone"), and six years later for A Légy ("The Fly") he received the 1981 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.Hungary was a Communist country at the time, and Rófusz himself was not allowed to leave the country to attend the Oscars. However, without his knowledge, the director of the Hungarian film company, István Dósai presented himself as Rofusz and accepted the award during the show. Later that evening, he was debunked by one of Rofusz's friends, and thus the organizers forced Dósai to give back the award.