Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

Spaghetti Western Director ~ Witold Giersz

Witold Giersz was born on February 26 1927 in Poraj, Poland. He is a Polish animator, director, and screenwriter renowned for his innovative contributions to animated cinema, particularly through painterly techniques and experimental forms that treat animation as a form of "lively visual art." Over a career spanning more than five decades, he directed nearly 50 films, often blending wit, poetry, and material experimentation to explore themes like color conflicts, textures, and prehistoric artistry, while pioneering methods such as direct painting on celluloid and puppet animation with natural pigments.

Giersz began his professional journey in 1950 as an animator at the Śląsk Cartoon Film Production Team in Bielsko-Biała, advancing to chief animator and assistant director by 1952, before co-founding a Warsaw branch of the studio in 1956 that evolved into the independent Studio Miniatur Filmowych (Miniature Film Studio), where he served as director and head of the Artistic Council until 1985. Initially trained in economics at the University of Katowice, he transitioned to film, debuting as a director with the short “Tajemnica starego zamku” in 1956, and later receiving his diploma from the Łódź Film School's directing department in 1977. His early influences from Warsaw's experimental animation scene, including figures like Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, led him to reject traditional Disney-style contours in favor of abstract, material-driven narratives, as seen in his breakthrough film “Mały Western” (1960), Poland's first auteur animated short, where color patches and textures generate gags and forms without outlines. It won the Golden Dragon for Best Animated Film in 1961,

Witold Giersz directed two Euro-westerns: “Maly western” (A Little Western) and “Stary kowboy” (The Old Cowboy) in 1973.

GIERSZ, Witold [2/26/1927, Poraj, Slaskie, Poland -     ] – director, writer, animator, co-founded Studio Miniatur Filmowych.

A Little Western – 1960

The Old Cowboy – 1973

Spaghetti Western Screenwriter ~ Paul Clydeburn

Paul Clydeburn is an enigma. Supposedly a screenwriter who has only one credit at the IMDb. We don’t know if this is his real name or an alias because we can find no biographical information on him.

Paul Clydeburn co-wrote one screenplay for a Euro western, “Heiß weht der Wind” (Legend of a Gunfighter) with Donald Sharp in 1964.

CLYDEBURN, Paul – writer.

Legend of a Gunfighter – 1964 (co)

 

Spaghetti Western Cinematographer ~ Jiří Kolín

Jiří Kolín is a Czech cinematographer known for his prolific career in Czechoslovak and Czech cinema, contributing as director of photography to numerous feature films over four decades.

Born on August 22, 1932, in Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia, Kolín began working in film in the mid-1950s and remained active until the early 1990s, accumulating over 50 credits primarily in the camera department. He died on November 15, 1995, at the age of 63. His work often focused on children's and family-oriented productions, collaborating with various directors on titles including “The Pig Shepherd” (1958), “We Don't Give Chicks a Lift” (1967), “The Hour of Blue Elephants” (1971), “Thirty Maidens and Pythagoras” (1977), and “Outsider” (1987). Kolín's contributions helped shape the visual storytelling of many Czechoslovak films during a significant period in the country's cinematic history.

Jiří Kolín was a cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Kaňon samé zlato” (A Canyon Full of Gold) in 1970 and “Cesta na jihozápad” in 1989.

KOLIN, Jirí (aka J. Kolin) (Jiří Kolín) [8/21/1932, Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia – 11/15/1995, Velké Mezirící, Czech Republic] – cinematographer, cameraman. *

A Canyon Full of Gold – 1970

Cesta na jihozápad - 1989