Norway’s Fredrikstad Animation Festival is celebrating its 30th year by honoring a key figure from its early days, announcing Priit Pärn as the Guest of Honor for 2024. The Estonian animator was the festival’s first Grand Prix winner in 1996, and has been a key inspiration and educator for countless animators from the Nordic/Baltic region.
At this year’s festival, taking place October 24-27 in the historic fortress city, Pärn will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as extensive programming dedicated to his 50-plus year career as a filmmaker, mentor and international figure representing the region’s animation community through his creative contributions.
Pärn began his career as a visual concept designer for the legendary animator and filmmaker Rein Raamat in 1974 and became affiliated with the Joonisfilm studio in the 1970s. Active as a caricaturist and illustrator since the late 1960s, Pärn became a prominent figure in the Estonian film industry in the 1970s and has played a crucial role in shaping the young country’s artistic identity from the 1990s onward. Some of his most important films include Triangle (1984), Breakfast on the Grass (1987), Hotel E (1992) and Night of the Carrots (1998). His films are known for their dark humor, playful surrealism and unique graphic style, and have found great success at festivals around the world over the years.
A respected mentor and educator, Pärn has taught at art academies in Finland and Estonia, where he has influenced an entire generation of Northern European animation filmmakers. Through his work establishing animation programs at the Estonian Academy of Arts and at Turku in Finland, where he served as artistic director, films supervised by Pärn have won over 140 awards globally. He has also taught at film schools in 15 other countries including Finland, Norway, Japan, Turkey, France, Canada, Australia and the U.S.
With a filmography that spans from the totalitarian Soviet era to a free and independent Estonia, Pärn has directed, written and served as artistic director for 18 animated films and held over 50 solo exhibitions worldwide. Pärn has received nine lifetime achievement awards, including honors from ASIFA, IFF Etiuda&Anima (Poland), IAFF Zagreb Animafest (Croatia), the Luna de Valencia Award from Valencia IFF Cinema Jove (Spain) and the Dragon of Dragons Award from Krakow IFF (Poland), along with Estonia’s national lifetime achievement award and others. Pärn followed his historic win of FAF’s first Grand Prix in 1996 with another in 2014, for the film Pilots on the Way Home, co-directed with his wife, Belarusian-Estonian animator and illustrator Olga Pärn.
As part of the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, on October 24 the honoree’s latest film Luna Rossa, also co-directed with Olga Pärn, will be the opening film. Additionally, he will give a talk on Saturday, Oct. 26, and FAF will present exhibition featuring prints of works by Olga and Priit Pärn on display in the foyer of the Fredrikstad cinema throughout the festival.
Tickets and more information for the Fredrikstad Animation Festival available at animationfestival.no.
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