Dutch-Canadian animator Co Hoedeman has died, National Film Board says

By Canadian Press on May 27, 2025.

MONTREAL — The National Film Board of Canada says Academy Award-winning animator Co Hoedeman has died.

The NFB says the Dutch-born Canadian filmmaker died in Montreal on Monday at age 84.

The organization is remembering him as a “master of stop-motion animation,” who in 1977 took home the best animated short Oscar for “The Sand Castle.”

The 13-minute film follows a sandman who sculpts living creatures out of the sand.

Hoedeman also won the BAFTA for best animated film for 1972’s “Tchou-tchou,” which was made using wooden blocks.

Hoedeman went on to create the character of Ludovic the teddy bear, who appeared in four NFB shorts starting in 1998 and was adapted into a TV series in 2009.

NFB Chair Suzanne Guèvremont says Hoedeman’s career was “distinguished by innovative filmmaking and powerful humanitarian themes.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.

The Canadian Press

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