Jurys

Ulu Braun works and lives in Berlin. Between 1996 and 2005 he studied painting and film in Vienna, Helsinki and Potsdam. He has been using the medium of video to explore the field between the visual arts and auteur cinema since 1997 and he is one of the key figures who have transferred painting into film. His works are regularly shown at international film festivals and exhibited in art institutions like KW Berlin, Hirshhorn Museum Washington D.C., Centre Pompidou Paris, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Shedhalle Zürich, MARTa Herford, Museo Reina Sofia Madrid, Athens Biennale (with Ykon) and Kunsthalle Wien. He has received several awards such as the German Short Film Award (2013), the Berlin Art Prize (2014), Best German Film at Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (2017), Arte Shortfilm Award (2017) and was nominated for the European Film Award (2018) and German Film Critics Award (2018).

Erik van Drunen’s professional path has led him through a wide range of activities in the field of animation and film education. He served on selection committees and juries and works as script coach. As head of programme and education at the Holland Animation Film Festival he was in the position to see loads of films in their final glory for eleven editions. At the former Netherlands Institute for Animation Film (NIAf) he was in charge of education, workshops, master classes and the artist-in-residence programme. He worked as curator for KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, Go Short International Short Film Festival Nijmegen and currently curates for FANTOCHE in Switzerland. He is animation consultant of the Netherlands Film Fund, main financer of film in The Netherlands and teaches animation history at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels.

KongKee (Kong Khong-Chang), animator, comic illustrator, and co-founder of Penguin Lab, lives and works in Hong Kong. Alongside publishing various comics such as Hi-Jacking (in cooperation with Chihoi), Pandaman or Ding Ding Penguin, he created the comic book „Travel to Hong Kong with Blur” for the British band Blur. He received the HK 2017 Regional Gold Award and a Gold Mention at the TBS DigiCon6 ASIA for his animated short film “The Dragon’s Delusion” (a collaboration with Lee Kwok Wai und Tsui Ka Hei, Haze).

Cristina Lima was born in Mozambique in 1966 and moved to Portugal at the age of eight. She has a degree in Modern Language and Literature: English and German from the University of Porto and postgraduated in Translation. Immediately after having finished her studies in 1989, Cristina Lima started to work at CINANIMA – International Animated Film Festival of Espinho. As a member of the festival staff, she is responsible for international contacts, networking, programming, catalogue, guest coordination and one of the representatives of the festival at other international animation events/festivals such as Cartoon Forum (Finland), Annecy (France), Kecskemét (Hungary), Meknés (Morocco), Zagreb (Croatia), Anima Brussels (Belgium). Cristina Lima is a member of the International Jury of KAFF – Kecskemét Animation Film Festival (Hungary) and of Cartoon Club, Rimini (Italy) where she has also presented a programme of Portuguese animation. In 2018, she participated in the Selection Committee of the Hiroshima International Film Festival.

Born in Japan, Maya Yonesho lives and works since 2014 in Stuttgart. After working as a fine arts teacher for 6 years, Maya Yonesho went back to study Conceptual and Media Art and received M.A. in Fine Arts. She makes abstract animations mixed with hand-drawings and objects under the theme “we can understand each other without understanding each other’s language”. In 2006 Maya Yonesho made the independent film “Wiener Wuast”. It was shot in Vienna with small animated drawings in her hand in front of real backgrounds. Based on this method, she created the art project “Daumenreise” (Daum=thumb, Reise= trip in German) with personal films and 35 workshop films in 22 countries. Since 2000 she has been teaching at Kyoto Seika University.

Franziska Bruckner, media scholar and Head of the Research Group Media Creation at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. She is curator and organizer of the international symposium series “Animafest Scanner”, co-coordinator of the working group Animation of the German Society for Media Studies, and a member of the Executive Board of ASIFA Austria. She studied painting and animated film at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Theatre, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna, where she worked as a University Assistant from 2009 to 2013 and earned her doctorate in 2017. She was a lecturer at Vienna University, the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, and the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria Hagenberg Campus among others. Her research focuses on the history of animation in German-speaking countries, hybrids of animation and live-action films, animation in virtual and augmented environments, and the connection between art and film.

Born in 1988 in Japan, Shoko Hara moves at the age of ten with her family to Lake Constance in Germany. In 2012, she obtained her BA in Media Design at the DHBW Ravensburg. Her graduation film “Abita” received much critical acclaim and was screened at festivals around the world. With her emphasis on analogue and experimental works in graphic design and art, Shoko Hara moved on to study “Motion Design” at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg between 2012 and 2016. Her diploma project, the animated short film “What They Believe” was awarded as the best student film in Animafest Zagreb 2016. Shoko Hara is currently teaching “Motion Graphics” at the DHBW Ravensburg and works as a Motion Design and Animation Freelancer for commercials spots, cinema movies and music videos. She is also in production for her new short animated doc “Just a Guy”: The story of mass murderer Richard Ramirez – and of two loving women, who fell in love with him even long after his imprisonment.

Max Hattler is a German artist working primarily with abstract animation, video installation and audiovisual performance. His work explores relationships between abstraction and figuration, aesthetics and politics, sound and image, and precision and improvisation. He holds a BA in “Media and Communications” from Goldsmiths, an MA in Animation from the Royal College of Art, and a Doctorate in “Fine Art” from the University of East London. His films were presented worldwide, for instance at Ars Electronica Festival, Sónar Hong Kong, MoCA Taipei, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb and Zhou B Art Center Chicago. He was awarded by the Third Culture Film Festival and the Bradford Animation Festival and received several Visual Music Awards. He performed live at venues around the world including the Seoul Museum of Art, EXPO Milano, Clockenflap Hong Kong and the Punto y Raya Festival. Max Hattler is an Assistant Professor at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong.

In 2018, Wong Ping was the recipient of the inaugural Camden Arts Centre Emerging Arts Prize. In 2019, he was among the winners of the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition of the 48th International Film Festival Rotterdam. His animations have been commissioned by M+, Nowness as well as Prada and he is the winner of one of Perspective’s 40 under 40 Awards. Works by Wong Ping are part of several permanent collections including M+ Hong Kong, Kadist Paris/San Francisco, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, Fosun Art Foundation Shanghai. His recent works are shown at Kunsthalle Basel/Switzerland, at Kunstraum Capri in Düsseldorf/Germany, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and New Museum in New York.

Emely Christians is producer and managing director of Ulysses Filmproduktion, one of the most active European production companies of high-quality and successful animation films. Just in production is “Ooops! The Adventure Continues”, her eleventh theatrical feature film, before she completed “Bayala – A Magical Adventure”. Among others, she produced the worldwide success “Niko & The Way to the Stars”, as well as “Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble” and “Luis and the Aliens”. In 2015, she and her team released another international co-production: “Ooops! Noah is Gone…”. Sold to more than 160 countries, with huge success in many territories such as UK, France and South America, the film won the “Goldener Spatz” in 2015, Germany’s most important prize dedicated to children’s films. Awarded with the European Producer of the Year Award in 2016 by the Cartoon Media association, she was awarded with the Bavarian Film Award 2018 for “Richard the Stork” for “Best Children’s Film”.

Myrna Gawryn directs and consults in the area of character behaviour and development, visual storytelling and movement for animation. Her background is in dance, choreography, character and physical performance for theatre, film and TV, human behaviour and anthropology, anatomy, kinesiology and performance capture. She has worked with Dreamworks and Disney, as well as Loyloa Marymount University in L.A., Lucasfilms and CG Protege in Singapore, Gobelins and Annecy in France, the Gobelins International Master Class programme worldwide, Griffith University in Brisbane, the Baros International Animation Festival, the Montreal International Animation Festival, MOME in Budapest, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, the Outback Film Bootcamp, the Normal University in Taipei, and the One Academy in Kuala Lumpur. Myrna Gawryn has been teaching, performing, and studying the movement of all things animate, all her working life. Her experience with the details of action and character driven performance, and her passion for understanding how we move and what moves us, has brought her to her work in animation.

Gareth Kamp joined Timeless Films in 2011, being promoted to VP of International Sales and Distribution in 2014. Gareth Kamp has been instrumental in positioning Timeless as one of the leading independent companies providing first class family entertainment. He oversees the sales, contracting and distribution for all of Timeless’ films worldwide like “Animals United” and “Wickie the Viking”; as well as “Justin and the Knights of Valour”, “Postman Pat: The Movie” and last year “Rock Dog”. Recently Gareth Kamp has overseen the worldwide release of “Monster Family” (aka “Happy Family”), one of the biggest independent animation films of 2017 having achieved over 5.5 million admissions.
This year he has continued to oversee the staggered releases of “Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver” – one of the largest live-action German films ever to be made. Now he works on the big new animation film “Pets United” and “Jungle Beat” based on the successful TV show. 2020 will also see the eagerly anticipated release of the big new animation film “Dragon Rider”.

Dieter Krauß has been Managing Director, Organisation and Finances of Film- und Medienfestival gGmbh since October 1, 2017. Previously, he was a senior executive at MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft, responsible for the film funding department; in addition, he was granted power of attorney in 2011. Dieter Krauß was a committed board member of  kinomobil Baden-Württemberg e.V. until 2014, and still is a member of the advisory board of the Bundesverband kommunale Filmarbeit. He also serves on the juries of several initiatives such as the Rolf-Hans Müller Preis für Filmmusik. Furthermore, he is co-founder of Kommunales Kino Guckloch in Villingen-Schwenningen and Furtwangen as well as the Landesverband der Kommunalen Kinos Baden-Württemberg, where he also serves as a dedicated board member.

Dittmar Lumpp was finance director at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg from 1992 to 1997. From 1998 to 2005, he was board member and managing director at Euroarts Medien AG/Elektrofilm Postproduktion GmbH. From 1993 to 2001, Dittmar Lumpp was vice-chairman of Internationales Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart e.V., and from 2005 to 2017 managing director, organisation and finances at Film- und Medienfestival gGmbh.

Gabriele M. Walther is the founder and managing director of Caligari Film- und Fernsehproduktions GmbH (Munich) and Traffix Entertainment GmbH (Stuttgart). With successful 2D and 3D CGI film and TV projects such as “Coconut The Little Dragon”, “Knight Rusty” or “Princess Lillifee”, Caligari is at the top of the German animated film industry. Gabriele M. Walther received the prize for Bavarian businesswoman of the year 2007 and is a member of the executive board of the German Producers Alliance – Film & Television.

Prof. Ulrich Wegenast has been Managing Director Programme of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film since 1993. From 2002 on, he was also programme director of the European Short Film Biennial in Ludwigsburg. In 1987, he was a founding member of Wand 5, the organiser of Stuttgarter Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media. Prof. Wegenast gives lectures at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and at other academies such as the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, where he was appointed honorary professor in 2012. Prof. Wegenast is a member of Goethe-Institut’s programme advisory board for film, television and radio.

In 1993 Holger Weiss started his studies in Animation at the Filmakademie Baden- Württemberg and graduated in 2000 with his graduation film “Station D”, which ran at several Festivals (eg. Annecy 2001). In 1999 he founded together with some fellow students M.A.R.K.13 and still is running the company together with Dominique Schuchmann. Since 2011 he’s in charge of the animation studio of M.A.R.K.13, producing feature movies like “Rusty Knight” and “Maya the Bee”.

Petra Keil studied communications sciences in Munich. She started her career as a TV editor and author for various programme segments at ARD/Bayerischer Rundfunk. Later she moved on to KirchGruppe where she was entrusted with establishing and running a children’s channel at Premiere (now: Sky). Currently, she is responsible for the company’s pay-TV channels and the TV productions of Studio 100 Media and m4e. For many years, Petra Keil was a member of the ITFS “Tricks for Kids” selection committee.

Prof. Ulrich Wegenast has been Managing Director Programme of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film since 1993. From 2002 on, he was also programme director of the European Short Film Biennial in Ludwigsburg. In 1987, he was a founding member of Wand 5, the organiser of Stuttgarter Filmwinter – Festival for Expanded Media. Prof. Wegenast gives lectures at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and at other academies such as the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, where he was appointed honorary professor in 2012. Prof. Wegenast is a member of Goethe-Institut’s programme advisory board for film, television and radio.