TAFF for professionals
The tenth edition of the Turku Animated Film Festival will be celebrated again in Turku, Finland, in August 2025, presenting dozens of screenings during five days. All professionals and students in the fields of animation, film and the arts in general can apply for accreditation to the festival. Accreditation grants the festival pass with the discounted price of 30 €. The pass must be purchased on site at the festival ticket office, where the accreditation status will be checked. The accreditation pass gives access to all of the festival’s screenings.
Click here to apply for accreditation »
TAFF PRO 2025: Future and Art 21–22 AUGUST 2025
This year, TAFF Pro will focus on the future of animation and the visual arts. Media artists with a close relationship with animation or those who challenge artistic expression through different technologies have been invited to the festival in particular. On Thursday, the Turku-based studio Pyjama Films will present the making of an animation series based on the Belzebubs comics and introduces the world of making animation for international distribution. Media artist Jukka Hautamäki will talk about artificial intelligence as a tool for art, and its ethical challenges. Filmverkstaden ry will present a lecture on analogue film art, reflecting on the past and the future through performative means. Thursday’s TAFF Pro section will conclude with an exhibition of VR art curated by MUU ry in the Media Studio of the Art House Turku, titled States of Nature – Virtual Experiments. At the same time, you can visit the exhibition of visual artist Juhana Moisander, SERMON at Gallery Aski in the Art House Turku. On Friday, TAFF Pro will deepen the theme with a lecture on experimental animation by this year’s TAFF jury member, director Michaela Müller. Director Leena Jääskeläinen, who specialises in VR animation, will present her work and introduce the use of VR technology in animation. A panel discussion moderated by animation director Mika Koskinen, with Leena Jääskeläinen, visual artist Vappu Rossi and animation director Eesu Lehtola, will explore the different elements of animation art. TAFF Pro will conclude with a classic TAFF Pro special screening.
PROGRAM
Thursday 21.8.2025
Manilla
11:00 – 11: 10 Annika Dahlsten: opening remarks
11:10 – 11:50 Pyjama Films: Making of Belzebubs
12:05 – 12:45 Jukka Hautamäki: Syntactic Sorcery from the Data Abyss
12:45 – 14:00 Lunch (at one’s own expense)
14:00 – 15:30 Filmverkstaden: Fragmented Light: Cinema Expanded
Taiteen talo / Art House Turku
17:00 – 19:00 Opening of the exhibition: MUU @ TAFF: States of Nature – Virtual Experiments. Soile Mottisenkangas, Juha Mustonen (Dos Robots), Pauliina Salminen, Reetta Neittaanmäki ja Kaisa Penttilä (Ambulance).
Friday 22.8.2024
Manilla
11:00 – 12:30 Michaela Müller: Eliminating the Stop in Stop Motion – Animation in a live Performance Setting
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch (at one’s own expense)
14:00 – 15:30 Leena Jääskeläinen: Neverending Story – Narrative In Virtual Reality
16:00 – 17:00 Panel discussion: Leena Jääskeläinen, Vappu Rossi, Eesu Lehtola. Moderator: Mika Koskinen
18:00 – 20:00 Screening: TAFF Pro Classics
MEET OUR GUESTS
Jukka Hautamäki, Media and sound artist, educator
Media artist Jukka Hautamäki presents artificial intelligence as a tool for visual arts in his lecture Syntactic Sorcery from the Data Abyss and reflects on its ethical challenges.
Mika Koskinen, animation director and producer
Animation director and producer Mika Koskinen will moderate a panel discussion exploring various aspects of animation art, with participants including director Leena Jääskeläinen, visual artist Vappu Rossi, and creative designer Eesu Lehtola.
Michaela Müller, animation director
This year’s festival jury member, internationally acclaimed Swiss animation artist Michaela Müller, will give a lecture on experimental animation: Eliminating the Stop in Stop Motion – Animation in a live Performance Setting.
Leena Jääskeläinen, director
Leena Jääskeläinen, a director specializing in VR animation, will present the use of VR technology in animation in her lecture Neverending Story – Narrative In Virtual Reality.
Vappu Rossi, visual artist
Helsinki-based visual artist Vappu Rossi, known for pushing the boundaries of drawing and for her multidisciplinary collaboration with various fields of art and science, will participate in Friday’s panel discussion.
This year’s striking TAFF festival trailer and visual identity are based on Rossi’s works Tree of Life and Generatio spontanea. Watch Rossi’s interview about the TAFF 2025 trailer and visual identity here »
Eesu Lehtola, animator and creative designer
Animator, director, and creative designer Eesu Lehtola will participate in a panel discussion exploring various aspects of animation art, alongside Mika Koskinen, Leena Jääskeläinen, and Vappu Rossi.
Britt Al-Busultan & Natalia Koziel-Kalliomäki, Filmverkstaden ry
Filmverkstaden presents a performative lecture Fragmented Light: Cinema Expanded on expanded cinema by Britt Al-Busultan and Natalia Koziel-Kalliomäki. The lecture will showcase two expanded cinema performances, WARM DATA by Koziel-Kalliomäki and what comes around goes around by Al-Busultan.
Samppa Kukkonen, director, Pyjama Films
Samppa Kukkonen, director of Belzebubs animated series, presents the making of the comic-based animated series and explains what it is like to make animation for international distribution.
10th TAFF
TAFF takes place in the hometown of the renowned Turku Arts Academy. Our venue is a beautifully restored old factory milieu by the River Aura, as well as a former tobacco factory, nowadays the home of Art House Turku and arthouse-cinema Kino Kilta. TAFF is organized by the non-profit Association Turun elokuvatapahtumat ry.
See you in Turku!