JOONISFILM 40: LOVE IS IN THE AIR!

Joonisfilm 40: Õhus on armastust

L

Genre

Animation

Run time

1h 23min

Joonisfilm, founded at the Tallinnfilm studio in 1971, is a large part of the reason

why the high quality of Estonia’s animated films is seen, both at home and abroad,

almost as self-evident. If we were to compare the contemporary Estonian culture to

a flowerbed, the films of Joonisfilm, which literally means “drawn film”, would be one

of the few sturdy perennials blooming year after year without fail. Phrases like “of

well-known quality” tend to be mentioned whenever the topic comes up. Joonisfilm’s

productions usually pop up in the local film-making industry’s annual “best of” rankings

and also appear in the retrospectives of the all-time greatest films made in Estonia.

News headlines about Joonisfilm’s animations winning international awards already

became routine decades ago.

In this light, it is perhaps useful to remind oneselves from time to time that the nature

of this seemingly self-evident situation is in fact close to miraculous. Take for instance

the fact that Joonisfilm, under the hand of its founder Rein Raamat, held high artistic

ambitions from the very start, and the studio actually proved able to establish itself as

an exception within the rigid, children’s cartoon-centric Soviet animation industry. Or

the fact that the studio not only survived the radical transition to market economy, but

held on to its distinctive character, and furthermore, that it has been able to come up

with the commercially successful Lotte franchise while maintaining and developing its

tradition of creating playful, experimental auteur animation. Or the fact that despite

the fairly provincial view of culture prevalent among the general Estonian public, there

doesn’t seem to be anyone questioning whether such a marginal art field deserves

public support, no matter what kind of unbridled idiosyncrasies these wizards of

animation come up with. (Perhaps the fact that these films aren’t very widely screened

in contributes to this?) All in all, there is plenty here worth celebrating.

What makes this celebration especially welcome is the fact that the works chosen for

the studio’s special 40th anniversary screening present Joonisfilm not as a studio that

is resting on its laurels, but striving ahead: screening not a retrospective but a careful

selection of the best works by relevant, currently active film-makers.

Genre

Animation

Run time

1h 23min

Joonisfilm, founded at the Tallinnfilm studio in 1971, is a large part of the reason

why the high quality of Estonia’s animated films is seen, both at home and abroad,

almost as self-evident. If we were to compare the contemporary Estonian culture to

a flowerbed, the films of Joonisfilm, which literally means “drawn film”, would be one

of the few sturdy perennials blooming year after year without fail. Phrases like “of

well-known quality” tend to be mentioned whenever the topic comes up. Joonisfilm’s

productions usually pop up in the local film-making industry’s annual “best of” rankings

and also appear in the retrospectives of the all-time greatest films made in Estonia.

News headlines about Joonisfilm’s animations winning international awards already

became routine decades ago.

In this light, it is perhaps useful to remind oneselves from time to time that the nature

of this seemingly self-evident situation is in fact close to miraculous. Take for instance

the fact that Joonisfilm, under the hand of its founder Rein Raamat, held high artistic

ambitions from the very start, and the studio actually proved able to establish itself as

an exception within the rigid, children’s cartoon-centric Soviet animation industry. Or

the fact that the studio not only survived the radical transition to market economy, but

held on to its distinctive character, and furthermore, that it has been able to come up

with the commercially successful Lotte franchise while maintaining and developing its

tradition of creating playful, experimental auteur animation. Or the fact that despite

the fairly provincial view of culture prevalent among the general Estonian public, there

doesn’t seem to be anyone questioning whether such a marginal art field deserves

public support, no matter what kind of unbridled idiosyncrasies these wizards of

animation come up with. (Perhaps the fact that these films aren’t very widely screened

in contributes to this?) All in all, there is plenty here worth celebrating.

What makes this celebration especially welcome is the fact that the works chosen for

the studio’s special 40th anniversary screening present Joonisfilm not as a studio that

is resting on its laurels, but striving ahead: screening not a retrospective but a careful

selection of the best works by relevant, currently active film-makers.

Info

Rating

For All Audiences

Production year

2011

Global distributor

Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival MTÜ

Local distributor

Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival MTÜ

In cinema

11/19/2011