08/12/2022 - Sara Šabec chatted with Estonian animator Sander Joon whose film Sierra has continued its impressive prize-winning streak with the Grand Prix and Audience Award at Animateka Ljubljana

Sander Joon, director of Sierra (© Virge Viertek)

Estonian animator Sander Joon's latest short Sierra explores a father-son relationship through car rallies. Following a run of prizes on the festival circuit, the film won the Grand Prize and Audience Award at the 19th Animateka in Ljubljana last week, where we spoke to the director about his ideas for the film and exploring personal connections through animation.

Cineuropa: Sierra is your first film after graduating. How did it develop from idea to film?
Sander Joon: My producer, also my life partner Aurelia [Aasa], encouraged me to make a new film. That was one part of it, and the other was the animation by my father that you saw in the film. It was always on my mind, even when I was a student, but at the time I was not really ready to deal with my relationship with him. I applied for funding, which I did not get at first. What I did get was really nice feedback - that I should make it more personal rather than just using the animation my father made.

Apart from that, we also had difficulties shooting the film. I had to find the right 3D animators, because in Estonia they mainly use traditional techniques and I wanted to bring some new approaches to the process. So my goal was to make something traditional but digitally designed.

Can you tell us a little more about how much of your relationship with your own father features in the film?
The relationship between father and son in the movie is a personal story but, in many ways, it’s exaggerated for the needs of the film. In terms of my personal story, there are certainly a lot of disagreements between my father and me. When we spend time together, it is always difficult to find topics to talk about. But there's one subject that's always an option, and that's his black and white animation, which you see in the film, and also the connection with cars. He is the one who insisted that I get my driver's licence.

When I learned to drive, my father said to me, "Now you are ready for the real world." It's interesting for me to get my head around why understanding cars is so important to him and why I see it so differently. His approach is also very specific, and I feel like I inherited that from him. Whenever he works on something technical, he really tries to go into it in depth. And I think that's one of my traits, too. To make a film, I need to understand and do things really well.

Your film explores a lot of dualities. On the one hand, it is absurd and surrealistic, on the other, it probes a space of sadness and pain, which gives us a sense of a real-life experience.
I tried to be as honest as possible. I took into account the feelings I had for my family and I wanted to give my characters more personality and drama. I think if you are just honest about what you want to say, it will work well. The duality came about when I stumbled upon the symbol of home and family. I wanted to find out how different my mother and father are, but also what common elements unite them and, further on, to connect it all with surrealism.

Like your previous film Velodrome, Sierra is another movie derived from sport. Could you elaborate on this connection?
This film is about rallying, which is also the most important sport in Estonia. We have a very successful driver in Estonia who I follow. What I like about the sport and its use in the film is that it already has a certain dynamic and rhythm to it, and it’s nice that in the animated film you do not have to think about new ways to create it, because it is already there. But still, I always use my own perspective on sports. After my second film Velodrome, I knew that the velodrome cycle was going in a different direction than what I was portraying and, in a way, it was a nice element because it could show the whimsicality involved.

You also teach animation. In what ways would you say Estonian animation is developing?
I feel like it’s definitely moving away from [traditional techniques]. This is mainly because the head of the Estonian Academy of Arts department has changed, and it is now led by Uelo Pikkov. His films are mostly documentary animations and that brought a new approach. The person you have as the head of the department also passes on knowledge, directs ways of thinking and develops ideas for the next generation. So from my point of view, it’s a change, and students are not so keen on just making surrealist films. From my viewpoint, it’s a really salutary thing to change our approach to animation. That said, I feel like a lot of students are coming to Estonia to make surrealist animation, so at the moment I feel like it’s 50/50. So it’s a good compliment for the new and also for the traditional animation style. 

Sierra received Oscar-qualifying awards. What does it mean to you and your future career?
The attention Sierra has received is really shocking. It definitely helps your career as an artist. We’re hoping for the best, because we know it's very difficult to get through to the Oscars. But we are keeping our fingers crossed for other films as well. The nice thing about the Oscars is that we have noticed that there are a lot of animated films aimed at adult audiences. And that's a really positive thing in terms of short animated films, because they used to be mostly animated films for kids. And in that respect, it was also considered not so prestigious. So this is a nice change in the category of short animated films.

Are you currently working on anything new?
We are presenting our new project at Animateka, in the Rise and Shine category. Again it's about sport, this time football. I am going to try to portray the dynamics between football players, who will be animated as ducks. It's about a power struggle in a small village between two generations of people. They are trying to find their own way in the community.