With this year’s award EAA is paying homage to Heino Pars (1925 – 2014), Estonian stop-motion animation pioneer who has been called The Poet of the Puppets. He is one of the most important yet under-recognized figures in the history of stop-motion Animation. In “Nael” (The Nail, 1972), one of his best-known works, he transformed nails, magnets, and industrial materials into expressive characters in a series of allegorical stories. The film reflected his belief that even inanimate matter contained emotional and narrative potential. While Soviet-era censorship limited artistic freedom, Heino Pars managed to infuse his films with quiet, philosophical depth. He explored relationships between the organic and mechanical, life and lifelessness – an approach that earned him the nickname “the poet of Estonian puppet film” among his peers. Heino Pars’s films stand as lyrical studies of coexistence – between the living and nonliving, human curiosity and natural mystery. His contribution has shaped Estonia’s artistic identity and continues to influence stop-motion filmmakers worldwide.
