In Persona: Maja Gehrig

Maja Gehrig is a renowned Swiss animation filmmaker. Her career started with a solid education, including at what is now the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and the Aarau University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2002, during an internship at Eesti Joonisfilm in Tallinn, she realized that animation is her path, and she studied at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Now, she teaches young animation talent there as an Artistic Professor in the field of Design Film Art. Her graduation film, “Une nuit blanche,” won the Young Talent Award at Solothurn Film Festival and was just the beginning of a line of successful films, including “Amourette”, “Queen Po”, and “Average Happiness”, for which she also received the Swiss Film Award. Her artistic approach is characterized by experimentation and a close connection between image and sound, and it includes various styles, which she considers a defining aspect of her work. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, she has also been involved with the GSFA (Groupement Suisse du Film d’Animation) for many years.