Velimir

Dino

Velimir Chytil is a well-known puppet director who became a well-known artistic personality very early on.

After being born in Koprivnica, he completed primary and secondary school in Varaždin and in 1945 enrolled in veterinary medicine. Not long after, Velimir decides to study history and art and ethnology and graduates in puppetry direction at the Academy of Theater and Film Arts in Prague.
A theater lover, he decides to dedicate his whole life to puppetry.
During his life, he participated in several periods of puppetry: poetic, social-realistic, experimental and stylization.

In addition to puppetry, Velimir Chytil was a great supporter of poetry and as such published his book "Ak me Jezuš pusti" and was married to Višnja Stahuljak, an important Croatian writer with whom, relaxing from his career, he would stay on Vlašić Brdo where the couple owned a house for vacation.

Although, if you ask me, maybe our Velimir was mentally enjoying himself on Žumberk under the summer sun and creating new puppetry concepts in his head because I can imagine him as new ideas and creations dance before his eyes!

Velimir Chytil - poetic puppetry

Velimir Chytil certainly forever marked the history of the Zagreb Puppet Theater, to which he was loyal for thirty-four years.
After becoming a member of ZKL, in 1952 he directed "Ball Hopsica", the most popular performance in the history of the Zagreb Puppet Theatre.

"Loptica hopsica" is a play based on a puppet story by the Czech author Jan Malik. By staging the problem of violence among children and young people, the author tries to bring to the fore the need for understanding and mutual respect, which will lead to the development of tolerance and the avoidance of violence.

Describing Velimir, Croatian actor and colleague Đuro Roić spoke about his special ability to talk with dolls, about the subtlety and strength of the actor and the strength of such relationships.

Bringing the whole world of puppetry to life, Chytil also created puppets for the first television series, from which Velimir's role as an umbrella in the play "The Red Umbrella" stands out in particular; a show inspired by the motifs of folk tales and inspired by stories about ordinary people, but also unusual things.

Being a human puppeteer in the full sense of the word, Velimir Chytil left a deep mark on the entire history of theater and an indelible impression through all kinds of children's and adults' worlds.

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Velimir Chytil - poetic puppetry

"Fair attitude towards puppets, plays and theater"