Dahee is a South Korean animation filmmaker. After studying design in Seoul, she moved to France and earned a master’s degree in animation. She creates two seconds of animation per day, turning questions that arise in life into films and exploring what it means to exchange places with other beings. Her debut film, ‘Man on the Chair’ (2014), was featured in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Cristal for Best Short Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Her films ‘The Empty’ (2016) and ‘Movements’ (2019) have also received international recognition and multiple awards. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and teaches at Hongik University.

Olga Bobrowska, PhD, is an animated film scholar, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Journalism and International Relations (IDSM) of the UKEN University in Kraków (Uniwersytet Komisji Edukacji Narodowej) (Poland), co-founder and festival director of StopTrik International Film Festival (Maribor, Slovenia), film culture activist and curator. She authored two monographs published by the CRC Press (‘Chinese Animated Film and Ideology, 1940s-1970s. Fighting Puppets’, 2023; ‘Chinese Animated Film and Ideology. Tradition, Innovation, and Interculturality’, 2024). She co-edited books ‘Obsession, Perversion, Rebellion. Twisted Dreams of Central European Animation’ (2016), and ‘Propaganda, Ideology, Animation. Twisted Dreams of History’ (2019). She is a permanent contributor to Zippy Frames.

After 15 years as a voice actor and a diploma in production management from Gobelins Paris, Valentin turned to film production. He worked on several projects as a production manager for different companies before setting up his own production company, Avec ou sans Vous, in 2022. Co-founded with Aristote Douroudakis, the company produces films for cinema, music videos, web series and virtual and immersive reality works.

Isabel Herguera has directed and produced several short films before directing the animated feature film Sultana’s Dream (2023). She taught at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India, and at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, China. Since 2017, she has been a professor of animation at KHM-Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Germany.

Mariam Kandelaki is a multifaceted professional in the world of animation, renowned for her expertise as both an animation director and producer, as well as organizer of International Film Festival “Nikozi”, leading educational project “Annecy Georgia” Animation project development workshop, founder of annual International Animation Conference Anima-Tbilisi and Georgian Animators Association SAQANIMA, and board member of EMILE European Animation Award EAA. The films that she worked on earned more than 50 awards at the festivals around the globe. Throughout her career journey, Mariam Kandelaki has continually demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing the art and industry of animation.

At 6’7” Piet Kroon stands as the world’s tallest internationally acclaimed writer and director of animation working today, pushing the art of animation to new heights, without ever talking down to an audience. He spearheaded the development and directed the animation of Warner Bros.’ irreverent cult comedy Osmosis Jones, about a cool white blood cell (Chris Rock) and a stuck up cold pill (David Hyde Pierce) that fight a nasty cold (Laurence Fishburne) inside Bill Murray’s rundown body. Kroon developed, wrote and directed HEINZ (2019), an animated comedy feature for young adults, based on a pleasantly deranged newspaper comic about a surly Amsterdam cat. As writer/director, story artist and story consultant Kroon brought his unique visual imagination to scores of animated features, ranging from Brad Bird’s fantastic Iron Giant (1997), Shrek2 (2004) (contributing Pinocchio’s fetish for girlie-underwear) to the gorgeous idiosyncratic Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022). Kroon’s independent short films received widespread acclaim. T.R.A.N.S.I.T (1997) was short-listed for the Oscar and nominated for the BAFTA and Cartoon d’Or. It was elected Best Animated Short Film by The Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Andy 'Sinboy' Luke is an illustrator, musician and general maker. He began doing graffiti 25 years ago, and eventually channelled that into a professional career as a visual artist. He has exhibited from New York to Tokyo, and collects and makes toys sometimes.

Born in 1999, Lola Lefèvre is an animation film director. She graduated in 2021 from the Atelier Supérieur d’Animation, where she directed ‘Mom, What’s Wrong with the Dog?’, awarded at Annecy Festival in 2022, Animafest in Zagreb, and Premiers Plans in Angers. In 2023, she completed her studies at La Poudrière. She directed ‘Au trône!’ for the Espoirs de l’Animation program (in partnership with Gulli), as well as her graduation film ‘La Meuf de Jay’, produced in partnership with Canal+, which was selected at the Ottawa Festival (OIAF). She then directed a short film based on ‘Titane’ by Julia Ducournau for the program Short Cuts, broadcast on Arte. At the end of 2024, following the Do Not Disturb writing residency in Arles, Lola began writing and directing ‘Beasties’, an animated series for young adults, produced by Silex Films and developed with France TV. The series won the Titra Film Award at the Annecy Festival’s MIFA pitches and has been supported by CNC in France. It will be presented at Cartoon Forum 2025 in Toulouse. In 2025, her music video Naïve New Beaters, Star Féminine Band — ‘Ye Kou Si Kuo’, produced by Miyu Productions, won the Cristal for a commissioned film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Her work is defined by a strong visual energy and expressiveness in movement. Through bold lines and rhythmic shifts, Lola seeks to convey raw and complex emotions, blending intimacy with surrealism.

Dragoș Olaru este om de radio și actor. S- a întâlnit cu radioul pentru prima dată în 2003 însă și- a găsit locul în 2007 când a ajuns la Radio Guerrila unde a și rămas. A făcut cam tot ce se putea face în radio, de la știri la producție și emisiuni. Pentru el, radioul a fost și va rămâne o pasiune. Alte pasiuni de care nu va scăpa niciodată sunt actoria și filmul. De aceea a încercat la UNATC în 2010 unde a intrat și chiar a absolvit-o trei ani mai târziu. Se declară recunoscător pentru tot ce are și nu crede în conincidențe.

She studied cinema, theatre and television science in the Netherlands and in Sweden. Before creating her own company Studio Biarritz, she worked for several years at the acclaimed Dutch interactive production studio Submarine Channel (Amsterdam), BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels), a digital social & cultural innovation hub called iDrops (Ghent) and at many film festivals all over the world, including IFFR & NFF & HAFF (Netherlands), TIFF (Romania) and DTFF (Qatar). At Submarine, she produced several digital projects such as the short VR fiction film ‘Ashes to Ashes’, the interactive documentaries ‘Echoes of IS’; ‘Bistro In Vitro’; ‘POPPY Interactive – War and organised crime gone global’; ‘Trust in the blockchain society’ and the multiple award-winning ‘The Industry – Mapping the Dutch drug Economy’, which also included podcast and VR. Corine is also involved as a (script) coach for several VR and immersive projects at the Flemish Audiovisual Fund as well as the Film Fund in The Netherlands. She is Head of Studies Immersive & Interactive I media training for scientists, at the Silbersalz Institute (DE). And works as a mentor at the Playgrounds NEXT talent development program in Brabant (NL) since 2018, the Venice College Biennale immersive 2024, and the European Creators Lab 2024.

Alexandru Berceanu is a mixed reality filmmaker working in diverse media such as performance, virtual reality, comics, performative and interactive installations, animation, theater and immersive environments. Alexandru Berceanu's practice is based on the development of healing narratives through participatory actions developed through interdisciplinary artistic and scientific research, combining artistic creation with neuroscience. Alexandru Berceanu's works have been presented in festivals such as Astra, RADAR, Mirage, Ars-Electornica, ICMC Boston 2025, Neo Art Connect, Romanian Creative Week, in galleries such as Rezidența Scena 9, Anca Poterașu, Atelier 35, Mobius and theaters such as CNDB, Replika, Unteatru, but also in scientific publications such as Frontiers in Psychology or BrainImage. Alexandru Berceanu is a lecturer at National University of Theatre and Film "I.L. Caragiale" (UNATC), Animation and Interactivity Department, where, among other courses, he teaches Play as a Social Environment and Artistic Research. At UNATC he contributed to the establishment of the CINETic center and programs in game design and interactive technologies. Alexandru Berceanu is the author of the books ‘Artistic Research: Practices and Methods’ and ‘Overturning the Paradigm of Punishment’. His most recent artistic projects are the immersive installation ‘Atingeri Ușoare’ and the animated short film ‘Nucul’ and the game and theater intervention for emotional regulation T-NET.

Saint Machine (b. 1979) is a media artist working with interactive installations, painting, presence-sensitive sculptures and virtual-core light systems, exploring perception, memory, affect and the role of the body in digital systems. Her work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica, Madatac, Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Athens Digital Arts Festival, and is in the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC) collection. She has collaborated with researchers in the fields of biophysics and artificial intelligence, developing transdisciplinary projects.

Damian Groves is a director, screenwriter and producer. Interested in the art of storytelling from a young age, Damian found his voice in cinema and his passion took him to Romania, where he and his brother Anton Groves and other filmmakers set up Studioset. Together they have over the years told stories through commercials, music videos and films, winning multiple international awards, including at the Cannes Film Festival and the London BFI. Their latest animated short film, ‘Opinci’, won the Canal+ Coup de Coeur Award at the Clermont Ferrand International Film Festival in 2020.

Matea MILIĆ has worked since 2012 for the production company Hulahop, where she has collaborated in production and distribution of documentaries and feature projects and the distribution of feature animated films. Since 2015 serves as the festival producer of the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb and is responsible for fundraising, team management and collaboration with partners. She has participated in the work of juries and selection committees of festivals in the country and abroad, and coordinates the AFN - Animation Festival Network -, network of animation festivals from the CEE region.

Bastien Dubois is a French film director who earned his diploma in CGI directing from Supinfocom Valenciennes, in 2006. Apart from being an animator, Bastien is a keen traveler, and it was during a trip from north of France to Istanbul, Turkey, that he had the idea of making an animated travelogue. He started from 120 drawings in ink, watercolor, pencil and gouache that he made during his trip, and later on he used 3D in order to allow the viewer to better plunge into his universe. His first independent film, ‘Madagascar, a Journey Diary’, was based on a one-year trip to the big red island. In 2012 Bastien directed a TV series featuring 20 different countries around the world, with impressions about the people, the culture and the landscape of each place. In 2013, Sacrebleu produced his film ‘Cargo Cult’, an anthropological fable, a mix of 2D and motion-capture about the Pacific War in Melanesia. Lately, he has dedicated his time to live action films, books, video games, sculpture, and is also the president of Art Brutal association.

Ana Agopian is Associate Professor and Head of the Scriptwriting and Film Studies Department at The National University of Film and Theater “I.L.Caragiale”. She has a PhD in literature (University of Bucharest). She worked as a scriptwriter, together with Oana Răsuceanu and Iulia Rugină, for several short and medium length films and three feature films (‘Love Building’, ‘Another Love Building’ and ‘Breaking News’) which were shown at numerous national and international film festivals. ‘Breaking News’ (2017) premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Official Competition, Special Jury Mention for the actress Voica Oltean). She also directed two short films: ‘E.T. was here’ and ‘White 2040’. As a scriptwriter she also collaborated with Media Pro Pictures (for four TV series and two TV movies) and HBO Romania (for one TV series). Ana has important experience in cultural management. In 2009, together with Oana Răsuceanu and Iulia Rugină, Ana founded Control N Cultural Association and she was involved in all the projects developed by the association since then. Ana also works as a trainer for national and international scriptwriting workshops. She recently collaborated with New Draft, LIM | Less is More – Creative Pre-Writing Workshop, The Script Contest, Pustnik Screenwriters Residency and Litfilm.

Vasi Alboiu is a creative director who likes to live on the edge where art, story, and technology meet. He started in advertising, where he signed important campaigns at Ogilvy and Lowe, and later focused on projects that combine creativity with innovation. He has worked on many animation projects, from stop-motion to 2D and 3D. ‘Together, body and soul’ is one of the last animation projects he directed, and which has been awarded at several animation festivals. In 2025, he directed and continues to direct the second season of the animation ‘ŢUP’ – the first Romanian animated series made after 1989. Today, as Creative Director at PRO TV, he explores how new technologies, including AI, can be used to turn ideas into innovative projects, whether it's TV production, streaming or digital.

Ion is 11 years old and entered the 5th grade. He has been fencing for 5 years, likes drawing, is learning Japanese and ‘consumes’ a lot of anime and manga. His favorite food is ramen. He hopes to make his own anime one day!

I'm Andi and I'm 9 years old. I like to draw means of transportation, I like to sing and I like running games.

Dragoș is 11 years old and student in the fifth grade. He was born in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, a lively and atmospheric city. He lived there when his first passions emerged: Lego and ‘My Neighbor Totoro’. Back in Romania, he added others to them: comics, animation and chess. He spent his summer vacation volunteering at a robotics and programming school, and he cherishes the most the time spent with Pavel, his best friend, inventing games of all kinds possible or unbelievable.

Sofi is obsessed with animation, especially 2D. She has been drawing ever since she can remember and to become an animator is her biggest dream. She loves the colour green, foxes, mountains and listening to music. Besides her everlasting wish to work in animation, she would like to be a voice actor. She can’t wait to finish high school so she can draw whenever she wants!

Lidia loves movies. She loves to watch them and she loves to make them. This gal thinks there's no greater joy than the act of creation, but she hasn't tasted the fabled Animest cake pop so she’s not sure we can trust her...

Roxana is an art student who loves illustration and everything creative. She finds peace in the sound of rain and gets inspired by the little things around her. When she has free time, she likes to play the piano or dance. For the past few years she has developed a passion for cinematography. She especially appreciates the effort that goes into creating each scene.