Turku Animation School turns 30 this year, and to celebrate this Tampere Film Festival shows two screenings: Togetherness and Being Human.
Check out the screenings and read Elli Vuorinen’s foreword below.
TURKU ANIMATION SCHOOL TURNS 30
The animation training at the Arts Academy of the Turku University of Applied Sciences celebrates its 30-year-old history with two screenings in Tampere. Numerous award-winning animation directors and artists have graduated from the unique school founded in 1994. Originally structured by Priit Pärn and Eija Saarinen, the animation school has been selected as the world’s best two times already. Even today, the studies emphasise storytelling and the students’ own artistic input. The focus remains in traditional techniques such as hand-drawn and stop motion animations.
When discussing the development of the Finnish animation industry, the Turku Animation School cannot be overlooked. Over the years, the field has grown into an international entertainment industry that employs an ever-increasing number of people. The education should meet the employment needs of the industry while maintaining the value of animation as an independent art form.
The 30-year anniversary screenings present a broad spectrum of student films throughout the years. The films deal with humanity within a society as well as the inner growth of individuals. The animations depict humanity often in an indirect and detached manner. At best, the works will reveal themselves to viewers layer by layer. They often stay in thoughts for weeks, touch with their ambiguity, offer delightful moments of insight, and manifest the unique expressiveness of animated films.
Elli Vuorinen
Lecturer of Animation
