Courtesy of Tough Eye Animation Festival. Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of Tough Eye.

A heated discussion broke out during a press conference held at the Tough Eye Animation Festival in Turku, Finland. Gerrit and Celia Van Dijk (I Move, So I Am, Quod Libet), festival programmer Otto Alder and others bemoaned the lack of quality venues for independent animation. One of the most rich and innovative forms of art today remains obscure primarily because it is not easily made into a commodity. Animation festivals, really the only place to see much of this work, have tried to incorporate high art animation into the commercial realm. Without this connection, most of the festivals themselves could not exist. They work to sell themselves as “trade shows” and sometimes force their programmers to play it safe in order to attract their corporate supporters and the general public.

Visiting Tough Eye was a revelation, because here is a festival that has set out to respect these animations as important, individual artistic works. What a great pleasure to simply see art as art. Of course, the organizers are lucky because without strong government support, this would just not be possible.

Turku Arts Academy Polytechnic, one of the top animation schools in the world, contributes to Tough Eye's success as a festival. Courtesy of Kelly Neall.

Turku, Finland is a bit off the beaten track, at least for North Americans, but it turns out to be a great place to visit. Calm, organized, great food and a surprisingly high number of people speak English. The festival itself is amazingly well organized thanks to a dedicated staff.

In the very long hallways of an old rope factory lies a crucial contributing factor to success of Tough Eye -- the Turku Arts Academy Polytechnic. It’s one of the top animation schools in the world and a hive of creative activity. The head instructor of the program is the legendary animator Priit Pärn who, along with the program’s administrator, Eija Saarinen, are two of the main forces behind Tough Eye. This year at the festival, Ülo Pikkov’s film Bermuda — a film completed at the Turku school in 1998 was awarded a jury prize. (More about why a film from 1998 won a prize later.) The next wave of Turku grads have also produced some accomplished films. Many Complained of My Form (Moni Moitti Muotesni) is a collaboration between animator, Leena Jääskeläinen, and Finnish songwriter, Sanna Kurku-Suonio, that brings to life a haunting poem about solitude. Some students, Christer Lindström, Aino Ovaskainen and Aiju Salminen are finding success with their cutesy film Treevil, which was shown at Annecy this year.

Jury Prize winner Ülo Pikkov.

This festival, which ran May14-18, 2003, was actually the second edition -- the first was held in 2001 and, since it is biennial, the next will be held in May 2005. The thing that makes Tough Eye stand out from other festivals are its many gutsy curatorial decisions. Otto Alder, who is a veteran festival programmer, explained the philosophy behind them.

1. Tough Eye allows any independent animation to be entered regardless how old the film is.

How does the perception of a film change over time? A film that once won many awards might not have any relevance today, or a film that was ignored 10 years ago may find a voice in a current climate. The festival employs a team of students to do the selection process. This unusual move theoretically ensures that fresh eyes will view all the films entered as equals.