27.08.2026
11th TAFF HAS BEGUN!
The eleventh Turku Animated Film Festival kicked off yesterday!
The first festival day got off to a sunny start at the idyllic Manilla Cultural Factory, as the first animations of the international competition screening Born from Fragments lit up the screen at Aurinkobaletti. The screening, which concluded with Chilean filmmaker Niles Atallah’s dizzying Merrimundi, was followed by the Finnish competition screening Finnish Gems. The screening featured Finnish directors Jesse Lähilehto (Interspace / Etäisyyksiä) and Juho Maurinen (Richard the Dream Cowboy), who shared the backgrounds and production processes of their films with the audience in a Q&A session.
Portfolio coaching brought animation professionals together
The festival week also started with the TAFF Pro Portfolio coaching event, aimed at animation professionals and students, at Turku Arts Academy. In the first-ever coaching event, animation professionals had the opportunity to present their portfolios and receive feedback from industry experts. The small-group sessions focused on topics including portfolios for job applications, presenting personal projects, and preparing materials for funding applications. The sessions brought together both industry professionals and animation students, offering participants an opportunity to develop their professional skills and gain new perspectives on presenting their work.
Record crowd at Art House Turku outdoor screening
International and Finnish animations set the festival crowd on course for five days of animation in Manilla. At the end of the evening, festivalgoers headed in large numbers to the Brinkkala courtyard at Taiteen Talo, where the free outdoor screening of No Dogs or Italians Allowed took place as part of the summer outdoor screening series organised by Turku Book Café and Turku Film Society (TEK). Alain Ughetto’s award-winning stop-motion film was a perfect fit for this year’s Breathing the Inanimate to Life festival theme, moving and amusing the audience gathered under the night sky. The Brinkkala courtyard filled to capacity with a record crowd of 170 spectators enjoying the late-summer evening and the film!
Today, Thursday, the festival continues at the Manilla Cultural Factory. The day has already got underway with TAFF Pro, featuring masterclasses by Thomas Volda and Anna Ivanova, as well as Laboratorio, a workshop led by puppet builder Nanna Mäkinen and festival artist Anni Oja. In the afternoon, the festival programme continues with film screenings and the festival’s opening reception. School screenings are also taking place at Aurinkobaletti.
TAFF continues until Sunday, with more than 130 films presented across 20 programme strands over five days, alongside discussions, workshops, special screenings and other events.
Come enjoy animation – see you at TAFF!