Priit Pärn is an Estonian animation director who focuses a lot on black comedy and surrealism. His films are extremely memorable; even though I did not personal enjoy them myself, they have still left a mark on me after watching them. His art style is completely unique, containing weird textures and odd character design. For example, in ‘Ja teeb trikke’ (1978) all of the characters are based on animals. Yet not a single one of them have proportional bodies and have only slight resemblances to the animals they represent in the film.
Also, in this film, the sound design/soundtrack are quite distorted in nature and have a very odd sort of ‘twang’ to them. A lot of the sounds are not conventionally made and seem almost robotic or electronically created. It made me feel very uncomfortable upon viewing this film as I have not often seen a film of this genre before.
‘Kilplaste multikas’ is another film of which is directed by Priit and is of similar nature to the previously mentioned film ‘Ja teeb trikke’. It contains characters of once again animal-likeness. However, I much preferred this film to the last as the sound track is consistent and upbeat throughout. It works a lot better with my preferences when watching short films. To be honest, a lot of the ideas raised in this film in relation to society are still relevant to this day, which opens your eyes to the lack of change in the world.
The last film I would like to mention is ‘Aeg maha’ which is a hugely complex piece. From what I gather, Priit attempts to show what the mind is doing when we are pre-occupied with our usual routines and shows what the subconscious mind does while we do not pay attention to it. The animation style is once again consistent with his other work and has begun to become a familiar theme for me. This film is filled with confusing scenes which baffle most viewers. In a way, I feel like that might be the point of the film. As ‘Aeg maha’ translates to ‘Time Out’ I think its sensible to think that Pärn was taking a break from his usual filmmaking and experimenting with new things when making this short film. Either way, it is my favourite piece of his.
Samuel Bryant BA Animation 