The boy wants to play with frogs in the garden, but the father thinks a career as a rally driver is better for his son. However, the father's passion for the rally goes so far that the child turns into a tire. The animated black comedy drags us into the surreal world of car racing where the brakes are not pulled. To date, the film has been selected for more than 170 festival programs, winning nearly 50 awards. The first Estonian animated short film that reached the Oscars shortlist.
The film entered the hunt for an Academy Award thanks to Oscar-qualifying wins at AFI Fest, San Francisco IFF and Palm Springs ShortFest. According to the vote of the members of the Academy, the film advanced from the pre-selection to the short list, i.e. the world's 15 best animated short films. The first Estonian film bought by the prestigious US indie platform The Criterion Channel. In addition, the animated film has been sold to various European TV channels such as Arte, Finnish YLE and others.
SIERRA is based on the animation that my father Heikki Joon made in early 1980s. He animated this short piece with no prior experience. And the story is also based on the relationship between us, touching on themes of dreams for future, identity crisis and mental
health.
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✹ Palm Springs ShortFest - Best of The Festival
✹ San Francisco International Film Festival - Best Animated Short
✹ AFI Fest - Grand Jury Prize for Animated Short
✹ Cinekid Festival - Best International Animated Short
✹ Ljubljana International Film Festival - Main Short Film Prize
✹ Fredrikstad Animation Festival - Grand Prix Award
✹ Valencia International Film Festival, Cinema Jove - Best Short
✹ Filmfest Dresden - ARTE Short Film Prize
✹ Ottawa International Animation Festival - Wacom Public Prize
✹ Animateka - Jury Grand Prix
✹ Animateka - Audience Award
✹ Festival of Animation Berlin - Animation Award in the International Competition
✹ Viborg Animation Festival - Best Short Award
✹ GLAS Animation Festival - Audience Award
✹ Countryside Animafest Cyprus - Grand Prix
✹ GwangHwaMun International Short Film Festival - Golden Prize
✹ Orvieto Cinema Fest 2022 - Best Animation Award
✹ 2Annas ISFF - Best Baltic Short
✹ Animatricks - Best International Animation
✹ Desertscape International Film Festival - Best Animation
✹ Turku Animated Film Festival - Best Professional Animation
✹ Turku Animated Film Festival - Audience Award
✹ Fantoche International Animation Film Festival - New Talent Award
✹ Galician Freaky Film Festival - Special mention from the audience
✹ exground Filmfest - Best International Short Film
✹ ÍCARO International Film Festival - Best International Animated Short Film
✹ Still Voices Film Festival - Best Animation Award
✹ Primanima - Best First Film
✹ Primanima - Most Popular International Short film
✹ Festival du film d'animation de Savigny - Grand Jury Award
✹ Riga IFF Forum - Test Screening Award
✶ PÖFF Shorts - Jury Mention in National Competition
✶ Primanima - PrimaSound Special Mention
✶ Primanima - PrimAlter Award
✶ Glasgow SFF - Special Mention
✶ Ismailia International Film Festival - Special Mention
✶ Filmfest Dresden - Youth jury’s Special Mention
✶ Anibar International Animation Festival - Special Mention
✶ Short Waves Festival - Second Award
✶ Lille International Short Film Festival - Second International Award
✶ Encounters Film Festival - Special Mention for Animated Encounters Grand Prix
✶ Kaohsiung Film Festival - Special Mention
✶ Lobo Fest - Best Film Byteen Award
✶ Bit Bang Fest - 1st Mention
✶ Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival - Jury Citation
✶ Skepto International Film Festival - The prize for the Skeptyricon section
✶ Acid'Anime Contest - Best Director
✶ Friss Hús Budapest International Short Film Festival - International Competition Special Mention
Director, Scriptwriter: Sander Joon
Stop-motion Animation (Made in 1980): Heikki Joon
Producers: Aurelia Aasa, Erik Heinsalu
Artist, Editor, 3D Modeller, Rigger: Sander Joon
Animators: Henri Veermäe, Valya Paneva, Teresa Baroet, Sander Joon
Composer: Misha Panfilov
Sound Director: Matis Rei
Additional Shots: Hleb Kuftseryn
Accounting: Liidia Heinsalu
Production Companies: BOP! Animation, AAA Creative
Public Relations: Aurelia Aasa
Distributor: Square Eyes
Year: 2022
Runtime: 16min
