Guests 2023

For the past quarter century, José Luis Ágreda has devoted himself to drawing in all its forms, from press and advertising to comics and more. His short film Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles won the Jury Award at Annecy before being awarded a prize at the Goyas in 2020. He is currently working on various animation projects as artistic director.

Will be there from 24 to 26/02

Born in Latvia and trained in Moscow and Riga, Signe Baumane published her first story at the age of 14. Today, she has more than fifteen films to her credit that have been selected at 300 festivals around the world. My Love Affair with Marriage, her second feature film, tackles the issues of love and gender through music and science.

Will be there from 21 to 26/02

Pablo Berger is one of Spain’s most acclaimed film directors. Blancanieves, which won ten Goyas and was nominated for a César, was Spain’s entry for the Academy Awards in 2013. Abracadabra (2017) was nominated for eight Goyas. Robot Dreams is Pablo Berger’s first feature animation. 

Will be there from 24 to 26/02

As a child, Mélusine didn’t like school and used to escape in dreams and invent wild adventures. This passion still drives her today as project manager and team coordinator. An expert at piecing together projects successfully, she loves to assist the artists around her and to bring out all the magic and poetry of their craft.

Will be there from 17 to 22/02

A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Jim Capobianco joined Disney and then Pixar. His work as a writer on films such as Wall-E, Toy Story 2, Inside Out and Ratatouille has earned him many awards. He is currently adapting his short film Leonardo, a promising 2D stop-motion project, into an animated feature film, The Inventor.

Will be there from 24 to 26/02

A producer, director, teacher and researcher in experimental animation, José Pedro Cavalheiro is an all-round author. Since the 1980s he has been passing on his knowledge of and passion for animation in Europe while working on various projects in Portugal and Belgium. Beat Bit, his latest experiment, will be presented at Anima 2023.

Will be there from 21 to 26/02

Jérôme Combe taught himself animation, developing a style between 2D and 3D which he used in advertising and music videos. He won an award at the Victoires de la musique for his video of Mickey 3D’s Respire. Combe now runs Fortiche Production, which he cofounded. The French studio is known for the Arcane series which recently achieved worldwide fame.

Will be there from 20 to 21/02

Driven by her passion for storytelling, Kitty Crowther has established herself as one of the most influential children’s illustrators from Brussels. Between books and performances, the artist travels the world to share her passion. She has won many awards, including the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. She created the poster for Anima 2023.

Will be there on 20/02

After training at Gobelins, Gilles Cuvelier began his career at Les Films du Nord, where he directed his first short film, Chahut, in 2005. Since then, his films have regularly been selected for festivals, and his work as a graphic designer has been praised in France and on the international stage. He is co-founder of Papy3D Productions.

Will be there from 24 to 26/02

Samiha Elgani began her career as an animator at Walking The Dog, where she worked on Where is Anne Frank, the feature film by Ari Folman. Always looking for new challenges, she has worked on a range of projects in 2D and 3D. She is currently working as a layout artist at Studio Souza on the 2D feature film Valemon: The Polar Bear King.

Will be there on 22/02

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Born in 1969, Benoît Feroumont studied illustration and comic strips at Saint-Luc in Liège, then animation at La Cambre. Over time he became both a confirmed animation artist and a recognized comic book writer. He is currently working as animation director on the development of the feature film Robot Dreams.

Will be there on 19 and 25/02

A multifaceted artist, Pierre Földes is a painter, musician and film-maker. After studying to be a pianist in Paris, he has worked in New York as a composer for films, series and video games. His first animated feature film, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, is an adaptation of short stories by Haruki Murakami.

Will be there from 17 to 18/02

Amandine Fredon has directed TV series at Studio Folimage such as C’est bon, Ariol and Tu mourras moins bête and is currently finishing Music Queens with Rebecca Manzoni. She co-directed her first feature film with Benjamin Massoubre: Le Petit Nicolas: Qu’est-ce qu’on attend pour être heureux? won the Cristal for a Feature Film at Annecy in 2022.

Will be there from 22 to 24/02

A graduate of KASK, Ada Güvenir earned a Wildcard from the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and several nominations for her film Would You Please ?. Since then, she has been developing an art form combining animation, writing, illustration and installations. She shares her research through workshops and meetings. Her next film, As If It Could, will be released in early 2023.

Will be there on 22/02

A graduate of the ArtEZ academy in Arnhem, Mascha Halberstad specializes in stop-motion animation. Between short films and a love of dogs, this multi-award-winning director released Oink in 2022, her first feature film and also the very first stop motion feature film in the history of the Netherlands. Oink was selected at the Berlinale, among others.

Will be there on 18/02

Isabel Herguera teaches experimental animation in Germany (KMH), India (NID) and China (CAFA). She has produced and directed several short films that have won more than fifty international prizes. She is currently working on Sultana’s Dream, her first feature animation film, which she is producing and directing in Spain.

Will be there from 22 to 26/02

Dimitri James has been working for the Fortiche Production studio for two years as a fix animator. He studied 3D animation at Isart Digital Paris, which he graduated from in 2018 with his film, Mice, a Small Story. It is with the first season of Arcane that he really kicked off his professional career in animation.

Will be there from 20 to 21/02

A media and brand specialist, Frédéric Josué has contributed to many transmedia projects since the early 2000s. A lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris, he also speaks regularly on the subjects of the Metaverse and NFT through his innovation consultancy, 18M.

Will be there from 20 to 22/02

Kim Keukeleire is an animator and animation director specializing in stop motion. She has worked for prestigious studios such as Aardman and Will Vinton Studios (Laïka) as well as on Del Toro’s Pinocchio, Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and many other great projects. She teaches in Belgium at La Cambre and gives lectures around the world.

Will be there from 24 to 26/02

As the technical and fix animation supervisor of the Arcane series, Maximilien Ly acquired the skills necessary to successfully manage a team. He previously worked at Superprod, then at Mikros and at Illumination on Minions 2: The Rise of Gru.

Will be there from 20 to 21/02

After studying fine art at Cardiff University and working as an artist in New York City, Les Mills moved back to London in the 1980s. He taught design and animation cinema in the UK and US before devoting himself to producing and directing through Beryl Productions, the company he formed with his partner Joanna Quinn in 1987.

Will be there from 20 to 22/02

Noel Palazzo is a screenwriter, director, researcher, and speaker in the field of animated abstraction. She is interested in the rich intersection between fine arts and animation. She is also a co-founder of Punto y Raya, a platform aimed at the promotion of experimental animation.

Will be there from 21 to 24/02

Enterprising and self-taught, Damián Perea has established himself as one of the leading figures in Spanish animation. Since 2006 he has been in charge of the Animayo festival. Moving between Spain, the Canary Islands, Europe and Los Angeles, he travels to promote Spanish animation. He is also an ambassador for Spanish animation at the Emile Awards.

Will be there on 20/02

In thirty years, Joanna Quinn has won two Emmys, four BAFTAs, three Oscar nominations and more than a hundred awards around the world. Her films, which focus on the politics of gender and oppression, are works in their own right. A treat for the eyes, laced with laughter and visual flights of fancy.

Will be there from 20 to 22/02

If Kelzang Ravach still dreams of being a real superhero, it’s because his childhood made him understand that reality and fiction are two worlds that communicate. And this is an idea that permeates his work. Today he is the director of the creative studio Temple Caché, where he develops concepts that combine new technologies with traditional techniques.

Will be there from 17 to 26/02

A graduate of Saint-Luc in Brussels, Romain Renard is a comic book author, set designer, graphic artist and musician. He has worked on the development of video games, designed shows with Franco Dragone and Pascal Jacob, and is an author-composer. Melvile is a powerful work that he has adapted into a film-concert and now into an animation.

Will be there on 24/02

Born in 1966, José Miguel Ribeiro studied drawing and puppet animation in Rennes and Porto. His short film The Suspect earned him the Cartoon d’Or 2000. In recent years he has directed the stop-motion TV series Home Things and the short films Sunday Drive and Journey to Cape Verde. José Miguel Ribeiro also illustrates children’s books and teaches animation in Portugal. His first feature film, Nayola, was selected at the Annecy Festival in 2022.

Will be there from 17 to 19/02

A documentary director for Italy’s national broadcasting company Rai, Gianmarco Serra worked as an independent film-maker and assistant director before meeting Isabel Herguera. He then collaborated with her on her four latest short films and is now working with her on Sultana’s Dream for the script, editing and sound design.

Will be there from 22 to 26/02

Alain Ughetto inherited from his father and grandfather a pronounced taste for bricolage that he infuses into his filmmaking through animation. In 1985 Alain Resnais handed him the César Award for Best Animated Short Film for La Boule. His latest feature film, No Dogs or Italians Allowed, won the Jury Award at Annecy in June 2022.

Will be there from 19 to 20/02

After rich experiences in the creative industries at La Cartoucherie and then in Marseilles (managing the Southern Region cluster), Ilan Urroz acquired Foliascope with his partner Nicolas Flory in 2018. This internationally renowned studio specializes in 2D animation and advocates an innovative and environmentally responsible approach to production.

Will be there from 23 to 26/02

Marijke Van Kets is a cinematographer, the first female elected member of the Belgian Society of Cinematographers (SBC). Her body of work includes feature films, commercials and video clips. A specialist in stop-motion animation films, she is currently shooting the feature film The Inventor by Jim Copabianco.

Will be there from 23 to 26/02