Double Animation Bill: Olga & Priit Pärn and Atsushi Wada at PÖFF Shorts 2024

(press release)

The film 'Luna Rossa' by Estonian animation legends Priit Pärn and Olga Pärn will be shown to Estonian audiences for the first time at the 28th Tallinn Black NightsFilm Festival (PÖFF) and its PÖFF Shorts subfestival. In addition to the Baltic premiere in the international competition program, the animated film made with innovative technology will also be seen in a special screening about the meeting of East and West.

In the special program "East Meets West: The Pärns & Atsushi Wada', the brand new 'Luna Rossa' produced in cooperation between Estonia and France, will have a two-part dialogue with the short film 'Bird on the Peninsula' made in 2022 by the Japanese animation director.

Wada (b. 1980), a graduate of Osaka's Kyoiku University, Japan Institute of Motion Pictures and Tokyo University of the Arts, began self-taught short animation in 2002. Inspired by minimalism and Nô theater music, he uses the traditional Japanese concept of Ma, which is the tension driven by the movements. His film 'In A Pig's Eye' won awards at the Fantoche Festival in Switzerland and the London International Animation Festival. Also, his film 'The Great Rabbit' won the Silver Bear in the 2012 Berlinale short film competition at the Berlinale in 2012; 'The Bird on the Peninsula' was selected at the same festival in 2022.

Bird in the Peninsula 

'I don't want to carry my country on my back with my films. But if I hadn't made animation, I would have never met the crazy and great Priit Parn. And I would never have felt sympathy for Estonia's strange and unintelligible films. This is strange, but I feel so closed to in that sense, that I am really Estonian - Atsushi Wada.

 
The two animated films are united by the narrative focus on rituals, and are presented as a 'double bill' focus -showing, at first glance, two very different films, one after another in a joint session.  If the Estonian director duo's film tells a story unfolding in Italy about human surveillance and rituals, the film by Wada (and PÖFF Shorts Grand Prix 2022 Animation Competition 2022), talks about rituals and the lack of a sense of belonging. "We tested this idea with short animated films, with two different traditions, European and Japanese animation. I find that both films share a sense of changing rituals and conformism/established conventions and at the same time breaking out of those rituals and conformism/established conventions ", Vassilis Kroustallis, PÖFF Shorts Animation Programme Director

Priit Pärn (b. 1946) needs no introduction; working both as a cartoonist and illustrator since the late 1960s, Pärn became a prominent player in the Estonian film industry in the 1970s (via Joonisfilm studio) and later played an important role in shaping the artistic identity of the newly independent country.

With a filmography spanning from the totalitarian Soviet era to free and independent Estonia, Pärn has produced 18 animated films as a director, artist and screenwriter. Including:  'Triangle' (1982), 'Breakfast on the grass' (1987), 'Hotel E' (1992), ' 1895' (1995, with Janno Põldma) and 'Night of The Carrots' (1998). His films are known for their dark humor, playful surrealism and unique graphic style. As a graphic artist, Pärn has had more than 50 personal exhibitions in different parts of the world and has taught at films schools in 15 countries.

'It's always a great pleasure to meet Atsushi Wada, even if it's a virtual meeting. The same can be said for his films - they can be watched over and over and never get boring. Wada has developed his own style, and this style is unique both in the world and in the context of Japan,' Priit Pärn
 

East Meets West: The Pärns & Atsushi Wadat takes place in Tallinn, Estonia (13 Nov 2024, 19:00) as part of PÖFF Shorts (8-20 November 2024).

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