TAFF 2017: Eastern European Animation, Fresh From Finland and More

TAFF 2017: Eastern European Animation, Fresh From Finland and More

Turku Animation Film Festival is a young aninimation festival (it celebrates its second edition in August 2017); yet it has already made an impression in the much-populated world of animation festivals.

 It seeks to TAFF seeks to promote animated film culture both in Finland and internationally, and create a platform for encounters between filmmakers, industry delegates and local lovers of animation.

 TAFF Creative Director and animation artist Joni Männistö states to Zippy Frames: The festival is getting a bit bigger. More filmmakers are coming this year as guests.

 Apart from the international competition, this year we have a student competition as well and we are screening a little bit more of competition films. So, this year the jury will choose Best Professional Film, Best Student Film,  a special award Tough Eye winner and Grand Prix. Then there will be special mentions and the audience prize.

42 films from 16 countries compete for the prizes above, including films by Koji Yamamura, Chintis Lindgren, Špela Čadež, Marta Pajek, Jonathan Schwenk and Renata Gąsiorowska. The Grand Prix winners takes (1000€), sponsored by the national non-commercial TV channel YLE.

 Priit Pärn (and director of animation studies of the Turku Academy of Fine Arts in 1994-2007) along with Olga Pärn comes to this year's festival, which celebrates the art of Eastern European animation.

 The B-gallery exhibition presents P. Pärn's fresh artwork, and in addition the festival venue Manilla serves as a location for a screening of Priit and Olga Pärn's darkly surrealistic animations as well as a masterclass lecture by Priit Pärn .

The animated film festival StopTrik, organized in Slovenia and Poland, has curated for TAFF a screening featuring various stop motion techniques (dolls, objects, sand and wax)  celebrating the hand-made art and versatile materials.

The finest of contemporary Eastern European animation is also presented by the theme screening dedicated to Polish contemporary animation and another curated by Piotr Kardas, leader of O!PLA Animation Across Borders.

VAF New Talents screening features the most talented young animators in Central and Eastern Europe and the latest trends in animation.

The award-winning Serbian director Miloš Tomić's retrospective is a jolly revelry of short film, animated documentary, music video, mockumentary and experimental animation.

Yiorgos Tsangaris, the founder and artistic director of Countryside Animafest Cyprus, curates  an animated screen with a theme of protest. Uri Kranot, representing Denmark and Viborg's Anidox Lab, presents a master class and a screening focusing on current trends in animated documentaries.

The latest Cartoon d'Or finalists will be screened at the August festival in Turku, and  side festival for children called TAFF junior, is also another essential festival part. .

The Fresh from Finland programme has the world premiere of Malakias' 18th short film Zoo, a commentary on American politics. The Zoo is tyrannized by alpha male monkey Donald. The wall has been built, and disaster follows. Voodoo Rites, also by Malakias, is a macabre adventure on a skull island.

Overlook, an experimental animation by Pink Twins, was named after the hotel in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. The artist duo delivers a taster of subtle cosmic horror, seasoned with zero gravity and a rupture in space-time continuum. See the complete programme schedule.

The Music and Fun programme consists of 16 animated videos submitted to the International Competition by animators such as Tess Martin (The Animators: Oh My), Sara Koppel (Gudommelig Galskab: Fix)

TAFF takes place between 23 and 27 August in Turku, Finland. The festival is supported by the Kone foundation, City of Turku, Arts promotion centre Finland and Scene Turku.

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