Yoram Gross

Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 1926 – 21 September 2015) was a Polish-born Australian film and television producer, animation director, and writer of children's and family entertainment. He founded the animation studio Flying Bark Productions.

He was known for his adaptation of children's characters from books and films, and best known for the production of the films Dot and the Kangaroo and Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala.

Early life and education

Yoram Jerzy Gross was born on 18 October 1926 in Kraków, Poland to a religious Jewish family and was the younger brother of the film director Natan Gross.

Gross endured World War II under the Nazi regime. His family was on Oskar Schindler's list, but chose to make their own risky escape, moving hiding places 72 times.

Gross studied music and musicology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (also known as Krakow University). He first entered the film industry in 1947 at the age of 20 when he became one of the first students of Jerzy Toeplitz (founder of the Polish Film Institute, the Swiss Film Institute, and the Australian Film and Television School).

Early career

Gross began his career as an assistant to Polish directors Eugene Cenkalski and Leonard Buczkowski as well as the Dutch director Joris Ivens and studied script writing under Carl Foreman.

In 1950 Gross moved from Poland to Israel, where he worked as a newsreel and documentary cameraman. He then became an independent film producer and director and began winning prizes at international film festivals.