raoul servais

• "...ın 1978 he won the cannes short prize for 'harpya', a blend of live action and 3-d and perhaps his best film. in 1985 he became president of the international association of animated filmmakers. he remains in the forefront of technical developments. working with the semi-belgian photographic company agfa-gevaert, he developed an original system known as 'serviasgraphy' which allowed him to mix animated and live images. the film he worked on for over a decade, 'taxandria', featured animation based on drawings and paintings by the comic strip artist françois schuiten and was influenced by the surrealism of paul delvaux. taxandra was to have crowned the technical achievement of 'serviasgraphy' but the film was eventually composed using the german toccata system instead. the complex and troubled production history of the film, not least its 300-million-frank price tag and several unfortunate commercial compromises, was followed by critical and audience indifference. undaunted by these difficulties, servais persevered with 'serviasgraphy' in 'nocturnal butterflies', a 1998 short based on paintings and etchings by paul delvaux..."
  
  (split screen: belgian cinema and cultural identity by philip mosley, page 161)