13th Edition

In 2014 Luce founded Sève Films, a distribution company destined to promote student films in animation festivals, but also young and talented directors. In 2017, Luce associated with Miyu Productions to create Miyu Distribution, a company specialized in distribution in festivals and international sales. In 2018 Anim'est selected several short and student animated films represented by Miyu Distribution.

Pavel was born in České Budějovice, Czech Republic. He graduated in Film History and Audiovisual Culture from Masaryk University in Brno, devoting his thesis to means of expression and specific animation techniques. For three years, he worked as programme director at the AniFest International Festival of Animated Films in Teplice. Since 2013 Pavel has been working as Anifilm programme director in Třeboň, which is the Guest Festival at this year's Anim'est. He has curated three anthologies of Czech animation, released by the Institute of Czech Animation. He prepares special programmes of animated films for institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad. Pavel writes about film and animation, and served as a jury member at various international festivals.

Sergiu Negulici was drawing as a kid and his parents took his passion seriously. While studying sculpture at the Bucharest Fine Arts University, he started working for the first post-production studio in Romania, where he became part of the new wave of digital artists working in advertising. 18 years later he was given the chance to coordinate a small team working for Anca Damian's animated feature The Magic Mountain. His work since focused more on animation and he debuted as a directed with The Blissful Accidental Death, which received awards at festivals such as Annecy, CINANIMA, Animateka, Anim’est, Molodist Kiev, Hiroshima and more. He is currently working on his second short while coordinating a team of young animators for his studio Reniform Production.

Thomas was born in 1960 in Linz, Austria. After psychology studies, in 1989 he started studying painting and animation film at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. He directed numerous personal experimental and animated films and some commercials. In 2000 he also started producing animated films. Since 1992 he regularly teaches animation workshops and seminars with children, youngsters and adults and he is the author of several research projects about the history of animation in Austria. Since 2009, he is the curator of Animation Avantgarde programmes for the Vienna Independent Short Film Festival. He is the director of the Two Day Animation Festival and this year he curated the selection of Austrian animated shorts for the Anim’est sidebar Guest Country Austria.

Vessela was born in 1975 in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2002 she graduated from the Rotterdam Art Academy Willem de Kooning, after which a specialization at the School of Visual Arts from New York followed. After living and working in the Netherlands for a decade, she moved back to Sofia. Over the last 11 years she worked not only as an animation director but also as a producer for her production company Compote Collective, co-founded with her partner Ivan Bogdanov. The Collective produced several award-winning animations, which were selected at festivals all around the globe. Her most recent animations are Women Deserve More (2018) and Travelling Country (2016). A few years ago she started teaching animation at the New Bulgarian University and at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia.

Adrian was born in 1976 in the Arad county, Romania. He is a composer and musical producer. He graduated from the Pedagogy department of the National Music University in Bucharest. He is also a graduate from the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Cologne. He is the founder and lead vocalist of Viţa de Vie, one of Romania's most popular rock bands and a fixture of the local musical landscape for more than two decades. He is also a radio presenter and DJ.

George aka NotSoCommonDJ was musically educated in the 90s in Bucharest. A raver and an encyclopedia of electronic music, he soon became a DJ focusing on dance music. He started mixing in 2006. Among his musical love stories he mentions The Prodigy, Limp Bizkit, Nirvana and Chemical Brothers. He is also a fixture of music festivals and a fan of free-spirited clubs such as Embryo and Sex Tower Underground. He started presenting radio programs for Radio Bucureşti, and now he is part of the Dance FM team. He dedicates his time to Electrocord, a concept label he founded in 2009 with his partner The Basstard. He has recently started mixing soul, funk and lounge music under the alias Soul Surfin.

Paul is a talented artist, director, animator and illustrator with a solid background in Arts. He is the author of several personal drawing exhibitions in Europe and better known for his multi-awarded animated short film Baby Nap (2014), followed by Mom, Dad, I Have to Tell You Something (2016). His short films have been selected in festivals around the world. Baby Nap received the trophy for Best Romanian Film at the 2014 Anim'est. His most recent animated short, CEVA, is currently screened in festivals around the world. He currently works on his personal projects while writing his PhD thesis on autobiographical fantasy in 2D animation.