{"id":3494,"date":"2025-08-06T10:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T10:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beatbit.org\/research\/?p=3494"},"modified":"2025-10-10T13:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T13:38:13","slug":"writing-animation-olga-priit-parn-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beatbit.org\/research\/writing-animation-olga-priit-parn-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"WRITING ANIMATION: OLGA & PRIIT PARN PART I"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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WRITING ANIMATION: OLGA & PRIIT PARN PART I<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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William Henne: <\/b>Can you give a brief description of your career?<\/span><\/p>

Priit P\u00e4rn:<\/b> I was born in 1946 in Tallinn and grew up\u00a0 in a small town with a Soviet military base\u00a0 and I studied biology in Tartu University from which I graduated in 1970. During these studies, from 1968, I regularly drew caricatures for newspapers which constituted my artistic background. I was a caricaturist for a certain time. After University I moved to Tallinn and I worked six years as a plant ecologist. I made designs for 3 animated films from Tallinnfilm Studio.\u00a0 I then changed career in 1976, I went to Tallinnfilm Studio and started my career as an animated film director and artist. I made my first film in 1977, <\/span>Is the Earth round?<\/span><\/i> [<\/span>Kas maakera on \u00fcmmargune?<\/span><\/i>, 1977]. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Is the Earth round?<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Kas maakera on \u00fcmmargune?<\/span><\/i>, 1977)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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But I continued to draw caricatures and started illustrating books, and writing some books, which I still do, one of my favourite hobbies. I more or less stopped caricature in the end of the 80s and I started to make graphic arts, etching, etc. I discovered large-format charcoal drawing. I had many exhibitions – more than 30 – around Europe. In 94 the Finnish Film School, which was teaching live-action film, invited me to teach during one semester. Then I was invited to Turku, Finland. They wanted me to create an animation department at Turku art Academy and I teached during 13 years in Turku. I was still living in Estonia and every month I went for one week.
<\/span>In 2003 the school received a prize for the best animation School in the world in Ottawa Festival. We had just 12 finished students in our school. We even beat the Royal College of Art.
<\/span>In 2006 I was invited to create an animation department in Tallinn in Estonia. In 2007 I stopped teaching in Turku and I taught International Bachelor’s <\/span>(in Estonian)<\/span> and Master’s courses in English at the Estonian Academy of Arts until 2019. Our students collected more than 140 prizes in international festivals.
<\/span>Olga joined the team in 2007.<\/span><\/p>

Olga P\u00e4rn:<\/b> Priit became so important in Finland because of his film <\/span>Breakfast on the grass<\/span><\/i> [<\/span>Eine murul<\/span><\/i>, 1987]<\/span> won the Grand Prix in Tampere short film festival in 1988, which was such a big breakthrough for Estonian animation.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Breakfast on the grass<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>Eine murul<\/span><\/i>, 1987)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Priit P\u00e4rn:<\/b> It was still soviet time but step by step it was going to be crushed to pieces and <\/span>Breakfast on the grass<\/span><\/i> was for me a film to say goodbye to soviet union. It was unexpectable for Finnish people. I gave interviews for three days.<\/span><\/p>

Georges Sifianos:<\/b> What was censorship like at the time? Were films allowed to be shown or were they subject to restrictions?<\/span><\/p>

PP:<\/b> To make a film you need money. The money cam from the state. There was a very tough control. First I wrote a script that had to go through different levels of decision-making. First at the studio level, then at Estonian level, which gave the green light to go to Moscow, where important people decided whether or not the film would be financed, or whether something had to be changed.
<\/span>When the film is ready, you have to show it here and there. The worst outcome is that they don’t allow the film to be shown anywhere. They put it in a safe and say goodbye. The best outcome is that they accept. Then I don’t know how many millions of people would see it if it were broadcast on all Soviet television channels. Sometimes the film leaves the Soviet Union to be shown at international festivals. For my first film, <\/span>Is The Earth Round?<\/span><\/i>, in Moscow they have been shocked mainly about the graphic style, saying that it’s not animation but they gave a permission to show it in Estonia but not outside.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Is the Earth round?<\/span><\/i><\/a> (<\/span>Kas maakera on \u00fcmmargune?<\/span><\/i>, 1977)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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If something was forbidden, it was a very important thing for soviet animators to see this film, because it suppose to be something fresh and surprising. To get money and make my first three films, I showed very different scripts which have been very different from film what I then made. which was risky if they caught me. It would be my last film. But I was lucky. In 1982 I made <\/span>The triangle <\/span><\/i>[<\/span>Kolmnurk<\/span><\/i>, 1982]<\/span>.<\/span><\/i> It was a scandal and they told me I had to cut eight minutes from a 16-minute film. I said I wouldn’t do that. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The triangle <\/span><\/i><\/a>(<\/span>Kolmnurk<\/span><\/i>, 1982)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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They had very strange rules: if they caught me while we were still working on the film, they’d stop production and change the director. But if the film was ready, nobody else would come along with scissors to cut out any part of it. I said that I don’t care. Working is just a pleasure to work. For the studio it was important to have money for the next film. There was almost half a year of negotiation with Moscow and we finally made a compromise. So I cut out two seconds and they never send the film outside of the soviet union. I think that in this period The triangle<\/em> would maybe be shocking for the animation world. They finally showed it on soviet TV and some soviet festivals.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The triangle <\/span><\/i><\/a>(<\/span>Kolmnurk<\/span><\/i>, 1982)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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OP:<\/b> The triangle<\/span><\/i> is a legend for Soviet animators. It was shown before a feature film in the cinemas in Kiev. When Igor Kovalyov saw the film, he went away straight after, bought a new ticket and came back to watch it again. Igor made the film <\/span>Hen, his wife <\/span><\/i>with a similar drawing style. This changed the world of illustrations and printed graphics.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0<\/span>Hen, his wife,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Igor Kovalyov, 1990<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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PP:<\/b> After <\/span>The triangle<\/span><\/i> I knew that it couldn’t work anymore. In 1983 I wrote the script of <\/span>Breakfast on the grass<\/span><\/i> [<\/span>Eine murul<\/span><\/i>, 1987]<\/span> exactly the way the was finally made. But in 1983 Moscow said that such a film would never be made in the Soviet Union. We tried again a year later, changing only the title. They recognised the project and rejected it again. So I started to work as a graphic artist. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Priit P\u00e4rn Illustration for the book P\u00e4\u00e4ssa tuulee ja ajatuksia sataa<\/em>, Jukka Parkkinen, Markku Haapio, WSOY, 1992<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1986, during Perestroika, under Gorbachov, some key people were changed in the main Soviet film department. We sent the project again, there was a long silence and we finally received the message that it was a very good script and that they have been waiting a long time for something like this. The film was finished in 1987 and when we showed this film they took it and sent it to festivals. Most of the people watching the film in the screening room had been working there for 20 or more years. And, if you remember at the end of the film, the inside and outside of the building are identical to those of the building where we screened our film and where these fat ladies were also in reality.
Finally Breakfast on the grass was sent to many festivals.
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Breakfast on the grass<\/em><\/a> (Eine murul<\/em>, 1987)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Zepe:<\/b> There were also commissions for film and press cartoons in Portugal, but I imagine they were more ignorant and disorganized.<\/span><\/p>

PP:<\/b> My first cartoon book was published in 1977 more than 50 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kilplased<\/span><\/i> with Kaarel Kurismaa (<\/span>Kaarel did the colors<\/span><\/i>, book published by Kunst, 1977)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Z:<\/b> What were your influences?<\/span><\/p>

PP:<\/b> My influences in caricature come mainly from the Czech Republic and Poland. They had very different styles. It was possible to subscribe to or even buy their humour magazines at certain kiosks. It was like a window to the world. I created my own drawing style. I even have lectures for my students because I have this material to show them: how I started and how my drawing has developed after three, five or twenty years. I have a lot of drawings connected to images, playing with lines and images. It’s not political satire or newspaper caricature. I always tried to be against the system but my main interest was to play with visual images. Saul Steinberg was very important to me. It was good preparation for animation. You have to break the world into pieces and reassemble them in a new version.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Techniques at a Party 1,<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Saul Steinberg, 1953<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Z:<\/b> In your country was there more liberty for cartoons in a newspaper than for films?<\/span><\/p>

PP:<\/b> Films were, of course, subject to stricter control because they were broadcast on television and shown in cinemas all over the Soviet Union. Officially, animation was an art form for children, so it was easy to say that children wouldn’t understand.
<\/span>For drawings published in newspapers, it depended on the type of newspaper that published them. They could decide that it was politically incorrect and that it was a political mistake and then punish the person who had decided to print it. When I started in the 70s, they would sometimes find that certain drawings were against the regime, so they would phone the publishers of the newspaper or magazine and order them to stop publishing Mr P\u00e4rn. It wasn’t official, so you could bring in your drawings and they would accept them, but they were never published.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Naljapidi aabits<\/em> (The Funny Alphabet<\/em>) comic book, drawn by Priit P\u00e4rn and printed in 1983<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1987, they tried to extract borate in Estonia, which would have destroyed nature. There was a protest movement. My drawing on phosphate fertilisers was published, depicting a man on a cart pulled by a very skinny horse, throwing this shit in the field and saying \u2018And shit…\u2019. and the piece of shit falling on the ground is the Estonian map.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Central committee of the Estonian communist party punished the chief editor of the newspaper. People made t-shirts and hats with this drawing.<\/span><\/p>

OP:<\/b> Even today, it is the best known caricature drawing in Estonia.<\/span><\/p>

GS:<\/b> One can describe your universe as an absurd surrealism. Is there any tradition in Estonia? And what is Olga’s background?<\/span><\/p>

OP:<\/b> I was born in 1976, just the year that Priit started doing animation. I come from a family of architects. My family broke up. My mom started to do animation films so I grew up in an animation family. I saw how life of an animator was hard. She started making films with sand. I saw her working day and night under a large rostrum camera in a darkroom. When I was a teenager, I used to say two things to myself: never animate, never teach. So, after the Art Liceum I finished Belorussian Academy of Arts with a specialisation in etching, was fascinated by gravures and for making money I started to work in Animation as an Artistic director, storyboard artist and sand animation animator. I was teached by my mum all secrets of her experience with the sand. At the age 26 I understood, that I want to starts my own carriere as an animation film director and I choose as a post graduation school La Poudriere in France (Valence). In the video library of the school I had a chance to watch Priit\u2019s films and my favourite one was 1895. When Priit came to Valance to teach my group in 2005, my school alow me to ask Priit to be my mentor for my diploma film The Dreamer<\/em>, which I made in so called black painting style. After La Poudriere I was working half a year in Paris as a storyboard artist (for the series Zoe Kezako<\/em>) and then Priit invited me to Estonia to live with him. I went. From that moment we\u2019ve been unseparated and we are working together. In 2014 we\u2019ve completed the film in sand animation technique, which we upgraded heavily (You could see these innovative process in my Making of Pilots on the way home<\/a><\/em>). Probably, important moment is, that I love to do illustrations. Some of the books we do together, but mostly we illustrate separatly. I have illustrated 11 childrens books and working for the Estonian Children Magazine T\u00e4heke quite often.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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