The Raoul Servais Wing (until 17-01-2021)

On 1 July the Ensor and Spilliaert Wing will have a counterpart: the Raoul Servais Wing is opening then. In 2018 the Ostend-born film director Raoul Servais will be 90. This is being celebrated with a lot of activities in Ostend, a few publications and, last but not least, the opening of a room at Mu.ZEE that is permanently devoted to his oeuvre.  

Raoul Servais (born 1 May 1928, Ostend) is a renowned animation filmmaker. In the early 1950s he studied applied arts at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (KASK). Servais painted and drew, and was very active in graphics too, but from the beginning his heart was always in animation films. The artist had neither experience nor financial means, but his curiosity and drive were enormous. In 1960 he was able to start work as a teacher at KASK, where he developed the first animated film course in Europe. In total, he made sixteen animated films. Between Havenlicht (Harbour Light, 1960) and Tank (2015) there is a gigantic evolution in style and technique. With each new film production, you feel his curiosity for new and hitherto unknown ways of creating imagery and atmosphere. Raoul Servais has won many international film prizes, such as the Palme d’Or in Cannes (Operation X-70, 1971 & Harpya, 1979) and the Primo Premio in Venice (Chromophobia, 1966). 
Servais’s love of animation is a shared love. As of summer 2018, it can be enjoyed on a permanent basis in the Raoul Servais Wing of Mu.ZEE. A large selection of original documents, (cellophane) drawings and films will have a permanent place there. This wing of the museum is not intended to be the end destination for the rich oeuvre of this star of the film industry, but a new start, an inspiring place for young filmmakers.