Daniel Šuljić
An animation film director and a musician, born in Zagreb. He lives and works in Zagreb and Vienna. His films were shown at numerous international film festivals across the globe. He was a member of various international festival competition juries and had several personal retrospectives (ITFS Stuttgart, Monstra Lisbon, Supertoon Šibenik, Anifilm Trebon, Anibar Peja and others). Makes animation, music, illustrations, sound design, dj. Currently, next to new films, he is producing music with his electronic band Roppongi Red. From 2010 - 2012 he was commissioner for animated film at Croatian Audio-visual Centre. From 2013 – 2017 he was member of the cultural council of city of Zagreb for film. Since 2017 he is ambassador of Emile European Animation Award for Croatia. Since 2018 he is associate professor for animation at department for Animation and New Media at Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb. Since 2011 he is artistic director of the World Festival of Animated Films Animafest Zagreb.
Caibei Cai
Born in 1992 in Shenzhen, China. She received her MA from Jiangnan University in 2017 and Royal College of Art in 2018. She often places her work in a tactile dimension. She is good at capturing the illusion of the screen and the hidden body by drawing frame by frame. Her films always invite the audience to experience the conflicts within the body and the anxious environment outside the body. Her works also have been awarded and selected by many international film festivals or animation festivals, such as Image Forum (Awards for Excellence), DOK Leipzig (Mephisto 97.6 Award), New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival (Best Music Animation, Jury Award), Slamdance Film Festival (Honorable Mention), Feinaki Beijing Animation Week (Feinaki Award), Anifilm (Best Abstract and Non-Narrative Animation), Encounters, Animafest Zagreb, Ottawa Animation Festival, First International Film Festival, etc. She has also worked as a program curator for Feinaki Beijing Animation Week and TOPU International Animation Week.
Lucija Mrzljak
A Croatian animation film director and illustration artist based in Estonia. Her academic journey took her through several fine arts institutions, including the academies in Zagreb, Krakow, Prague, and Tallinn. She completed her Master's degree in Animation at the Estonian Academy of Fine Arts, where she studied under renowned animators Priit Pärn and Olga Pärn. Since 2016, Lucija has collaborated with Morten Tšinakov to co-direct several acclaimed animated short films, produced at the Eesti Joonisfilm studio in Tallinn and Adriatic Animation studio in Zagreb. Among their standout works are "Demonstration Of Brilliance In Four Acts" (2017), "The Stork" (2020), and "Eeva" (2022). "Eeva" premiered at Berlinale 2023 and was screened and awarded at numerous film festivals, earning a place on the shortlist for 2024 Academy Awards and winning an Emile European Animation Awards 2024 for "Best Character Design and Backgrounds". In addition to her film work, Lucija also created music videos, she collaborated with Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard in 2019, directing the music video "The Closing Door". In 2024 she worked with a renowned Estonian musician Mari Kalkun directing a music video for her song Maaimä. As an illustration artist Lucija has published several children's books and created posters for many film festivals. Lucija is also an educator, teaching at the Estonian Academy of Fine Arts in Tallinn.
Marie Paccou
Born in 1974 in Dakar, Marie Paccou was 15 when she discovered animation in a small festival near Montpellier. As a student in ENSAD (Paris), she directed her first short film, "One Day", which won many awards around the world, including the European Academy Award for Short Film in 1998. She graduated from the RCA in London in 2000, where she directed "When You're Asleep" and "Me, the Other". Since, she's established in Auvergne, close to Clermont-Ferrand, where she directed two short films ("The Garden" and "Hubert, the Man with the Candies"), worked on the opening of an animation school in Cournon and started a small film festival in her village through La Maison aux Mille Images. After writing a fifth short, unfortunately abandoned due to the bankrupt of the producer, she turned to shorter and experimental projects. In October 2020, she patented the umbrellotrope, an object which allows street-cinema, thanks to sun, smartphone, and revolution. Her artworks have been shown in local markets as well as major European art centers.
Xiaozhou Zhang
A critic, curator, and the director of two music labels, BADHEAD and Modernsky Worldmusic. He works across genres ranging from rock to avant-garde and folk music. He has long been engaged in cross-artistic and cross-cultural curatorial practice and research.
bixueyang
The founder and director of BX-PLANET. Having founded one of China’s pioneering commercial animation studios, he has spent the past decade practicing motion design, animation, and commercial direction, driven by a deep passion for expressing emotion through animation. He has shared his expertise at CCTV and various universities, and has been a featured speaker at Adobe Live twice. He has collaborated with multiple brands as an artist, and currently also served as a partner of COHERE SPACE, a studio that focuses on supporting independent films.
Xue Gu
Director, curator, the co-founder of the Inner Mongolia Film Week and the World Nomadic Short Film Festival. Her work consistently focuses on the topic of family, exploring everyday storytelling through film. Some of her notable works include The Choice,The Chinese Plaster, Nothing News. In 2022, she founded "FamilyLens", an initiative dedicated to discovering and expanding the boundaries of family cinema while exploring personal narratives through filmmaking. In 2023, she curated the film exhibition Shooting Yourself FamilyLens Film Festival.
Yang Wang
Chief editor of Anim-Babblers, a leading animation-related industry media based in Beijing, China. He earned his master’s degree in International Relations from London School of Economics and Political Science. After joining Anim-babbers, he has written more than a hundred in-depth reports on Chinese and international animation industry, as well as review articles. He has a deep interest in conducting interviews with animators.
Chenxi Zhang
A Chinese independent animation artist, explores the delicate emotions and subtle contradictions in human relationships through hand-drawn animation, seamlessly integrating material experimentation to elevate the narrative and create captivating visual experiences. Her works capture the unspoken intricacies between individuals, unveiling a realm of unexpressed sentiments. Her animated short "Braided" has been selected and awarded at several international animation festivals and film festivals.
Xi Chen
Animation Filmmaker and Comics Writer. He is currently a lecturer in Beijing Film Academy. His animation works have been selected in renowned animation festivals and won awards; he has been invited to France, Japan and Canada for art residency program; his Animation films retrospective were held in Japan, France and Russia; His films include the series of animated short films "Solar Terms", "Yao·Ship down the well", etc. He is one of the founders of Feinaki Beijing Animation Week.
Yantong Zhu
Animation filmmaker, picture book author, festival director and co-founder of Feinaki Beijing Animation Week. Her work "My Milk Cup Cow" won numerous prizes all over the world, such as the Grand Prix of KROK and the Young Animation Award of Stuttgart, etc. She was invited as a jury member of New Chitose, Tricky Women, BIAF, and curator of Chinese animation programs. She is the executive producer of the animated omnibus film "To the Bright Side", which won the Grand Prize feature film at the New York International Children's Film Festival.