Heta Jäälinoja

Heta Jäälinoja (b. 1989, Finland) is an independent animation director and illustrator. Her main focus is in drawing animation. She studied animation in Turku Arts Academy and Estonian Academy of Arts. Her animated short films like “Penelope” (Estonian Academy of Arts, 2016) and “Nun or Never!” (Böhle Studios, 2023) have been widely screened and awarded in festivals around the world. Heta teaches and mentors animation students in Finland, Estonia, Sweden and Norway. Aside from film making, she is a cooking and printmaking enthusiast. Heta works with simple yet expressive pencil lines in both still and moving images. Usually the first fast drawings become the final compositions and characters. They have a lightness that’s hard to achieve by conscious planning. In filmmaking Heta is interested in rhythm and conveying the atmosphere of small moments. She tries to find humour and comfort in imperfection and disappointments. She’s balancing between coherent narrative structures and a feeling-based, intuitive approach.

Filmography

Nun or Never (2023)
Penelope (2016)
Love Hurts (2015)
Omelette (2013)
My Baby Don’t Love Me (2012)

In the MQ residency offered by Tricky Women scholarship Heta is mostly looking to be inspired by a new place, space, people, textures and sounds. On top of animating Tricky Women’s next year’s trailer in the residency, she wants to take advantage of the possibility to work without having a detailed plan or script. She wants to gather and filter material and see what unfolds.