15th Edition

Abigail is a Producer, Programmer and a Director of Animate Projects. Animate is an agency working at the intersection of film, art and animation, that produces award winning, innovative and experimental films. Abigail has produced Random Acts shorts for Channel 4; Silent Signal, a large-scale touring art & science project; and Untold Tales, micro-animations for Instagram. Abigail also co-produced BAFTA nominated I’m OK by Elizabeth Hobbs with the National Film Board of Canada. Abigail is the Short Animation Programmer at Edinburgh International Film Festival and has curated the Female Figures programme at London International Animation Festival since 2017.

Wouter is the owner of the sales and festival distribution company Square Eyes. He worked as the head of programming at the Go Short - International Film Festival during the first 10 editions. In 2013 he started Some Shorts, which changed to Square Eyes in 2019, which specializes in having outstanding non-mainstream films find the audience and recognition they deserve. With Square Eyes, Wouter represents bold, author-driven features and shorts, and collaborates closely with the filmmakers to devise bespoke festival distribution and sales strategies. This has resulted in a small catalogue of films premiering at prestigious festivals and winning multiple awards over the last few years like main prizes at Cannes, TIFF, Berlin, Locarno and Clermont-Ferrand.

Claudiu is a director, screenwriter, producer and photographer. He is a graduate of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, and worked as an editor for the National Romanian Television for eight years. In 2004 he founded We are basca production company. He is the director of several documentaries, among them Australia, produced by HBO, and Two of Us, both awarded by the French Embassy in Romania with the Human Rights Prize. He is the producer of the animated short films directed by Ioan Ioachim Stroe, and they are currently working on a new animation, Life of a Clown. We are basca recently produced their first feature film, Monsters, directed by Marius Olteanu, which had its world premiere at the Berlinale in 2019.

Waltraud is the festival directress and co-founder of the “Tricky Women/Tricky Realites Festival” in Vienna, Austria, the first and only festival of animated film that is dedicated exclusively to animation by women*. It takes place since 2001. Grausgruber studied theatre, film and media studies at the University of Vienna and tourism at the University of Economics of Vienna. She wrote her Master’s Thesis about African Cinema, was visiting researcher in France, Senegal and Burkina Faso, conceptualized film festivals and curates international film programs. The festival director published books like Tricky Women_Animations Film Kunst von Frauen / Women in Animation, Schüren Verlag.

Bastien Dubois earned his diploma in CGI directing from Supinfocom Valenciennes, in 2006. He combines his skills in animated film with his passion for travelling, which he turned into animated travelogues. His first independent film, Madagascar, a Journey Diary, was based on a one-year trip to the big red island, and it had a successful festival trajectory, with over 200 selections including Sundance, the Canal+ award at Annecy and an Oscar nomination in 2011. The following year Bastien directed a TV program based on his previous film, called Faces from Places, a series of 20 animated 3-minute films featuring different countries around the world.

Albert 't Hooft is founder and director of Anikey Studios, a 2D animation studio based in The Hague in the Netherlands. The studio quickly grew, creating independent animation films and doing work for hire, resulting in the highlight Triple Trouble, their first animated feature. Anikey works with many Dutch and international talents, who share their love for handcrafted animation. At the moment they are are writing their second 2D animated feature film, The King & The Thief.

Ana Coman lives in Bucharest. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, but her career mixes journalism and music. In 2018 she became the producer of a radio show called Avanpost Radio Guerrilla. She started singing thanks to Ana are cântec, a Radio Guerrilla act. Meanwhile, she has launched her debut album, called 9 Missed Calls, and has given concerts in festivals all over the country.

Adrian is a multidisciplinary artist known as Fose Cartoons in the arts world and as Tony Baboon in the musical world. He has a Master’s degree from the National University of Arts in Bucharest. In 2010 he founded a music band called Blue Nipple Boy. Since 2013, he has been the composer and singer of his personal musical project called Tony Baboon, which performed twice at the Sziget Festival, a famous European music event. He has been involved in a variety of visual arts projects, such as animation, music videos, illustration, cartoons, video games and graphic design. He is now working on his musical projects and gaming, as well as his own animation series.

He attended the Arts Highschool in Brașov, then the Sculpture department of the University of Arts in Bucharest. Right before graduation, he started working as an illustrator in advertising, then he worked as an illustrator and graphic designer, then art director, Head of Art and Group Creative Director. For the last eight years he has been a freelancer in illustration, graphic design, photography, as well as photo and art direction post-production. For the last four years he has been part of a music band called Trip Manilla, doing vocals, drums and strings.

Tudor is an architect and a developer of immersive games and apps. He is passionate about VR/AR and virtual production. In 2013 he founded Collider Visuals studio, where his team produces animation and apps for a variety of industries. He spends his time alternating the real and the virtual worlds, experimenting new methods of interconnecting them and breaking down the fourth wall.

In love with life, music, events and immersive technology, Andreea is the co-owner of Loop Virtual Reality Solutions and has been exploring virtual universes since 2016. You may have seen her at various music festivals or tech events, each time more eager to teleport you to new and magical worlds and share the limitless possibilities that virtual reality has to offer. Event organizer, PR and always connecting people, her dream is to merge the wonderful worlds of technology with art, science, education and all that life has to offer in order to deliver new and exciting projects.

Multidisciplinary designer who runs Tammy studio, a one-woman show, that creates concept products such as gadgets for big tech companies, furniture for big brand names, art installations and experiences and other digital projects that anticipates trends. Tammy uses bright neon colors and 3D modeling & renders in her work to accomplish a futuristic look in all her work.

Matija is an organizer and producer in the fields of film, performing arts and theatre. He is a chairman of Slovene Animated Film Association, executive director of international projects CEE Animation Forum and CEE Animation Workshop and board member of The Federation of Slovenian Filmmakers’ Guilds.

Karatzyna started her professional career as a production manager and set manager in commercials and music videos production, as well as working for numerous film festivals. In 2010 she joined Se-ma-for studio as events coordinator and production assistant. From 2012 to 2015 she worked as a production manager and line producer in Se-ma-for. Co-founder of Momakin, currently acting as executive producer and coordinating work of stop motion artists with producers from all around the world. Member of Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP) and Polish Animation Producers Association (SPPA).

Paul graduated Film Directing and directed several short films, which were selected at more than 300 festivals, including Cannes, Berlinale or Karlovy Vary. His first feature film, A month in Thailand, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2012, and received the FIPRESCI Award at the International Film Festival in Sofia. Two Lottery Tickets, his second feature, an independent micro-budget film, sold a record number of tickets in Romania. He is a member of the European Academy of Film, founder of Timishort Film Festival, and a lecturer at National University of Theatre and Film, Bucharest.

Maya is 13 years old and is a student of “Romulus Ladea” Arts School in Cluj-Napoca. In September 2018 she had her first collective painting exhibition and launched a photo-album called “Pisicartea”. In September 2020 she was involved in a book launch with children’s author Alex Moldoveanu, and she also received a special mention for young artists from Art Safari. She is passionate about art, she likes listening to music and watching theatre plays. She is a young cinephile and she loves anime.

Tudor is a well-known young actor who has been playing in some of the most popular Romanian television series nowadays. He is a true professional. He started acting when he was 2 years and a half, first in commercials and then in films. So far he has played in seven short films, four feature films and three series. He goes to school in Bucharest, and plays in a rock band with his friends. Lately he has been keen on horseriding.

Eliza is 9 years old and she was born in the Republic of Moldova precisely five weeks before Animest Chișinău. She was the youngest team member of the festival. She loves cats, the film Frozen and tuna pasta. She usually reads two books per week. Two months ago she moved to Belgium and she added learning Dutch to her list of favourite things to do. What she hates most is her mother asking her to leave the book aside, unless she invites to have tuna pasta for dinner. Being a jury member at Animest is her first serious job ever.