charlie blue
nanning
Carlos Cruz , also known as pseudonym Charlie Blue began working in cinema at a very early stage in his life. At only age 14 he initiated at Topfilme studios (animation studio) were he worked for 4 years with animator directors Ricardo Neto and Artur Correia. In 1979 Charlie Blue forms a little animation studio, that not only worked on animation but also postproduction and special effects for cinema, back then still in 35mm film. He became notorious in the cinematographic world working with many directors and producers namely: Cinequanon, Nova Imagem, Costa do Castelo, BlowUp, Panorâmica 35, and advertising agencies that operate in Portugal; Publinter, McCann Ericson, FCB, Young & Rubicam, Leo Burnett, J Walter Thompson among others.
Like every artist, never satisfied with the work produced, he turned towards finding other solutions so he began to travel abroad, finding out about new technologies and always looking for new and better results.
He then forms “Imagina” a publicity film producer. In “Imagina” Charlie Blue begins to direct advertisements for television in animation and imagem real, both in film and digital format. He directed many movies namely: “AXA seguros”, “Yoogy”, “Cimpor”, “Tulicreme”, “Estrelitas”, “Tampinhas”, “Bollycao”, “Uzo”, “Bubaloo”, among others. Having also won Award Winning with the film “Castle Water” at the Cinanima animation festival.
In 1999 a more ambitious project led way for a partnership. He formed his first industrial animation studio “MagicToons” were he worked with over 40 visual artists, creating a mark in the history of Portuguese animation. At this point the first step had been taken for the beginning of the animation industry in Portugal, opening doors for other initiatives such as the Belgian studio Neurones.