HEROIC TIMES, or the original title ‘Daliás idök’ in hungarian language, was released in 1984. the 79 min masterpiece was directed and animated by JOZSEF GEMES, produced by hungarian studio PANNONIA FILM. GEMES had help only from a few artists, among them russian animator and filmmaker ALEXANDER PETROV. the production took five years, everything was painted on glass and modified or destroyed for the next frame. some scenes were extremely complex, several layered glass-levels were used for these complicated parts. the film won numerous awards in animation festivals. like usual with good films it is not available anywhere. I have a decent quality copy from the late eighties when it was shown on german tv. following some screen captures.
© pannonia film/jozsef gemes
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 45 years I lived and worked in exciting places around the world. after 7 years of teaching in singapore I am back at my homebase in manila, working on a few more books.
One1more2time3's Weblog 
Just about every scene posted is a complete painting in itself.
This animation looks absolutely amazing! I’d kill for a copy, sounds like it was animated similar to another great animation, “Old Man Of the Sea”.
I really whant to see this film one day.It’s look Amazing!
I don’t kno that Petrov working on this film.
Thanks for sharing Hans!;o)
I wonder how this type of animation is planned? Do they block out the action first as sketches to get composition and timing? Is the action handled as a series of lap-dissolves?
It’s a real shame this isn’t available anywhere. It looks absolutely amazing. I had no idea this film existed, but now there is nothing else I would rather see.
Amazing, for colors and scenes composition!
Hello,
I have seen this movie on television and would very much like to acquire a copy. Can you help me get one please?
Are you sure that this is paint-on-glass? It looks more like paint on celluloid to me – more like traditional animation in that the previous painting is not changed to make the next frame, but saved and a new one created. I say this because there are no traces of brushstrokes from previous images in the animation, and the paint looks dry. Other examples of this technique can be found in “The Cat Who Walked by Herself” (beginning 3 minutes into the film):
Also:
http://mults.spb.ru/mults/?id=2394
Also, are you sure that Petrov worked on it?… this would mean that he was in Hungary immediately before moving to Sverdlovsk in the Russian Ural Mountains and starting to work for Sverdlovsk Film Studio in 1984.
http://animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=show_person&pid=735&sp=2
I think I’d like to see the film’s credits…
In any case, it’s an amazing film. Thank you for writing about it.