Stop-motion: Estonia – The Animated Dreams of Nukufilm 1
The international recognition of the Estonian studio Nukufilm is largely based on the production of stereoscopic 3D films which marked the technical evolution of animation.
Created in 1957 when Estonia was just a small republic within the USSR, Nukufilm quickly gained international recognition through the work of Elbert Tuganov, father of Estonian animation and the founder of the studio.
In 1977, Tuganov made the first puppet film in stereoscopy, The Souvenir, closely followed by two further shorts using the same technique: When Men Sing (Heino Pars, 1979) and Apple-Roan (Elbert Tuganov, 1981). Recent digital restoration has made available once again these unknown works that mark an important moment in the technical evolution of animation.
This first programme of Estonian shorts focuses on these three experiments in stereoscopy, with the addition of The Scarecrow, by Andres Tenusaar and Aleksandr Melkumov, another stereo film shot this time digitally in 2007.
The programme is rounded off by another of Heino Pars' films, Nail (1972), another by Andres Tenusaar, Triangle Affair, prizewinner at Annecy 2013 and Lili, by Riho Unt (2008), one of the studio's recent successes.
MARCEL JEAN
CITIA
