Animation and documentary

In 2009, the presence of Priit Parn in Anima Mundi revealed to the Brazilian audience that Estonia is very well situated on the animation's world map. Maybe we can find the largest population of animators in its 45,000 km square, producing some of the wildest, most innovative films of the genre.

In this edition, we prepared a special screening of Mait Laas' documentary The kings of time (Aja Meistrid), aiming to show how traditional the culture of animation in Estonia is. In a mixture of archival footage and animation, the film reveals the story of two great names of Estonian animation, Elbert Tuganov and Heino Pars, who have become masters of their craft. Tuganov is the creator of Ott in Outer Space (1962), a puppet animation who achieved international notoriety. Heino Pars, who started as an assistant Tuganov, is also a pioneer: Nael, his 1972 feature film, is one of the first Estonian animations to present an abstract content. The social satire, frequently targeting the Soviet political system, was also prominent in the work of these two creators.

Mait Laas' The Kings of Time (2008)

And the International Panorama program also reserves a special selection of films in which the documentary language is blended with animation techniques. Panorama Documentary will present six short films demonstrating that the animated film can deal with the straightest form of reality, sometimes even more efficient than photographic images. Among the short films selection includes Samantha Moore's The Beloved Ones, about the difficulties of two Ugandan women living with HIV; Tanko Bole Chhe, which reveals the art and the passion of Kutch's artisans in the region in India, and Rattus Rattus, a Brazilian animation about the sanitary campaign made by Oswaldo Cruz in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

Nina Sabnani's Tanko Bole Chhe (2009)