09.07.2024
TAFF Pro 2024 focuses on adaptations and animation
TAFF Pro brings together Finnish and international animators and strives to promote the vitality of the animation field by offering new ideas and contacts to industry players and students. We are excited to announce this year’s professional program taking place on 22 and 23 August, this time focused on adaptations!
Check the program of TAFF Pro here »
Presenting a truly phenomenal lineup
On Thursday 22, Leo Viirret holds a lecture and a workshop about storytelling. Viirret will especially look into revealing both personal and universal truths in art. We are seeking answers to questions like: How does the writer find a truth to reveal? How can they ensure that their personal truth is recognized as a universal truth that will resonate with the audience? Register to the workshop here!
On Friday 23, TAFF Pro deepens the theme with keynotes from Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Katariina Lillqvist. In the afternoon, we invite you to take a comfortable position as we will be diving into a scriptwriting-oriented panel discussion with Lindroth von Bahr, CHRZU and Katja Kettu, moderated by Mika Koskinen. (We’re sure that we can’t avoid talking a bit about AI, as well..!) The day and TAFF Pro comes to an end with the much anticipated screening Adapted Classics – a screening of classic stories adapted to animation films.
We have now opened the accreditation application for animation & film professionals and students! Once accredited, you can purchase our accreditation pass which gets you into all of our screenings and the TAFF Pro program.
Check the program of TAFF Pro here and apply for accreditation »
Get to know our guests
Leo Viirret is a versatile screenwriter with a career spanning various genres and formats since the late 1990s. His portfolio encompasses short films, feature films, and TV series produced using live action, 2D, 3D, stop-motion, and motion capture animation techniques. While diverse, much of Viirret’s work is characterized by a comedic touch. In addition to his creative endeavors, Viirret has been invited to lecture at numerous universities and universities of applied sciences.
Niki Lindroth von Bahr is an artist and animation director based in Stockholm. Her award winning short films Something to Remember (2019), The Burden (2017), Bath House (2014) and Tord and Tord (2010) have been screened at festivals like Cannes, Berlinale, Toronto and Sundance. The Burden has since its premiere in 2017 won 82 awards, including the Cristal for Best Short Film in Annecy, Best International Short Film in Toronto and Guldbaggen for Best Short Film. Niki got her master’s degree in fine arts from The Royal Institute of Art in 2016. As of 2024, Lindroth von Bahr is a member of the Oscars Academy.
Katariina Lillqvist is a Finnish director and scriptwriter who lives and works in Czech Republic and also in Sweden. She is the chairperson of film co-operative Camera Cagliostro (FI/CZ) and curator of the Mikulandska Art Residency in Prague. Lillqvist has been working over 30 years with Czech animation artists, creating 20 stop-motion animations and also documents, radio features and installations. Her works have won numerous prizes and awards from major film festivals world-wide, including the Silver Bear of Berlin Film Festival, Special Prize of Annecy Animation Festival and Master of Animation-award from Lleida Animation Festival.
Katja Kettu is an acclaimed and award-winning writer with a strong, unique voice. Originally from Rovaniemi, Lapland, she graduated from the Turku Academy of Arts in 2001 as an animation director and has also studied in the University of Tampere and in the National Film and Television School in the UK. Her debut novel Surujenkerääjä (2005) was nominated for the Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize and won the Tiiliskivi Prize, but her breakthrough came with The Midwife (orig. Kätilö, 2011), which won the Kalevi Jäntti Prize, the Runeberg Prize and the Thank You for the Book Medal, and was adapted into a film in 2015.
Christer CHRZU Lindström (b.1977) is a director of both animation and live action films. He also produces, acts, designs costumes, does makeup, designs sets, composes, edits and writes screenplays. Lindström’s filmography consists of award winning short films, which range from animation, documentaries to live action films. His first feature film was released last year. Lindström is also known for teaching narration for the animation students of the Turku Arts Academy.
Mika Koskinen is an animation director, producer, and animation artist. Koskinen has directed and produced several short animations that have screened in several festivals in Finland and around the world. In addition, Koskinen has made animation projections for museums and public spaces, such as the Moomin Museum in Tampere and the Rakastajat Theater in Pori. Koskinen uses 2D drawn animation in his work, but he is also interested in combining different techniques into a whole that supports the storytelling. Koskinen has also taught animation and has been active in the animation organizations.