Speakers

Aaron Wood

Aaron has 15 year's experience working in the animation industry. In 2007 he co-founded and became Producer at Slurpy Studios, a production company who create a range of animated content for commercials, education and entertainment platforms. Away from Slurpy, he is a co-owner and writer at Skwigly Animation Magazine, and also runs animation-festivals.com, the only website dedicated to listing and covering animation-specific film festivals around the world. Outside of the UK, Aaron also participates on various film festival juries and is involved with the curation of short film programmes.

Agata Gorzadek

Agata Gorządek - director, 2D animator, art director, illustrator. Works in Polish National Filmschool and Art Academy in Lódż teaching stop motion animation and character design. She participated in productions of movies and tv series such as: The Flying Machine, Treflik's Family, Small Hands in Big War, Kill it and Leave This Town, Thrown Away Book. She also works as a freelance illustrator for Wizards of the Coast and Dark Horse Comics.

Agnieszka Kowalewska

Head of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum, the world's only industry event for stop motion animation. She is co-founder of MOMAKIN, where she deals with the contact with broadcasters and VOD platforms. Her main tasks at MOMAKIN include searching for films and TV programmes for distribution. She coordinates projects promoting Polish animation in the world and organizes cultural events. She is a film expert and a graduate of Postgraduate Public Relations Studies at the University of Łódź and of Corporate Social Responsibility at the Tischner European University in Kraków. Professionally associated with the Se-Ma-For Film Festival, TOYA Television, Multimedia Poland, and Klub Wytwórnia. She co-created a VOD platform with children content. A juror member at animation festivals around the world and a selector of films for the Ibero-American Premios Quirino awards.

Alberto Merida

I am from Mexico, currently living in Budapest. I studied a master in stop-motion techniques at BAU, Barcelona University of Design in 2015, since then I have been working as a freelance stop-motion creator. Through freelance websites, I have been able to work with clients from different countries on all sorts of projects. I have made several music videos , which have been selected in festivals, one which won a prize at StopMotion MX. I had worked with SYFY in creating logo animations and with many startups, small businesses creating social media advertising using their products.

Ana Chubinidze

After getting her creative start in architecture, illustration and printmaking, Ana Chubinidze made her first animated short film “The Pocket Man” in 2016. Her debut work was selected by 150 festivals worldwide, earned 22 awards, and revitalized the interest in Georgian animation. Ana founded the only stop-motion animation studio in Tbilisi - “Pocket Studio,” where in 2021 she created her second animated short “Franzy’s Soup Kitchen” co-produced by French studio “Folimage.” The film has already picked up 7 awards and is selected by 70 international festivals. Now working on her third film “New Look for Lion”, Ana and her team frequently collaborate with brands and agencies to create commercial animated films to help the stop-motion community grow in Georgia.

Angela Poschet

Rixfilm Ltd & KoKG, Germany, Berlin Angela Poschet is an award-winning Line Producer and Consultant for Animation productions in Europe. Her credits include numerous distinctive and commercially successful film and television projects. She is the Line Producer on “The House”, a 3x30min eccentric dark animated comedy, produced by NEXUS STUDIOS in London for NETFLIX, which was worldwide released on the 14th of January 2022. Before that she worked as Production Supervisor on Wes Anderson stop-motion movie “Isle of Dogs” and Tim Burton’s Oscar nominated “Frankenweenie”. She line produced the two most successful stop-motion features in Norway: “Solan&Ludvig - Herfra til Flaklypa” and “Solan&Ludvig - Jul I Flaklypa” in 2012 and 2015. As a Production Manager and Scheduler she was involved in the first Spanish feature produced in stereoscopic: “O Apostolo”; Furthermore her portfolio includes the award winning CGI Feature “Maya -The Bee Movie”; Roald Dahls: “Revolting Rhymes“, “Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams”, “How to Raise the Moon”. Before she moved into Production management, she worked as a Cinematographer on the pre-school series: “Ludovic”, “Dragon and Friends”, “Miffy and friends” and in 1998 most notably, as DoP, she was setting up the very first seasonof the internationally popular television series, “Bob the Builder,” produced by the prominent HITEntertainment, received over 20 awards, including a BAFTA Award for “Best Animation” and two Parents’ Choice Awards.

Anika Kruse

Anika Kruse studied communication and media management and has more than twenty years of experience in various areas of film production, communication and management in the creative and media industry. She is a Sustainability Manager with a focus on integrating sustainable production practices into the entertainment industry. She is also a Transformation Manager for Sustainable Culture and a certified Leader in Sustainability. Anika is professionally trained in identifying opportunities for change in production processes, production methods, and work practices and transitioning them to a sustainable future. After working in the South of France for about seven years, Anika Kruse returned to Hamburg in 2018 to dedicate herself to sustainable production and design of film and culture as a consultant and mentor.

Anna Bielak

Head of Development at Aurum Film and tutor at the "Scripts Atelier (Atelier Scenariuszowe)” workshops. Responsible for the development of such features as "Leave No Traces (Żeby nie było śladów)", “Songs about love (Piosenki o miłości)", "Triple Trouble (Tarapaty 2)" and the TV series "The King of Warsaw (Król)". She gives opinions on scenarios for various institutions and programs on the Polish and international market (including Midpoint, Animarkt Stop Motion Forum, Baltic Pitching Forum). In 2016-2018, assistant to Philip LaZebnik at Kids Film.PRO workshops - dedicated to the development of projects for children and youth. She also cooperated with the New Horizons Association as a project selector during the organization of the Warsaw Kids Film Forum. Between 2017 and 2019, Artistic Director of the Script Fiesta - a festival for scriptwriters organized by the Warsaw Film School. She graduated from film studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and developed her script knowledge at many international workshops (including LIM - Less is More, Midpoint Training for Trainers and Feature Launch as well as Six Days of Practice and Script Circle in Berlin) and under the supervision of such tutors like Franz Rodenkirchen and Francoise von Roy or Séverine Cornamusaz.

Anthony Scott

Anthony Scott has specialized in stop motion animation for over 35 years. The Nightmare Before Christmas was his first feature film. Since then, he has worked on other stop motion classics such as James and the Giant Peach, Tim Burton‘s Corpse Bride, and Coraline. Additionally, he created the website Stopmotionanimation.com, a place for animators to share information and post their work. He recently completed work as a Lead Animator on Henry Selick’s new film Wendell and Wild for Netflix Animation.

Bambu Orellana

Bambú is a writer for TV and film, creative director in animation and co-founder of his development Studio, Typpo Creative Lab. He has worked as writer and consultant to several studios in Latin America, Europe and Asia as well as creating his own IP’s that have participated in pitch instances and festivals around the world. Such are the cases of “Normal town” that participated at the Mifa pitches in 2020, the project “Firsts” that was part of Ventana Sur pitches in 2020 and that is now in pre-production. He is co-creator and writer in “The Legend of Zeta and Ozz” which was produced for Cartoon Network Latam and HBO Max.

Beata Michalska-Dominiak

Beata Michalska-Dominiak experienced design thinking moderator, certified business trainer, practitioner with extensive experience in running and managing project management and supporting transformation processes in organizations. Member of the Polish Association of Creativity. Co-founder of the "Customer-centered" community that brings together experts in the field of design thinking, service design, UX, and customer research. Co-author of the first textbook in the field of design thinking based on experience in Polish business - "Design thinking guide - how to use design thinking in business". Trainer in Driving Innovation program of The Chartered Institute of Marketing. She draws from the potential of human-centered approach when conducting projects and workshops for business, public administration, education and the non-governmental sector. She is involved in many initiatives, transforming problems into challenges and supporting in search of effective solutions.

Becky Perryman

Becky Perryman has worked in commercial animation for nearly ten years as a Producer, Pitch Producer and Talent Scout. She is currently Strange Beast’s and Passion’s New Talent Producer and the founder of ‘The Greenhouse’ Strange Beast and Passions emerging talent roster. Her work consistently entails seeking new talent and working daily with colleges and schools across Europe to provide artists with a steppingstone into the industry. Additionally, Becky delivers opportunities for young students and strives to fund three graduate films every year under Passion’s and Strange Beast’s initiative. Along with talent development, Becky has produced projects within the companies, including commercial work for Adidas, Gymshark, Bodyform, BBC, Netflix, Cheerio’s and many more.

Benoit Polveche

Benoît Polvêche is self-taught in his technique of working metal through sculpture, which he has been exploring since the early 90s. Based in Brussels, he participate of several Belgian short films for the construction of puppet armatures before joining the teams of biggest project as Claude Barras's "Ma vie de Courgette" in French or Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs" at London as armaturist or rigger. Recently, between ironworks or sculptures projects, he design armatures prototypes for "The Inventor", rig vegetables on an advert, make armatures for other shorts films and he work now on "Sauvage" the next movie of Claude Barras.

Birgit Heidsiek

Birgit Heidsiek is the founder of the European Center for Sustainability in the Media World, which organizes international events about producing more environmentally-friendly films and publishes the Green Film Shooting magazine as well as its digital online platform. As the Green Cinema Consultant of the German Federal Film Board, Birgit is the author/producer of The Green Cinema Handbook and a two-time recipient of the German Sustainability Award. Birgit is a well-known lecturer at universities, TEDx speaker, and panel host at international film festivals throughout Europe.

Carlos Bleycher

Scriptwriter, consultant and script editor specialized in stop motion, animation and children's content with 16 years of experience. Through his career he has worked as a content creator for major networks such as Cartoon Network, Disney xD, NatGeo Kids, Discovery Kids, RTVE and Gloob among others, with 15 series produced and broadcasted from Asia to South America. He has imparted his workshop on storytelling and character development in Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Spain and Poland.

Christine Polis

Christine Polis studied animation at ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels. (Belgium) For the past 20 years, she has been working on short films, commercials, series and feature films in Europe, such as Panique au Village, Max&Co, My Life as a Zucchini or Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dog" for example. She has worked in various positions such as animator, set dresser, prop maker or rigger and has specialised in puppet construction. In parallel, she works as a sculptor for the Brussels Opera and now uses porcelain for her personal sculpture work. She is currently working on the puppets for Claude Barras' next film « Sauvage »

Christophe Erbes

Christophe Erbes studies math, telecommunications and MBA applied for culture. He worked at Canal+ international, Head of kids and short at Premiere (Sky Germany), head of program at S-RTL Disney and Nickelodeon, Managing director at Fox Kids Europe and Germany (now Disney XD). Since 2006 consultant, head writer, author (as Theo de Marcousin) and creative producer (Godo Films). Curator for Cartoon, APD, and the DellucJr.

Constanza Luzoro

Coty Luzoro is a screenwriter and producer from Chile with a strong focus on serialized animated content. She wrote the pre-school series Guitar and Drum as well as the upcoming series Wow Lisa, a mix project of 3D and stop motion animation by the academy award winning studio Punkrobot. Along with Kike Ortega, she founded PATAKA, a stop motion production company which recently premiered the webserie Pajarones.

Corinne Destombes

Head of development, Folimage, France After working ten years in the Cinema industry, Corinne Destombes begins Animation at renowned French studio Folimage in 2005, on series and short films. In 2011 she produced short formats and supervises Artist-in-Residence program, while developing TV series projects. Always looking for talented writers and unreleased films, she defends especially quality projects for young audiences. Today she is the Head of Development of Folimage and collaborates regularly in juries, debates and workshops in France and abroad.

Cristina Angelucci

With over 20 years’ experience in the licensing and kids’ entertainment business, Cristina has a background in children's content development, licensing, business development, PR and b2b events organization. Tasked by BolognaFiere to build an entertainment and licensing section, she was instrumental in launching the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair in 2008. She is publisher of Licensing Magazine, an international leading publication, and she is involved as an expert in the organization of events focused on animation, digital, publishing, entertainment and licensing.

Daniel Virguez

Daniel Virgüez, stop motion animator and post-producer at "XBO Films" and "La Ménagerie" de Tournefeuille since 2015. In parallel, he is co-director of the non-profit association : Guayabo Colectivo, created in Toulouse since 2013, where he proposes the creation of artistic bridges trough different projects as : musical performances, audiovisual productions, book editions and an urban art festival called Latino Graff, so that the cultures of Latin America and Europe can meet and enjoy together the encounter with the other. In parallel to these activities, Daniel is also is making a PhD in international co-production specializing in image by image animation, during his studies; he is developing the app: Stop Motion Bus, with which he aims to improve communication between professionals in the stop motion industry and increase interest and creation in this technique.

Dorien Schetz

Dorien Schetz is a line producer and studio production manager for the Belgian studio Beast Animation, where she has worked on many shortfilms, series & advertisements, such as "Ce Magnifique Gâteau!" and "Bloeistraat 11"

Eliza Kruczkowska

Eliza Kruczkowska, Chief Innovation Officer at Polish Development Fund, a financial group that offers instruments supporting the development of companies. She is in charge of coordinating the “ Start In Poland” program aimed at building a vibrant startup and venture capital ecosystem including €500m in investment in VC funds and an online one-stop shop for startups at startup.pfr.pl. She used to be the CEO of Startup Poland, a grassroots organization aimed at helping build better conditions for Polish startups by influencing policy-makers, educators, academics, and the media. She has extensive experience in tech, politics, communication, as well as NGOs. In the past, she has worked abroad in Madrid at Internet Advantage, London at the Evening Standard, and Munich at Lewis PR.

Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell

Francesca Berlingieri Maxwell started working in stop-motion animation twenty years ago on Aardman’s “Chicken Run” and “Tortoise vs. Hare” as Painter, Model-maker and Set Dresser. She was Painter on the Swiss stop-motion feature “Max & Co.”, Head Painter on Tim Burton’s “The Corpse Bride”, Art Director on Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr Fox” and on Laika’s “ParaNorman”, and Production Designer on Mexico first stop-motion feature film, Luis Tellez’s “Inzomnia”. Francesca trained in Fine Art in Milan and in Beijing and studied at Venice and Bologna Universities. After moving to England she worked as a scenic artist, assistant designer, props, costumes and mask maker at many theatres throughout the UK. Her work explores the effects of transparency and layering in a variety of media, particularly with ink and watercolour but also with oil, pastels, fused glass and digital painting.

Ilan URROZ

Ilan URROZ, start studies in biology and chemical to a bachelor’s degree in vegetal biology and wine and finish with a master degree in information, computer languages and infotainment. From Design agency to urban transportation engineering or government agencies, he decided in 2009 to develop his passion for animation as director of La Cartoucherie. Build by the city council of Valence (Drôme in France), La Cartoucherie it’s a center dedicated to animation studios. In 2015 he moves to Marseille (south of France) to manage the content cluster of all the south region from Avignon, Aix, Marseille to Cannes and Nice. With more than 150 members in content industries : animation, documentary, live action, VR or TV broadcast. In 2018, with his experience in partnership, market and management, he buys with Nicolas FLORY his associate, the company FOLIASCOPE founded by Pascal LE NÔTRE know as cofounder of Folimage. Foliascope is a production company based in Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, in Drôme. The company have is own studio of 1200m 2 dedicated to 2D traditional and digital animation and the biggest sustainable studio dedicated to stop-motion in western Europe with 15 full led light sets, virtual sets, armatures, costumes and set workshop and a new pipeline DaVinci Resolve ACES Rec2020 compliance.

Irmina Miernicka

Irmina Miernicka - PhD, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Lodz, attorney at law; specializes in labor law, including European labor law; her areas of interest include discrimination in employment, interference in workers' freedoms and the digital rights of workers; author of numerous publications and speaker at international conferences.

Jakub Gilge

Jakub Gilge, over 10 years of experience in marketing, internet marketing, creating personal and company branding and marketing strategy. He graduated from three Poznań universities - UAM, UEP, WSB. He cooperated with enterprises from the industrial, financial, educational, beauty, banking and B2C sectors. I advise and train groups in the field of marketing, psychology of marketing and online marketing. Currently, I conduct classes at UAM on the creative aspects of advertising.

Jakub Karwowski

CEO and co-founder of the 2D animation studio LETKO in Warsaw, Poland. Responsible for developing, financing and overseeing the production of animation projects.

Jonas Pariente

Jonas Pariente is a filmmaker and digital strategist based in Paris. He founded Chaï Chaï, his socially-engaged agency, in 2009. As a filmmaker, Jonas has directed two documentaries taking place in India: Next year in Bombay (52’) and A rickshaw in the city (16’). He created the collaborative web-series Grandmas Project in 2015, which is still running in 2022 with 7 new episodes. In 2020 he produced the documentary À notre tour ! (Our turn!) tackling issues of racism and antisemitism in France. The documentary has given way to an impact campaign orchestrated by Chaï Chaï and director Hanna Assouline since 2021. Jonas ran his first crowdfunding campaign in 2007 to shoot his first documentary in India, raising $7000. In 2015 he raised 20 000€ on Kickstarter for Grandmas Project. These two experiences started his career as a consultant in crowdfunding. He served as an independent expert from 2016 to 2018. In 2018, Chaï Chaï was hired by Kickstarter as permanent ambassadors in France and Europe, building partnerships and launching calls for projects in film, photography, publishing and animation. Partners include high-end festivals such as Clermont Ferrand (short films), FIPADOC (documentary), Bologna (children’s books) and Annecy (animation). As of November 2022, Jonas has helped raise 810 000€ for 56 projects.

Josie Corben

I studied fine art BA at Bristol in the 1980s, and later a postgrad, also in fine art ,at Ecole des beaux arts Marseille. I think being in the same city as the growing Aardman animation studio is how the seeds of my interest in stop-motion were sown. Sledgehammer and Grand Day Out were both favourites. In London I joined the Puppet Factory in Hoxton as a model maker , working for Spitting Image on the series CrapstonVillas as well as various short films and many advertising campaigns, thus beginning many years in the Industry. For a few years children’s stop motion animation tv series were the main stay of my employment as a freelancer with various companies Titch, PB Bear, Wombles, YoHo, FiremanSam, to name a few, and eventually a short stint at Aardmans. The fist stop motion animation feature film I worked own was Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox. I joined the puppet maintenance team led by Andy Gent, looking after the Mackinnon Saunders puppets and making duplicates, setting ups shots and doing on set repairs. Tim Burtons Frankenwienie followed quickly after, I was lead armature maker on the shoot, again in the puppet maintenance department. Andy Gent set up Arch Model Studios in the following year and I have worked for him on and off on countless jobs and campaigns as a freelance model maker, specialising in armature designing and making. We made puppets for two further films, which had animated segments within live action film, before setting up studio to make Wes Andersons Isle Of Dogs where I was lead armature designer and maker running a team of 10 over a two year period. I continue to work as a self employed model maker, keeping as much as possible in the world of stop motion animation, and I have recently started to share my experience with students, doing some talks and tutorials at collages in London. I am also a regular visiting lecturer at NFTS on the model making for animation course run by John Lee.

Juan Pablo Zaramella

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he has graduated at the Avellaneda Film Institute as an Animated Film Director. His professional career begins by combining his work as an illustrator with the making of his own independent short films, which were recognized throughout the world. He loves exploring different techniques and aesthetics, using mainly stop motion. His best-known work is Luminaris, a pixilation short film which received 328 awards, being the Guinness Record for the most awarded short in 2018. In 2016 he made the series The Tiniest Man in the World, a 53 episodes co-production between France and Argentina. He is currently developing his first stop motion feature film with puppets, called “I am Nina”.

Karol Siodmiak

He translates the most difficult marketing phrases into simple and pleasant language. Karol makes e-marketing impossible to dislike. He specializes in conducting marketing activities for small and medium size businesses. He focuses on performance marketing in the online sphere. Advisor and a trainer in the online marketing industry. He always looks at the business holistically and does his best to get in the shoes of both entrepreneurs and customers. Karol has been working in the field of e-marketing for over 7 years. He has worked for companies and customers from various industries - Karol believes that the more difficult a product or service is to sell, the better and more interesting the entire process is. Karol likes the challenge and he always desires more and more challenging assignments. On a daily basis he is a leader of a PPC department in the InMarketing agency. He is very close with advertising systems. Arranges marketing strategies and coordinates activities for key clients. He conducts training sessions in the fields of personal branding and lead generation. Outside the agency, he is a marketing manager in the PubQuiz brand. He has collaborated with: Coca-Cola, TU Warta, Bank Pekao, Life Architect, PubQuiz, PubCrime, QuizyOnline, EIT Food, Skivak, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Poznaniu, Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa we Wrocławiu, Wyższa Szkoła Inżynierii i Zdrowia w Warszawie, BusinessWell, ForSolutions, Chullo, Zwinne Miasto, Maturita, EverBaby, Varico, Monika Górska Fabryka Opowieści, Renault AutoDrap, Magar, NoaClinic.

Kasper Kruse

Head of the The Animation Workshop. He has been working in the animation industry since the early 1990’s

Katarzyna Gromadzka

Momakin co-funder and co-owner, producer, production coordinator, animation talents' representative and coordinator of Polish Quality project, coorganizer of ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum. Holds a master degree in Film Culture and Audiovisual Arts from Lodz University. Alumni of Organization of Film and TV Production at Lodz Film School (PWSFTviT) and Department of Film, Theatre & Television of the University of Reading (UK, Erasmus Programme). 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 (including International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE, SE-MA-FOR Film Festival). In 2010 joined Se-ma-for studio as events coordinator (Se-ma-for Film Festival, Se-ma-for OnTour, Semafor European/Asian Express) and production assistant. From 2012 working as production manager and line producer in Se-ma-for (e.g. “Flapper and Friends” dir. Krzysztof Brzozowski, “Blue Room” dir. Tomasz Siwiński, “Small Hands in a Big War”, "Escape" dir. Jarosław Konopka). Currently in Momakin acting as a producer and executive producer (i.a. “Kids of Courage” mini-series, dir. Matthias Zirzow, nominated to EMMY Kids Award 2019) and coordinating work of stop motion artists with producers from all around the World (i.a. Germany, Mexico, Slovenia, Albania, Argentina, Chile and Czech Republic), as well as representative of "Polish Quality" project promoting Polish artists. Member of Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP) and Polish Animation Producers Association (SPPA).

Kerdi Oengo

Kerdi Oengo is the executive producer of the stop-motion animation studio Nukufilm since 2005 and has been the producer or production manager of 40 animation shorts plus S3D feature Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange by Mait Laas. In 2018 there was released feature by Kaspar Jancis’ Captain Morten and the Spider Queen, initiated and produced by Kerdi Oengo in co-production with Ireland and Belgium. Major part of the produced shots have participated in several festivals and won number of prizes including Annecy Jury Christal (The Master by Riho Unt), Ottawa Grand Prix (Inherent Obligations by Rao Heidmets) and Golden Gunnar from Fredrikstad (Eternal Huntinggrounds by Elin Grimstad, A Most Exquisite Man by Jonas Taul). Among the highly awarded films there are Teofrastus by Sergei Kibus and Body Memory by Ülo Pikkov. Currently in the production there are two shorts Dog-Aparment by Priit Tender and Antipolis by Kaspar Jancis.

Kike Ortega

udiovisual Director from the Catholic University of Chile. His first work in animation was in «Horacio y los Plasticines» (2010), broadcasted by TVN and produced by Zumbástico Studios and Paka Paka. As a end of studies project, he wrote, directed and animated the short film “Bajo la Luna”(2011), co-produced by Zumbástico, which was recognized in national and international festivals, among which Stuttgart and Annecy 2012 stand out, where it is the first Chilean short film selected in competition. He has participated as director and animator in various projects and advertising spots, among which the «Puerto Papel»(2015-2017) (Animator and episode director in Season 2) series (Zumbastico, Gloob, Señal Colombia, Paka Paka, TVN) and the short film «Cantar con Sentido»(2017) (animator), a biography of Violeta Parra, produced by Plastivida and winner of the Quirino 2018 and Pedro Sienna 2017 Awards. He created and directed the animation series «Zander» (winner of Corfo 2016 and CNTV 2017, premiered in TVN in 2021), and «Pajarones» (winner of Corfo 2019 and National Funds Webseries 2021) premiered in youtube in March 2022.

Kristina Aschenbrennerova

Kristína Aschenbrennerová is a festival programmer for Art Film Fest Košice (since 2010), Slovak Queer Film Festival (since 2017), and the IFFR (2022) with a very soft spot for the Far East cinemas. Furthermore and no less importantly, she is a member of the National Cinematographic Centre of the Slovak Film Institute team responsible for the promotion of Slovak cinema and event coordination. An alumna of the Faculty of Laws of the Comenius University in Bratislava and of film theory and history at the Faculty of Arts of the Masaryk University in Brno, she is ever curious to challenge her capacities.

Krzysztof Czyzewski

Krzysztof Czyżewski, partner, advocate, IP and media law expert and strategic adviser, experienced trial, appellate & Supreme Court litigator. He renders services to entities operating in the field of: film, press, media, books, advertising, music, entertainment, new media and technologies. He handles disputes in IP, unfair competition, trade secrets, reputation matters – in civil, commercial and criminal cases. Krzysztof is an arbitrator at Arbitrational Tribunal for the Audiovisual Market in Poland. He is a former: Arbiter at Copyright Commission, Deputy Chairman at the Supervisory Board of Polish Radio. He co-authored legal commentary to copyright law (CH. Beck) and is an author to more publications in IP matters. He lectures IP and media law among others at renowned film schools & during film festivals. He has been recommended by prestigious international lawyers and law firms rankings e.g. Chambers & Partners, Legal500, IPStars, Best Lawyers, Media Law International, WTR1000, Rzeczpospolita and many others.

Lennart Strom

Producer, Festival Director, CEO, Co-founder, Board member, Award Winner, Strategic Networker: Lennart Ström has been active in the media community since the mid 80’s, wearing many different hats; Film Producer, Festival Director, Project Manager and Board Member in various organizations within the audio-visual industry. Lennart’s vast background as Film producer of Documentaries has brought him International recognition; Harbour of Hope (2011) Every Face Has a Name (2015), Swedish documentary blockbuster Tusen Bitar (2014) Becoming Zlatan (2015) and Co-producer of Danish Cannes winner Armadillo (2010). Managing Director, M:brane Forum, Malmö, Sweden 2018- Lennart is since 2018 the Managing Director of the international co-production platform M:brane in Malmö, Sweden. He is principal of the annual event keeping an ongoing dialogue with funders and collaborators and is the point-of-contact for Decision Makers. M:brane was founded in 2007 and just concluded its 16th consecutive edition. M:brane is co-financed by Creative Europe, City of Malmö, County Council of Skåne, Swedish Film Institute, Film i Skåne and Nordisk Film & TV Fund.

LETICIA MONTALVA

Leticia Montalvá Sánchez got her Media Degree and started to work in production in 2010. She studied an MA in content development. She has worked at all audiovisual fields, but animation stop motion caught her heart. She is a partner at Pangur Animation since 2020, where wthey develop their stop motion animation projects.

Magdalena Bieszczak

Magdalena Bieszczak is an owner and founder of All Animation Studio specializing in puppet construction and sets for stop motion animation. She spent 13 years in London working for most acclaimed film directors like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson . Two years ago she moved to USA where she joined LAIKA, one of the most famous stop motion animation studio in the world. Through her career to date, she worked on multiple highly successful, Oscar nominated feature films, such as Frankenweenie and Miss Peregrine Home for Peculiar Children; The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs, where she became a Head of the CTS Department and her dog Hazel became the archetype for Rex, one of the main characters of this film, voiced by Edward Norton. Her recent credits also include Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards nominee Norman Picklestripes- Universal Channel TV series for kids, Star Wars Figures for Madam Tussauds Museum and Ari Folman’s Anne Frank Stop Motion Animation movie trailer. She has also worked on numerous TV commercial for most renowned brands like Harrods, Tk Maxx, Ikea, Coca-Cola, Honda , Tik -Tak and Vitamin Water to name a few. At the moment Magdalena is based in Portland , Oregon USA, where she is working for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinnochio at Shadow Machine. Magdalena is highly experienced and have knowledge of variety of materials essential to puppet fabrication process. Her exceptional knowledge and remarkable technical abilities together with problem solving make her an invaluable asset to any production. She is a London College of Fashion Graduate, with BA (Hons) Technical Effects for Performance. She has finished Special Effects Make-up for Film & TV courses at London College of Fashion. She also holds Master- Engineer degree form Academy of Economics in Wroclaw.

Marcin Zalewski

Marcin Zalewski - for 17 years he has specialized in the production of puppets, animatronic dolls and props used in theater and film productions. He was born in 1975 in Tomaszów Mazowiecki. He started his artistic education in 1991. at the State Secondary School of Fine Arts. Władysław Szermentowski in Kielce in the field of "Sculpting Techniques". He graduated from high school in 1996 with a specialization in "Artistic Masonry". In the years 1997 - 2002 he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. Władysław Strzemiński in Łódź at the Department of Visual Education with a specialization in "Workshop Graphics". After completing the teaching cycle, forced to go abroad, he abandoned his master's thesis. He joined the film industry in 2005, getting a job as a painter and draftsman at the Se-Ma-For Film Studio in the production of "Świteź". In the same year, he takes part in a sculpture competition organized by Semafor and BreakThru Film Production, and after a successful jury decision, he is hired as a sculptor and puppeteer in the production of "Peter and the Wolf". From that moment on, puppet making became his main specialization, passion and source of income. Quickly becoming one of the core of the puppet crew. In 2006 - 2018 he works as a sculptor, puppeteer, coordinator of a doll workshop for clients from Poland, Germany, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Mexico, the United States, Great Britain, Japan and the Netherlands. He has been working as a freelancer since 2017. On a daily basis, he cooperates with the following companies: Mandoria, Momakin.

Marcos Valin

My name is Marcos Valin, I am a character animator. I have been working in animation for over fifteen years. I started out as a 2D animator, but soon I discovered the stop motion technique where I have worked in feature films for ten years as animator, four of these films nominated for the Oscars with directors such as Tim Burton, Wes Anderson, Claude Barras and Travis Knight. In 2018 I started working as animator on 3D feature films, which I am still working on at the moment, although I've made a parenthesis to work for a few months on the stop motion feature film "The Inventor", which is still being shot in France., since my passion is the stop motion technique.

Mark Hewis

Mark Simon Hewis is the Head of the Aardman Academy, a team of Aardman Directors, Producers, and Creatives committed to supporting talent in the industry by delivering world-class animated-related courses, mentorships and training, as well as internal Aardman staff development. Mark is an ex-Aardman director whose work includes international award-winning films for the Arts Council, Channel 4 and BBC. Mark’s short film, The Life Sized Zoetrope (2008) made for Channel 4 and Arts Council UK was nominated for eight awards at the British Animation Awards and won the Grand Prix at the London International Animation Festival the same year. Mark has been working with the Aardman Academy delivering masterclasses and industry training for 10 years and became Head of the Aardman Academy in 2021.

Matija Sturm

Matija Šturm is the Chairman of the Slovenian Animated Film Association and a team member of the CEE Animation Workshop. He has been involved in the realization of professional animated shorts, animated shorts made at creative workshops, and medium- and feature-length documentaries. He is the author or co-author of papers and articles, an occasional visiting lecturer, and organiser of various animation programmes. He works with a range of producers and filmmakers worldwide, as well as with organisers of film festivals, film markets, pitching and other events.

Melanie Coombs

Melanie is an award-winning producer of Stop-motion animation, documentary and dramatic film and television. Awards include the Academy Award for HARVIE KRUMPET, the Asia Pacific Screen Award for MARY AND MAX and the AFI Award for BREAK AND ENTER. And THE DEATH AND LIFE OF OTTO BLOOM was the Opening Night film of the Melbourne International Film Festival, July 2016. Since 2018 Melanie has been Production Supervisor and Co-Producer on Guillermo del Toro’s Stop-motion animation adaptation of Pinocchio. Melanie is an Ambassador for Screenrights, a member of the Screen Producers Association of Australia, the Australian Academy Cinema and Television Arts and a member of the Animation Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences®.

Nancy Denney-Phelps

Nancy Denney-Phelps is a journalist writing about European animation and festivals as well as a producer of music for animation. Along with her composer/musician husband Nik Phelps, she co-founded the Sprocket Ensemble dedicated to presenting live performances of original music with screenings of contemporary animation from around the world. Nancy's writings have appeared in such publications as CARTOON and ANIMATOON as well as on her regular blog for AWN (Animation World Network). She is also a regular correspondent for ASIFA/San Francisco and a member of the ASIFA International Board of Directors as well as an Ambassador At Large for the Emile Awards. Nancy has served on numerous International Animation Festival juries and taught time management for animators at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Art and Design. She is the pitching coach at ANIMARKT in Lodz, Poland as well as a member of their Brain Trust Advisory Board. Her strong interest in the history of animation has led her to present programs on the history of animation traced through music at many animation festivals and conferences worldwide. She also works as advisor to several animation festivals and in 2019 was the recipient of a Life Time Achievement Award from ANIMA KON Animation Festival in Bilbao, Spain.

Nik Phelps

Born in Texas, Belgium-based composer Nik Phelps has played with diverse musical artists, from Eric Johnson and Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants, to Frank Zappa and Mary Martin, He recorded with Tom Waits, playing on three films and five CDs. He has been scoring film since 1988, starting with the seminal San Francisco soundtrack group The Club Foot Orchestra, and has been working in the animation field since 1995, scoring for the Film Roman animated series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. In 1996 he founded the live film music project The Sprocket Ensemble, creating music for animators such as Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Lei Lei and Ivan Maximov. He also gives workshops dealing with performance techniques and the creative process.

Olaf Zylicz

Olaf Zylicz, born in Denmark, Polish psychologist combining the roles of organizational consultant, and a scientist. He is an accredited trainer, business coach, mentor and examiner of Noble Manhattan Coaching (UK). Olaf managed, inter alia, The Business School of the Warsaw University of Technology and the International Center for Research on Leadership of the SWPS University. Coordinator of international research projects, author of scientific papers and many specialist publications in the field of psychology. Lecturer in Poland and abroad (incl., Hungary, Ukraine, Israel, India, USA, South Africa, Belarus).

Ole Wendorff-Ostergaard

Ole Wendorff-Ostergaard has a large co-production and film finance experience from films such as “Antichrist” by Lars von Trier, “The Model” by Mads Matthisen and “Another Day of Life”. From 2007 to 2010 Ole was a financial producer at Zentropa in Denmark. Ole has co-produced with the following countries: France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, UK, Hungary and Germany. Since moving to Poland in 2008 he started up Zentropa International Poland and worked as Delegate Producer for Platige Image until completion of animated feature “Another Day of Life”. The film premiered in official selection Cannes 2018 and has won Audience Award at San Sebastian IFF and European producer of the year Cartoon Movie. Another Day of Life won European Animation Film by EFA. Ole is currently back in Denmark where he is working as producer for the Danish Film Institute as producer for fiction film and production consultant for the Public service Fund which supports TV series.

Olivier Catherin

Olivier Catherin is an ethnologist by training. He was a board member and employee of the French Animation Film Association (AFCA), where he was responsible for the Resource Centre and created the International Animation Film Day. In 2008 he created the production company "Les Trois Ours". He produced, among others, Kiki of Montparnasse which won a César for best short animation film. From 2015 to 2018 he was in charge of the animation sector for the Hauts-de-France region (Nord) at Pictanovo. He is one of the co-founders and administrators of the European Animation Awards (Emile Awards). Today he is a freelance producer on international co-production projects (Steakhouse, Granny’s Sexual Life, Franzy’s Soup Kitchen), consultant for various entities as CITIA or CEE Animation. He’s also teaching animation production and History of Cinema (INA sup, Sciences Po).

Peter badac

Peter is a graduate of VŠMU in Bratislava and FAMU in Prague. In 2010 he studied in HFF “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam, Germany. In 2014 he received scholarship from Fulbright foundation and studied at Ohio University in Athens, USA. He has experiences as a production manager, a creative producer in TV and an independent film producer. Now he works as a producer in the company BFILM based in Bratislava and Prague. He has produced several shorts (PANDAS won the award at Cinefondation 2013 in Cannes, UNTRAVEL was released at the Berlinale in 2018). In 2017, two of his fiction films were released: FILTHY, directed by Tereza Nvotova at IFF Rotterdam, and FREEDOM, directed by Jan Speckenbach at IFF Locarno. In 2019, another two animation films were released: THE KITE at Berlinale in Generation and SH_T HAPPENS at Venice and Sundance. In 2021 he coproduced film by Michaela Pavlátová MY SUNNY MAAD that was premiered in Annecy, and was nominated for the Golden Globe as Best Animation Film. In 2018 he was selected among 20 European producers to the prestigious program organized by EFP Producer on the Move. He is graduate of ACE Producers Workshop 31. In addition to his work as a film producer, he teaches at FAMU. He is the member of the Czech Film and Television Academy and European Film Academy.

Piotr Grocholinski

Piotr Grocholiński - has extensive experience in creating strategies, business models, segmentation, product management and implementing changes in the organizations. He gained his experience working in multicultural environments, incl. ING Bank Śląski, Nordea Bank, LG Petro Bank and independently providing business support for companies from various sectors. Co-founder of the "Customer-centered" community gathering experts in the field of design thinking, service design, UX, and customer research. Co-author of the first textbook in the field of design thinking based on experience in Polish business - "Design thinking guide - how to use design thinking in business". Thanks to business and design practice (design thinking / service design), he effectively combines the business area with design processes. He helps leaders and their teams go through the transformation processes, see through the eyes of the client, implement design thinking and strengthen the culture of innovation.

Piotr Knabe

Piotr Knabe is a versatile freelance creator with many years of experience in sculpture, mould making and casting, creative engineering, character design, illustration, 3D modelling and 3D printing. Since 2001 has been working individually and in collaboration with other creators as a designer and maker of puppets, models, props and prosthetic pieces for film, theatre, television, exhibitions and theme parks both domestic and abroad. Cooperated with the biggest film studios in Poland (i.a. Opus Film, Se-ma-for, BreakThru Films, WJTeam, Animoon, TVSFA from Poznan, Kadr Film Studio) and many foreign producers, e.g. ZVVIKS (Slovenia), Come Sesos (Mexico), MOV Co. (Japan), Tenk TV (Norway), LOOKS Film&TV (Germany), Inzomnia Animación (Mexico), Camera Cagliostro (Finlandia) or Indian Paintbrush (USA). Involved in making puppets, replicas and sets for such films as: an Oscar winning “Peter and a Wolf” by Suzie Templeton, “Ichtys”, “Danny Boy” by Marek Skrobecki, “A Flying Machine” by Martin Clapp, “La nostalgia del Sr. Alambre” by Jonathan Ostos Yaber, “Escape” by Jaroslaw Konopka, as well as TV series including: “Flapper and Friends”, “Koyaa” and “War and I” and features including „Isle of Dogs” by Wes Anderson, „Even Mice Belong in Haven” by Denisa Grimmova and “Inzomnia” by Luis Tellez (in production)

Przemyslaw Adamski

Creator of audiovisual works specializing in stop-motion and experimental animation, especially interested in those areas of creative activity where the video workshop intertwines with other fields of science and art. He carries out a significant part of his work together with Katarzyna Kijek. Films, music videos and other short video forms by the Kijek/Adamski duo have been presented at several hundred international festivals and shows around the world. They have also won several dozen awards (including Le Cristal d'Annecy, D&AD, L.A. Film Fest, Zagreb IAFF, Tirana IFF). He runs the Animation Studio at the Faculty of Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

Roos Mattaar

Roos is a Dutch stop motion artist based in the UK, who has worked as animator, puppet maker, model maker and director. After gaining experience in studios such as Mackinnon & Saunders & John Wright Model Maker she has been working independently, co-founding and running a dedicated stop motion studio in Bristol (UK) from where she works on commissioned projects such as music videos and commercials and since recently also running stop motion fabrication workshops. When not at the studio Roos has also taken on work as a freelance animator on short film productions in the UK and abroad in Poland and Greece, represented by Momakin stop motion agency.

Rosario Carlino

Animation Director and Producer. Founder of Osa, animation studio based in Cordoba, Argentina, dedicated to the development and production of entertaining, edgy and provoking stories in different animation formats. Member of the board of directors of APA, the association of animation producers of Córdoba, Argentina. Coordinator of Apa Lab, the Latin American Laboratory for the development of Animation Projects, Unquillo, Córdoba, Argentina. Coordinator of RIA, the International Animation Residency, Unquillo, Córdoba, Argentina.

Sasa Bach

Saša Bach graduated from Cultural Studies at University of Ljubljana in 2011. From 2014 she works as the festival producer at Animateka International Animated Film Festival and at StopTrik International Film Festival. She worked as a festival producer for the national Festival of Slovenian Film. In 2016, she became president of The Elephant – Association for Film Education, an organisation dedicated to promoting animated film and educating young audiences on the topic. In 2017, she became a board member of the Slovene Animated Film Association. She is involved with CEE Animation since 2018 and was the Project manager of the CEE Animation Forum 2021 and from 2022 she works as the managing director of CEE Animation Workshop.

Simon Quinn

Simon Quinn has been working in the Film and Television industry for over 34 years. Currently producing Series Three of the Annie and double Emmy award winning animation series The Adventures of Paddington Bear for Studio Canal. He is also a consultant producer for Magic Light Pictures on the multi award winning Julia Donaldson classics such as Superworm , Zog and the Flying Drs & The Snail & The Whale. He started his career at Spitting Image as a puppet maker in 1987. Discovered stop-motion animation at Film Fair in 1990, on classics such as The Wombles. In 2002 he re-booted and line-produced Fireman Sam (CBBC) and two series of Hannah’s Helpline (Ch5 Milkshake) Then Line Produced Wes Anderson’s Academy nominated Fantastic Mr. Fox 2009 . Then Line Producer on Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie 2012 (Disney) In 2013 he produced sixteen commercials with multi award winning Passion Pictures. Working with Baby Cow Animation & Smiley Guy Studios Canada in 2014-15 he co-created with Simon Rolph & produced Wussywat the Clumsy Cat a 52 x 5 minutes preschool series for CBeebies. In 2015 he became the Animation Producer for Wes Anderson’s Academy nominated Feature Film Isle of Dogs released 2018.

Theo Ciret

I have been working in the field of animation, in production or in manufacturing, since over 10 years and I learned how to deal with production process and pipelines for making animated films. Within Folimage production (FR), I worked four years as production manager, on shorts films, TV series and especially on the feature film in 2D traditional animation "A Cat in Paris" which has been selected for the Oscar in 2012. Then, with Tant Mieux Prod (FR) I organized the first collection of short animated poems of Jacques Prévert “En Sortant de L’Ecole” (France Televisions). I worked as line producer on a feature film in stop motion produced by Rita production (CH) and Blue Spirit (FR): “My Life as Zucchini” directed by Claude Barras, which has been selected at Cannes Festival and won the Cristal Award in Annecy in 2016. I worked with Toon Factory (FR), as head of production, on a new TV series "Sardine from outer space " designed by Joan Sfar, in an hybrid technical animation (Canal +) I worked with Autour de Minuit (FR) as Line producer in CGI and 2D animation, on TV series « No-No » (Canal+) and « Jean-Michel, the caribou »(France télévisions) by Magali le Huche. I came back to Folimage (FR) for few months to develop three TV series. Two adaptations from comic books of Marion Montaigne « You’ll die less dumb » (Arte France) or Riad Sattouf « Esther’s diary » (Canal+). And « Cheeky Ana » (France Televisions) an original TV series for children. My last tv serie was with Luce Creative (AUS) on the TV series “Little Penguin”.

Tim Allen

A stop motion animator for over 20 years, Tim Allen is currently a Senior Animator on Pinocchio for Guillermo del Toro. He was a key animator on Wes Anderson’s oscar nominated film Isle of Dogs. His other credits include Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride & Frankenweenie plus Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires. As well as animating on Oscar winning Peter & the Wolf & Oscar nominated My Life as a Zucchini, he’s served many years of TV series work including Fireman Sam, Postman Pat plus Shaun the Sheep & Creature Comforts USA for Aardman Animations. Tim is well known for his work on commercials & animating short films for up & coming directors. He was Animation Supervisor on The Magic Piano as well as the stop motion Club Penguin specials for Disney Tim has an extensive background in teaching animation techniques worldwide for trainee animators of all experience levels

Tina Smrekar

Tina Smrekar focuses on developing and producing short artistic animated films. Co-founder of and producer at Finta Film. Films by Špela Čadež such as Boles and Nighthawk received more than 90 awards and the latest Steakhouse premiered at Locarno Film Festival, received several Grand Prixs and a Jury Award in Annecy. The studio is also producing the debut Three Birds by Zarja Menart and developing the professional debut by the Slovenian-Italian director Leo Černic. Slovenia’s first official minority coproduction in animation, Money&Hapiness by Ana Nedeljković and Nikola Majdak was coproduced by Finta Film and has begun its life at Locarno Film Festival this August. Tina has also been collaborating regularly with the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts, helping young talents develop across media. Lives and works in Ljubljana. Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Slovenian audiovisual collecting society AIPA.

Tobias Fouracre

Tobias Fouracre works as a freelance stop-motion Director and Animator. He graduated in 1989 from the West Surrey College of Art and Design with a BA (hons) Degree in Film and Animation. During the 90s he worked as an Animator on various short films, promos and title sequences before entering a period in children's television series as an animator and eventually Director. In 2004 he became Key Animator on Tim Burton's Feature “The Corpse Bride”. This led to directing many high profile commercials including the Marmite “Paddington Bear” campaign, Anchor “Fuzzy Felt” cows and the Thunderbirds Specsavers commercial as well as animating for numerous high end production companies in the UK and Europe. More feature film work followed including Key Animator on Wes Anderson's “Fantastic Mr Fox”, Lead Animator on Tim Burton's “Frankenweenie” and Animation Supervisor on Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs”. All four films have received Oscar nominations for best animated feature. Recently he was Animation Director and Animator on “Save Ralph” and Animation Director on Story 1 of Netflix’s “The House”. He is currently Directing stop-motion Commercials again.

Veronique Encrenaz

Véronique Encrenaz obtained her Master's degree in Applied Foreign Languages in 1987. She wrote her thesis in the United States and perfected her Spanish during a 6-month stay in Madrid. Between 1988 and1994, after a brief stint at Acteurs Auteurs Associés where she began her professional career, she joined Président Films, an export company of French films, as Technical and Export Manager. For the next two years, she continued in the same position in the Film department at France Télévisions Distribution in Paris. Her arrival in Annecy, at the beginning of 2005, gave her the opportunity to join the CITIA team. She spent her first four years working as Sales Assistant for the Mifa before taking on the job of Sales Manager until 2011, then of Mifa’s Head of Projects until 2018, in charge of developing and marketing the spaces and events for the film Market. Since July 2018, Véronique Encrenaz is Head of Mifa, under the authority of Mickael Marin, CEO of Citia.

Vladimir Lhotak

Vladimír Lhoták is an independent film producer from Prague, Czech Republic. He is a founder of production company Hausboot and a boutique studio Buvol Animation. He produced an award-winning animation feature film “Even Mice Belong in Heaven” (2021) that brought him a tribute of the Producer of the year at Cartoon Movie, Czech Lion Award and European Film Award and César Nominations among many other festival awards. His producer’s filmography also lists creative documentaries “A Very Animated War” (2020), “Jiří Trnka – A Long lost friend” (2019), “Jenica & Perla” (2015) and “Hotelier” (2013). Vladimir is a member of Czech Film and Television Academy and a tutor at the Prague Film school FAMU.

Xavier Kawa-Topor

Xavier Kawa-Topor is a French historian, author and director of cultural institutions. In 1997, he joined the Forum des Images in Paris as director of educational action. In particular, he created the festival “New Images from Japan” a pioneering event in Europe for the acknowledgement of japanese directors Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Satoshi Kon and Kôji Yamamura. He also contributed to the rediscovery of the pioneers of animated cinema such as Ladislas Starewitch and Emile Cohl. In 2005, Xavier Kawa-Topor was appointed director of the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud (Heritage Site for Culture). The monument became an international writing and research residence for animation directors. In 2015, the project led to the creation of NEF Animation, a professional research and development platform for animated films. Trainer and lecturer at universities and art schools, Xavier Kawa-Topor has published numerous studies on animation cinema, including "Stop Motion - un autre cinéma d'animation", "Le Cinéma d'animation en 100 Films" (co-written with Philippe Moins) “Michael Dudok de Wit, le cinema d’animation sensible” (with Ilan Nguyên) "Cinema d'animation – au-delà du réel" published by Capricci (2016 & 2020). He is the co-founder and the editorial co-director (with Marcel Jean) of the magazine "Blink Blank, la revue du film d'animation". Xavier Kawa-Topor is the recipient of the Animafest Zagreb 2021 Award for outstanding contributions to animation studies.

Zofia Horszczaruk

She worked as a specialist in purchasing and sales of films at New Europe Film Sales. In 2017–18, she worked as a producer at Canal + Poland after which she set up her own company under which she helped several organisations in industry events production. She currently works with the New Horizons Association as Head of Industry projects of the Young Audience Department – Kids Kino Industry & Kids Kino Lab & Kids Kino Docs.