{"id":10284,"date":"2026-05-07T15:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/?p=10284"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T22:07:15","slug":"priit-parn-and-olga-parn-luna-rossa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/2026\/05\/07\/priit-parn-and-olga-parn-luna-rossa\/","title":{"rendered":"Priit P\u00e4rn and Olga P\u00e4rn: Luna Rossa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Luna
Luna Rossa, Priit P\u00e4rn and Olga P\u00e4rn, 2024. Courtesy of the artists and MIYU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Few figures have shaped the landscape of contemporary animation as profoundly as Estonian artist Priit P\u00e4rn. Since the late 1960s, his surreal narratives and expressive graphic style have influenced animators worldwide\u2014from independent auteurs to Hollywood creatives. For the last 20 years, he has worked closely with Belarusian-born animator Olga P\u00e4rn, developing a collaborative practice that breaks new aesthetic ground while dissecting the psychological, political, and technological forces of contemporary life. This evening, the two join virtually from Tallinn to present their new film Luna Rossa<\/em> (2024)\u2014a darkly humorous thriller of shifting identities, coded encounters, and the surveilling gaze of a mysterious authority\u2014alongside two of Priit\u2019s defining works from the 1980s\u2014The Triangle <\/em>(1982) and Breakfast on the Grass <\/em>(1987), widely hailed as one of the best animated films of all time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Followed by a virtual conversation and audience Q&A with Priit P\u00e4rn and Olga P\u00e4rn. 35mm prints courtesy of the National Archive of Estonia. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1982\u20132024, Estonia\/France
Format: 35mm and DCP
In English
ca 74 mins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABOUT THE ARTISTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priit P\u00e4rn<\/strong> is regarded as one of animation\u2019s most original and influential voices. He initially trained as a biologist before entering the animation world through Tallinnfilm\u2019s Joonisfilm studio in the 1970s. His films\u2014The Triangle<\/em> (1982), Breakfast on the Grass <\/em>(1987), Hotel E <\/em>(1992), Night of the Carrots<\/em> (1998), among others\u2014are considered defining works of the late and post-Soviet eras, earning top prizes at major festivals including Zagreb, Krakow, Valencia, and Annecy. Beyond his films, P\u00e4rn has shaped the field as an educator, serving as artistic director of the animation program at Turku School of Art and Media (1994\u20132007) and later leading the animation department at the Estonian Academy of Arts (2006\u20132019). He has been the subject of more than 40 solo exhibitions in Europe and Canada and has received 13 international lifetime achievement awards from organizations and festivals around the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olga P\u00e4rn<\/strong> is an award-winning animator, director, and illustrator whose work spans animation, drawing, and mixed-media techniques. Trained in graphic arts at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts and in directing at La Poudri\u00e8re in France, she worked at Belarusfilm throughout the 1990s before relocating to Estonia in 2006. Since then, she has collaborated closely with Priit P\u00e4rn on a series of acclaimed films\u2014including Life without Gabriella Ferri<\/em> (2008), Divers in the Rain<\/em> (2010), and Pilots on the Way Home<\/em> (2014)\u2014earning major accolades at international festivals. Her work is known for its expressive textures, psychological acuity, and darkly humorous edge. In addition to her directing practice, she has taught animation, illustration, and storyboard development in workshops and academic programs across Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PROGRAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Triangle<\/strong>
Priit P\u00e4rn, 1982, 35mm, 15 mins
Julia cooks, Victor reads his newspaper, and a peculiar little man emerges from under the stove to interrupt their domestic order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakfast on the Grass<\/strong>
Priit P\u00e4rn, 1987, 35mm, 25 mins
Breakfast on the Grass sketches four bleakly comic portraits of the absurdities, humiliations, and quiet fantasies of late Soviet life. Beneath its surreal metamorphoses and sharp visual gags lies a devastating study of systems of oppression and alienation everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luna Rossa<\/strong>
Priit P\u00e4rn and Olga P\u00e4rn, 2024, DCP, 32 mins
Luna Rossa follows the intertwined paths of four mysterious figures whose shifting identities, coded encounters, and secret desires unfold under the watchful gaze of a bureaucratic overseer. Developed over nearly four years with actors from Tallinn\u2019s historic VAT Theatre, the film fuses motion capture, 3D puppetry, and hand-drawn animation into a striking hybrid form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACCESSIBILITY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversations at the Edge events have live captions (CART). The Gene Siskel Film Center is fully ADA accessible and its theaters are equipped with hearing loops. For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu\/access or write cate@saic.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few figures have shaped the landscape of contemporary animation as profoundly as Estonian artist Priit P\u00e4rn. Since the late 1960s, his surreal narratives and expressive graphic style have influenced animators worldwide\u2014from independent auteurs to Hollywood creatives. For the last 20 years, he has worked closely with Belarusian-born animator Olga P\u00e4rn, developing a collaborative practice that […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from Priit P\u00e4rn and Olga P\u00e4rn: Luna Rossa<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337,"featured_media":10279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[904,905,902,476,901,903],"class_list":["post-10284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-900","tag-estonia","tag-estonian-filmmakers","tag-olga-parn","tag-political","tag-priit-parn","tag-surreal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10285,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284\/revisions\/10285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}