Sierra
2022 · 16m · Estonia
Directed by Sander Joon
Genres: animation, comedy, drama
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, melancholic, surreal
A father obsessed with rally driving pushes his son into folkrace competition, where the boy literally transforms himself into a car tire. Semi-autobiographical and surreal, the film incorporates footage from a 40-year-old 16mm puppet film the director's father made during Soviet Estonia.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Oscar-shortlisted Estonian father-pushes-son-into-rally-the-kid-becomes-a-tire weirdness, interwoven with the director's father's actual Soviet 16mm puppet film — that is exactly the kind of specific lineage I'll chase. Sander Joon doesn't miss.
Joon's Oscar-shortlisted Estonian feature interweaves his father's 1980 16mm puppet work with Matisse-paper-cutout 3D, a genuinely singular formal genealogy. Palm Springs Best of Festival and 52 awards confirm the obvious quality.
Oscars shortlisted, 52 festival awards including Palm Springs Best Short of Festival and SFIFF Best Animated Short, played 200+ festivals — Sander Joon interweaving 3D paper-cutout Matisse-style work with his father's actual 1980 Soviet-Estonian 16mm puppet footage is the kind of multi-generational formal gesture that makes the awards-circuit run make sense.
Reviews
A creative unification of form and content, each feeding symbiotically into the other all the way through the film's symbolic gut-punch of a finale.
Joon's approach is a breath of fresh air — delivering humor without sacrificing impact.
Festivals
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2022, Best of the Festival
- AFI Fest 2022, Grand Jury Prize
- San Francisco International Film Festival 2022, Golden Gate Award
- Fredrikstad Animation Festival 2022, Grand Prix