Director in Focus: Chintis LUNDGREN

Director in Focus

Chintis LUNDGREN

2011 Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio Dresko Ivezic Adriatic Animation

2D

All about human nature

Chintis LUNDGREN’s social critique on a bizarre, absurd world

Dr. WANG Chi-Sui

Artistic Director of TIAF

Chintis Lundgren is an Estonian-born animator currently living in Croatia. Self-taught, Lundgren’s works include all kinds of quirky music videos, advertisements for public causes and short films. Her animated short films contain a sense of slight absurdity and her unique traits of anthropomorphic characters. In 2011, Lundgren started her own animation studio, Chintis Lundgreni Animatsioonistuudio. Later she co-founded Adriatic Animation, an animation studio based in Croatia. Lundgren is an amazingly prolific animator. Her commissioned animated shorts include the commercial, Birds and Beer; the music video, I Love Your Face; the award-winning original animations, Life with Herman H. Rott, Manivald and her latest work, Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves. All of the above have won many critical acclaim and numerous accolades in several international animation festivals.

In Chintis Lundgren’original works, one can see a drunken rabbit, a sexy wolf dedicated to gay porn characters, a rat and his dirty bachelor’s pad, a female cat, a 30-year-old unemployed fox still living with his mother and more. They are all part of the little animals that feature in her works as the protagonist. Seen in many collected works, these cute anthropomorphic animals have constituted one of the most concrete expression models in the contemporary animations. Behind the stories of these anthropomorphic animals, amid their struggles and relationships between characters in a crazy, absurd, humorous and woeful society, the audience, besides laughing out loud over these Estonian-esque funny moments, will ultimately understand the irony in human nature that the director intends to extract out of these animation characters and comedic stories.

In the last decade of Chintis Lundgren’s creative process, her hand-drawn 2D animation has developed a distinct tone and an easily recognizable visual style. From a self-taught animator to a global artist having made an indispensable name for herself in international animation festivals including Annecy, Ottawa and Sundance, now she has won a great number of awards and had films festivals dedicating special sections to screen her works. This was no easy feat. We look forward to seeing more outstanding works from this still very young artist, Chintis Lundgren.

Director in Focus: Chintis Lundgren

11/29 16:00 2 11/30 14:00 2

Volli Pall

Chintis LUNDGREN Canada, Croatia, Estonia 2012 DCP Color 12 min Volli Pall is a tour guide in charge of picking up tourists, introducing anecdotes of Estonia to them. One day, a treasure-bringing goblin called Kratt appears in Valli’s life. Tourists also encounter many peculiar things. The film is full of ironic metaphors and surrealist scenes, bringing the audience into an adventure of fantasy.

Birds and Beer collection

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2011 DCP Color 2 min

Birds being creative about getting their hands on some delicious beer. This collection was made for a beer campaign but was not selected. The topics in sequences are bat, egg, pirate, and cannibal.

The Great Grey Shrike

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2009 DCP Color 6 min The Great Grey Shrike is a strange wildlife-story about the very peculiar manners of the great grey shrike, the common cuckoo, starlings, and other birds that are personified in the animation. The birds have human facial expressions and the behaviors of collecting mail and playing the piano, just like human beings. The film amusingly introduces birds’ habits.

Dangerous Migration Route

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2011 DCP Color 1 min

Anything can go wrong on the way to Africa for birds when they migrate to different locations seasonally. This film is one of the series of animations made for the Estonian Ornithological Society, arousing public attention on the birds’ migration routes.

Birthday

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2011 DCP Color 1 min 90 It's the 90th birthday of the Estonian Ornithological Society. The birds know exactly how to celebrate it. That is, to eat the birthday cake together! This piece is the second series film made for the Estonian Ornithological Society.

Birdwatching

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2011 DCP Color 1 min

Bird watching is fun! If you can see the birds…The director tells the story from the birds’ POV, teasing the human when he picks up the telescope. Is that birdwatching or human-watching? It is amusing to watch no matter what. This piece is the third series film made for the Estonian Ornithological Society.

I love your face

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2012 DCP Color 3 min A sensitive and a bit neurotic big bird gets hit with a stone and encounters a small annoying but very adorable little bird. It seems that love emerges from the hit. The little bird tells the big bird that she loves his face as the music plays, making him unbearable to all the excitement. This music video is for a song called I Love Your Face by Kali Briis.

Animated Dreams

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2012 DCP Color 1 min 2012

Birds are having a concert. A frog wakes up from sleep and is shocked to find one bird from the band in the bed. Is this a dream? This piece is a promo film for the 2012 Animation Film Festival Animated Dreams.

Anilogue 2012

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2012 DCP Color 1 min 2012

A man comes home after work and finds a strangely scary bird in his living room. This short film was made for the 2012 Anilogue International Animation festival.

Fox in the Boat

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2013 DCP Color 2 min

Some rabbits with a good singing voice are having a good time drinking absinthe and playing some lovely accordion-music when suddenly strange things start to happen. A group of foxes gathers around in the lake. Rabbits are so stunned. They hide in the boat, afraid of being found by the fox.

Musical Interlude with Manivald and the Absinthe Rabbits

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2015 DCP Color 1 min

Manivald is a fox. He is playing classical music. The Rabbits hide behind trees at first. They sneak out to play the flutes with him. One of them even sings with music.

Life with Herman H. Rott

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2015 DCP Color 11 min Herman is a rat who lives alone in a messy apartment. One day a very tidy white cat shows up at his doorstep, with everything she owns. She cleans the house entirely, forcing Herman to change his bad habits. One day, he couldn’t help but break a dirty dish, starting a war. They destroy each other’s favorite belongings until the house is a mess. They are so mad that they both leave the house. Will they get back together eventually?

Horror with Rabbits

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2015 DCP Color 1 min

The absinthe drinking rabbits are having fun, suddenly get an unexpected visitor looking like a wolf with a knife. Is he an enemy or a friend? The answer will be revealed in the rabbits’ screams. This piece is an advertisement for one of the Estonian cultural newspapers.

#merrychristmas

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2015 DCP Color 1 min ……

On Christmas day, every animal gets their presents. Rabbits enjoy the absinthe, lighting up the candles on the Christmas tree. Only Santa Claus is exhausted sitting on the chair. He has a very long day…

Manivald

Chintis LUNDGREN Canada, Croatia, Estonia 2017 DCP Color 13 min Manivald, a fox, overeducated and unemployed, he lives with his overbearing retired mother. Their unhealthy co-dependence is about to collapse when a sexy and adventurous wolf repairer enters their life.

2017

2018 OIAF signal film

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia 2018 DCP Color 1 min 2018 OIAF

The innocent owl looks at the hot and sexy wolf, stunned with an open mouth. The absinthe rabbit also shows up in the film. This piece is the signal film of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves

Chintis LUNDGREN Estonia, Coratia, France 2019 DCP Color 18 min

After losing his job, Toomas, a hot wolf, starts secretly working as a gigolo to support his family. His wife Viivi has a secret too: she’s attending a female empowerment seminar involving male slaves. Will they discover each other’s secrets?