Victory for Priit Pärn Who Will Continue Teaching At Estonian Academy of Arts

Estonian animation filmmaker Priit Pärn will continue to teach at the Estonian Academy of Arts (EKA), the school announced on Monday of this week.

As you may recall, the acclaimed filmmaker was booted from the school last month, which caused an uproar throughout the international community, and especially angered his students, both former and present. Cartoon Brew detailed the complicated backstory that led to his dismissal in an extensive report by Chris Robinson earlier this month.

Calmer heads have prevailed, however, and both sides came together to reach an agreement that would allow the 69-year-old Pärn and his wife, Olga, to continue teaching at EKA, whose animation department Pärn established in 2006. Additionally, one of Pärn’s former students, Helen Unt, will become the school’s new head of animation department.

The full statement, posted on the school’s website, can be read below:

At a meeting after the Estonian Midsummer (Jaanipäev), the Estonian Academy of Arts and the current Professor of Animation, Priit Pärn agreed upon the future teaching responsibilities at the Animation Department for the next three years. Priit Pärn will continue as the part-time Visiting Professor and Head of Master curriculum and Olga Pärn will become the Visiting Associate Professor and Head of Bachelor programme as of this autumn. The new Head of Animation Department will be Helen Unt, who will also carry the duties of Visiting Lecturer.

Pärn’s last film, Pilots On The Way Home, which he co-directed with his wife, was the most popular animated short of 2014 in a survey of top animation critics and festival programmers. The trailer for that film can be viewed below: