ANIMATION
Sander Joon at Glasgow Short Film festival.
Animation is Flying High Estonian animation is no stranger to international film events. Several films, including Sander Joon’s Sierra and Ülo Pikkov’s ‘Til We Meet Again, are making waves at film festivals. By EFI Photos by Ingrid Mur and AAA Creative
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ander Joon’s dark comedy Sierra premiered at prestigious short film event, Clermont-Ferrand in France at the beginning of this year. Ülo Pikkov’s ‘Til We Meet Again will be reaching international audiences in Annecy - the film has been selected for the Official Short Films Competition. DARK HUMOUR IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Sander Joon’s Sierra (2022) takes us on a
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ESTONIAN FILM
turbulent 3D race, telling the story of a boy who becomes a car tire. Recently, Sierra received the ARTE Short Film Award at Dresden Filmfest, where the youth jury also honoured the film with a special mention. Besides Dresden, Sierra has travelled to several notable festivals such as Aspen Shortfest, Go Short, Regard, GLAS, San Francisco IFF, IndieLisboa, goEast and Glasgow Short Film Festival. In Scotland, the film received a special mention from the international jury for
“its entertaining quality, strong cinematic feeling and cuteness”. In Riga, Sierra received the Best Baltic Short Film award from 2ANNAS. Martinus Klemet also uses 3D animation while expressing surreal ideas. Face Recognition (2021) by Klemet has travelled to animation festivals such as MONSTRA, Stuttgart, Fredrikstad and Brussels IAFF among others. The film premiered last year at Odense IFF, the oldest festival in Denmark. The Danes described the film as follows: “In a world where nothing or no one escapes the law, the only loophole is to get drunk. And in this colourful, absurd and entertaining animation; getting drunk means getting down and running amok”. ROOTS IN DOCUMENTARY ANIMATION
Unlike the surreal and often vibrant Estonian drawn and 3D animation, Ülo Pikkov’s stop-motion films have expanded on Estonia’s traumatic past, portraying topics such as deportation, grief, or homesickness. For years, Pikkov has been Estonia’s spokesperson for documentary animation. Pikkov’s latest, ‘Til We Meet
