An independent animator based in London, he studied at Liverpool Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. His short films have won many international awards including two BAFTAs for ‘The Man with the Beautiful Eyes’ in 2000 and ‘Roughhouse’ in 2019. He has directed the animation on numerous advertising campaigns, music videos, features and documentaries including the groundbreaking drama-documentary-animation hybrid ‘The Age of Stupid and Wonderland: The Trouble with Love and Sex’, the first full length animated documentary on British TV. He has lectured extensively in the UK and abroad and since 2008 has been course leader of the Animation Degree at Middlesex University. He continues to combine teaching with animated filmmaking and recently completed an animated documentary called ‘Margarita’s Story’ for Save the Children UK, highlighting the experience of children living through the war in Ukraine.

One thing that Claudia truly loves is a good story. So, after years in the corporate world, she found her happy place in animation. She first joined Craft, Nørlum's start-up, to take care of festival collaborations and soft funding. Her desire to experiment with new ways to engage with the audience brought her to join the VOID Animation Film Festival in Copenhagen. Curious to discover how wonderful stories are crafted, she joined the production team at the award-winning studio Sun Creature in 2020. Since then, she's worked on series and short formats commissioned by HB, Mihoyo x Genshin Impact, Supercell x Brawl Stars among others. She currently serves as Associate Producer in branded content.

Clara Marquardt holds a degree in Modern Literature and a Master's in Intellectual Property from Sorbonne University. Following diverse experiences in international sales, festivals, and production, she joined the Oscar-nominated French production and distribution company Les Valseurs in 2020, initially as development executive and currently as producer, collaborating with emerging directors from around the world in both fiction and animation. Les Valseurs' recent productions include Yves Piat’s short film Nefta Football Club, which won over 70 festival awards and earned a double nomination at the Oscars and César, Brazilian director Carlos Segundo’s short films Sideral, which was presented in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and Big Bang, which received the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2023, they presented the short film Aunque es de noche, by Spanish director Guillermo García López, in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Goya for Best Short Film the next year. Their latest feature, Heartless, by the Brazilian duo Nara Normande & Tião, premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival in the official Orizzonti competition. In March 2024, Emilie Tronche’s animated series Samuel was released. Both a critical and commercial success, Samuel set a new record for ARTE, with over 25 million views in a single month on the Franco-German channel’s digital networks alone.

He studied at the Applied Art School of Lyon and began his career in animation in 1998 in Folimage Studio (Valence, France). After several short movies in stop motion and cutout paper ( Petite Escapade/A Little Adventure, Le Loup Blanc/The White Wolf…), he directed The Four Seasons of Leon with Antoine Lanciaux (4x26mn). He was also first assistant director on The Tower (feature film in puppet and 2D by Mats Grorud). The Inventor, by Jim Capobianco, is his first feature film as co-director. His latest short movie, The Night Boots, is made on the Alexeieff/Parker pinscreen.

Producer, master lecturer and head of the Animation BA Program at MOME, she has been working in the animation film industry since 2003. As a production manager at Varga Studio and then at - Studio Baestarts, she worked on TV series and commercials for Minimax, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. She was the production coordinator for several animated feature films and TV specials, such as Pettson and Findus or Angelina Ballerina. Between 2006-2018, she coordinated the production of diploma films as line producer at the Department of Animation of MOME, and also participated in the organization of international training programs. Currently, at SALTO Films she is engaged in animation projects as producer, such as the animated feature film White Plastic Sky presented at Berlinale in 2023.

Italian performer, sound designer, historian into the field of Animation. He has created soundtracks for short animated films by Blu, Saul Saguatti, Michele Bernardi, Pierre Hébert, Roberto Catani, Petra Zlonoga, Virginia Mori, Soetkin Verstegen, Martina Mestrovic, Izabela Plucinska, Manfredo Manfredi and many others. He taught history of animation in Fine Arts Palermo and in 2014 in IULM University in Milan. He worked closely with The Animation Workshop School in Viborg and collaborated with several international festivals with master classes, workshops, lectures on topics related to animation and soundtrack. He is often invited to international juries and selection committees throughout the world. He has performed with Fred Frith, Basmati, Pierre Hébert, Compagnia d’Arte Drummatica, Edoardo Raon, Mazen Kerbaj, in several international film and music festivals. He carries workshops for adults and children about the connection with sounds and animated films. He won the Golden Reiter for the best soundtrack at the 23rd edition of the International Short Film Festival FilmFest Dresden and the Italian Asifa Award in 2010. He curated with Paola Bristot, ANIMAZIONI, a DVD collection about Italian contemporary short animation. Since 2020 Andrea Martignoni has been artistic director of ANIMAPHIX New Contemporary Languages Film Festival in Sicily.

He co-founded the animation production company STUDIO4℃ (Musashino-shi, Tokyo), and after becoming independent in 2009, he co-founded the creative team, Phy. He is one of the few animation directors in the industry who handles all parts of the animation production process, from plotting, storyboarding, layout, character design, key animation, and backgrounds. He has been creating works that blend 3D CGI and hand-drawn animation since the early days of animation and is also a pioneer in the development of software for the fusion of 3D CGI and hand-drawn animation, laying the foundation for Japan's current unique Cel shading animation techniques. He made his debut as an animation director with Franken's Gear in Robot Carnival (1988). His representative works include the set design and assistant animation director for the animated film AKIRA (1988). As a director, Magnetic Rose directed the anthology film Memories (1995), the animated music video EXTRA (1996), and the theatrical short film Noiseman (1997), The ANIMATRIX: Beyond (2003), a spin-off anthology animation of The Matrix, and Dimensional Bomb (2008), a theatrical short film, Genius Party Beyond. The Lexus Shorts: A Better Tomorrow (2013) and Magic The Gathering 25th Anniversary Exhibition: Animated Short Films Phy (2018), among others. Morimoto's major works as an animator include directing Kiki's Delivery Service, Space Cobra, Macross Plus, City Hunter 3, Street Fighter, and Lupin III: The Italian Game OP, among many others. He has had a long career in the animation industry, including numerous TV animation and film productions. Jury member of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Japan Media Arts Festival, Animation Division Guest Jury Member of Kichijoji Animation Film Festival (~2023).

Daniel Secătureanu is Gnome Man, emcee, activist, creative and recently once again student. He started writing as a child, preparing intensely for the moment when he would grow up. At some point, on a sunny day, he decided that he wanted to do good through music and began to write socially, politically and consciously. As a child, he took refuge in the radio when his parents left him alone at home, so the idea of having a show was always a dream that kept haunting him. Omu Gnom presents weekly "Music to Think About" on Radio Guerrilla, a collection of subjectively picked songs, dedicated to those who want something else from Hip Hop music.

MidoriStars is a Romanian singer and songwriter. She is the first and only Romanian to sing and write in Japanese. She debuted in 2023 with her single Shitsuren (失恋). The video of this song was later nominated at the Japan Indies Music Awards and selected to be part of the Tokyo Lift-Off Festival. Born in Arad, she started her musical journey after her grandfather carved her a microphone out of a wooden piece. Her passion for Japanese culture started at an early age. During her university years, she signed up for Japanese classes, driven by her childhood attraction to anime (Japanese cartoons). In 2018 she decided to blend her two passions, giving birth to what we have now as MidoriStars.

Dilmana Yordanova has over 25 years of professional experience as an interdisciplinary artist, cultural manager, artistic curator, and university lecturer. She is a founding member of the KOTKI visuals studio and the AVmotional Association, both of which focus on producing and promoting new media arts. She collaborates with contemporary dance studios, theater directors, scenographers, electronic music producers, architecture studios, and interactivity designers. Her personal or collaborative projects have been presented at cultural events and initiatives in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria, Spain, Germany, UK, Thailand, and the US. Her recent activities include interdisciplinary processes and collaborative formats, working mainly with time-based media and interactive technology.

My work focuses on exploring virtual reality (VR) as a phenomenon and technology that shapes and influences the representation and perception of spaces, architectural and ambient environments. I am concerned with the complex relationship between humans and real versus virtual space, and how VR can induce a sense of presence. Through VR, I investigate how we can simulate various real and virtual experiences, giving users unique opportunities to interact and perceive virtual environments.

Alex Cioaca has a PhD in computer science and is one of the pioneers of the use of generative AI for new media in Romania. He programmed the first interactive installation with generative AI in Romania (Neural Mirror), trained the first AI artist exhibited in a museum (Lili Gan - MARe 2020), created the first AI video with diffusion models (Humans Showing Empathy - Why We Care 2022), and other similar experiments.

Ornela Čop graduated in Art History, Museology and Heritage Management at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. After gaining professional experience working for various cultural events and film festivals, she joined Animafest Zagreb in 2015 as a Hospitality Office Assistant, before becoming the festival’s full-time team member as Festival Coordinator in 2017. Since 2020, she has also been assisting in coordinating the Animation Festival Network, connecting five leading animation festivals from Central and Eastern Europe, all dedicated exclusively to auteur animated films for both young and adult audiences. With Animafest Zagreb, the network also includes Anifilm (CZ), Fest Anča (SK), Animest (RO) and Animateka (SI).

Sebastian Zsemlye is an experienced sound designer and Foley artist. He began his career producing music before transitioning to sound design after studying at UNATC in Bucharest. Throughout his career, he has made significant contributions to Romanian cinema, working on over 100 films and playing an important role in the debut of many directors in feature films. Recognized for his expertise and versatility, Sebastian is one of the few authentic Foley artists in Romania. In parallel, he teaches sound design at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, where he is appreciated for his innovative and authentic approaches to film sound.

Gabriela Iacob is the Head of Scripted Content Development at PRO TV. She is part of the selection committee at Cinema Pendent L'Alternativa Barcelona and is a tutor for the new Mentoring Projects Alternativa Pro format. Throughout her career, she has been the Head of Development at MediaPro Pictures, Head of TV Development at Multimedia East, and has founded a storytelling studio in Barcelona. She has worked with both established and beginner screenwriters as a content developer, script doctor, and storytelling trainer, covering everything from TV series development to mentoring fiction, documentary, and/or hybrid projects.

Ivana Sujová is a Slovak screenwriter and festival director. Since 2018, Ivana has worked on independent short films and TV projects for private broadcasters in Slovakia, including daytime dramas and comedy series. In 2021, following this experience, she continued her education by participating in Serial Eyes, the leading European postgraduate training program for TV writers and producers, organized by the DFFB in Berlin. While studying at VŠMU in Bratislava, she wrote the short animated film Rosso Papavero (dir. Martin Smatana, 2014), which premiered at the Berlinale. Currently, a true-crime miniseries for Czech television NOVA, where she served as a staff writer, is in pre-production. As a head writer, she is developing a mystery-horror series based on the bestseller Whisper of the Woods (Šepot z lesa) by Kateřina Surmanová, as well as a feel-good drama series, both for Czech Television. Since 2023, she has been the first Slovak author to serve as an ambassador for the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), and she is the president of the Association of Screenwriters in Slovak Audiovisual (ASSA). Since 2018, Ivana has also been the executive and program director of the International Animation Festival Fest Anča, the only Oscar®-qualifying festival in Slovakia. In 2019, she founded the series festival Pilot.

My name is Iulia Maria Drăgan. I am 8 years old, I live in Bucharest and I have two younger sisters. I am passionate about painting, drawing, singing, dancing, games, sculpture and I really like bike rides. I like taekwondo, car racing, swimming and flowers.

Hello! I'm Rareș. I'm 8 years old and I'm from Bucharest. My passions are robotics, lego and world exploration. My favorite sports are football, basketball and I like to run a lot, and my favorite games are Monopoly and tag.

Hello! My name is Andrada-Gabriela Gheorghe, I am 10 years old and I live in Bucharest. I really like playing and being surrounded by children. My passions are music and crafting, mostly I like to color and cut out because it relaxes me and makes me feel good. I also like outdoor sports. I usually go rollerblading or cycling in the park a lot.

Ilinca has spent a vast majority of her time trying a variety of different activities, but art has always been a constant in her life. She loves reading and meeting new people. Ilinca is beyond excited and grateful that she is a member of the Teen Jury at Animest.19 and she cannot wait for it to start! The Teenager's Jury is comprised of 3 Incubatorul de Animație community members, carefully selected by our trainer and co-founder of Animest - Ligia Soare - for their cinematic sensibilities and passion.

Alesia attends a Computer Science high school and is captivated by storytelling and emotions evoked through film. She is passionate about music and loves to explore different instruments. Her dream is to explore every corner of the world and immerse in local cultures The Teenager's Jury is comprised of 3 Incubatorul de Animație community members, carefully selected by our trainer and co-founder of Animest - Ligia Soare - for their cinematic sensibilities and passion.

Marta has been an artist all her life but has developed a passion for cinema in the last 3 years. She enjoys long train rides, traveling and going to the movies. If she didn’t like drawing as much as she does, she would probably have become a sailor. The Teenager's Jury is comprised of 3 Incubatorul de Animație community members, carefully selected by our trainer and co-founder of Animest - Ligia Soare - for their cinematic sensibilities and passion.