Born in Brussels in 1942, Picha quickly made a name for himself in press caricature, both in Belgium and abroad, with a biting and irreverent drawing style. His caustic, scathing illustrations, always sharp but never gratuitously mean, appeared in numerous satirical newspapers and magazines, including La Libre Belgique, Pan, Hara-Kiri, and the two aforementioned American publications. In 1972, in collaboration with Benoît Lamy, he directed Cartoon Circus, a documentary on press caricature in the early 1970s. Many scenes were shot in the offices of Hara-Kiri, where several cartoonists who would later become part of Charlie Hebdo were working at the time.

In 1975, Picha ventured into animation, collaborating with Boris Szulzinger on a feature film that remains a cult classic: Tarzoon, Shame of the Jungle. This satirical take on the Tarzan myth portrays a pitiful clone of the famous jungle hero and his highly self-indulgent chimpanzee, whose erotic-burlesque misadventures lead them to battle a fourteen-breasted queen and her army of zombdicks. The film became a sensation, benefiting from the rise of adult-oriented animated films in the early 1970s, following the enormous success of Fritz the Cat. Riding this wave, Picha followed up with The Missing Link, a parodic fable on Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, audiences were shocked by its libertine, vulgar, and even obscene approach to evolution, while critics mercilessly panned it. For his next film, The Big Bang—intended as "the grand finale of a trilogy"—Picha reunited with Boris Szulzinger, who took on the role of producer for this cinematic reflection on the 1980s, tackling themes of the Cold War and the battle of the sexes.

Beyond his collaborations with Picha, Boris Szulzinger directed two films of a completely different nature. Les Tueurs Fous (1972) is a brutal thriller in the vein of violent crime dramas, chronicling the murderous spree of two young drifters who, out of sheer boredom, pick up a rifle and start shooting at random passersby. In 1980, he turned to horror-comedy with Mama Dracula, where Maria Schneider plays a boutique owner who, with the help of her twin sons, preys on young virgins to maintain her beauty and youth.
The Big Bang marked a turning point in both filmmakers' careers, leading to a long hiatus. It would take another twenty years before Picha returned with his final film, Blanche-Neige, la suite, which picks up where the fairy tale ends. Recently, CINEMATEK restored all four of Picha’s films along with Boris Szulzinger’s two features, inviting audiences to (re)discover them as part of the Offscreen Festival.

Expo
Boris Szulzinger Archives
14.03 > 31.30 - Foyer CINEMATEK

The restoration of these films was supported and financed by

With the support of