born 1956, Portugal

Abi Feijó graduated in Graphic Arts and Design at Oporto’s Fine Arts School in 1980. In 1984 he collaborated with the National Film Board of Canada and after he returned back to Portugal he founded Filmógrafo in 1987. “The Outlaws” wins the Cartoon D’Or special jury award in 1994. He also founded “Casa da Animação”, a cultural center for the Art of Animation and teaches animation in children workshops and at the Escola Superior Artística do Porto.

Clandestino, 2000

born 1960, Norway

Astrid A. Aakra has earlier been working as a journalist, cartoonist, TV-producer and live-action filmmaker. She is self-taught as animator, and in 1999 she finished her first animated short, ‘Deep Shit’. In addition to her own projects, she has also been working as animator on different Norwegian shorts and commercials.

Good Luck, Mr. Gorski, 2002

Iran/Germany

Assad and Maryam come from Iran. Both studied Animation in Tehran and have worked as filmmakers in Iran. Assad taught Animation at the University Teheran. They have been living in Germany since 1996. In 2004 they produced the short film “The Boy and the Bird”.

The Boy and the Bird, 2004

born 1946, USA

Bill Plympton works as an independent filmmaker in New York. His films are adored in cinema festivals, on the public music channel MTV and by those who love irreverence. 1987 his film ‘Your Face’ was nominated by the Hollywood Academy for an Oscar. In 2004 his 3rd feature film ‘Hair High’ was released.

ESex & Violence, 1997

Ireland

In 1994 Gaffney and O’Connell founded their Animations studio ‘Brown Bag’ in Dublin. Alongside commissioned work for commercial and broadcaster they produce their own independent short films. Their biggest success yet was the Oscar nomination 2001 for the shortfilm ‘Give up yer aul sin’

Give up yer aul sins, 2001

born 1950, Hungary

At the beginning of the seventies Ferenc Cakó began animating with puppets, clay and paper cutouts before he definitively adopted the use of sand. In 1987 his short film ’Ab Ovo’ received an award in Cannes for the Best Animation. Followed by ‘Ad Rem’ Prime Price, San Francisco in 1989 and in 1994 ‘Ashes’ was awared with the Golden Bear in Berlin.This outstanding artist is also a drawer, painter, a distinguished illustrator of children’s and adolescent’s books, and a professor of 3D animation.

Stones Kövek, 2000

born 1957, Israel/Germany

Gil Alkabetz studied graphic design in Jerusalem and worked in Israel as an independent animator and illustrator till 1994. In 1995 he moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where in 2001 he founded Sweet Home Studio with his wife Nurit Israeli. His independent short films have won many prizes in different festivals. Since 2004 he has been a professor for animation in the HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg.

"Travel to China" ©Gil Alkabetz, Sweet Home Studio, 2002 

gb 1956, USA/Niederlande

In 1980 Greg Lawson moved from from New York to Europe, working as an actor doing Shakespearian parodies with a travelling theater company. In 1985 he settled in Amsterdam where in 1991 he founded his own animation studio, Lawson & Whatshisname Inc., a producer of commercials, children’s series and independent shorts, and also a center of attraction for young dutch Animators. His well-known film ‘Safesex: The Manual’ is the winner of prizes in Bologna, San Francisco and Zagreb.

Power Play, 2003

Canada

At the age of 18 the National Film Board took Janet Perlman under contract. Today she is a director and produces films for television with her own Hulascope Studio in Montreal. She has taught animation at Harvard and has written and illustrated four books. Her awards include an Oscar nomination in 1982 and top prizes at festivals in Berlin, Montreal, New York, Zagreb, Seoul and Ottawa.

Penguins Behind Bars, 2003

born 1952, Croatia

Josko Marusic is a member of the ‘Zagreb School’. From 1987 to 1999 he was art director for Zagreb Animation Film and programm director of the World Festival of Animated Films , Zagreb. Since 1999 he has served as principal of the Dept. Animation at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb. His films have received many international awards in Annecy, Zagreb, Varna, Ottawa, Oberhausen, Madrid, Belgrad.

Fisheye, 1980

born 1942, Poland

Jerzy Kucia is director, scriptwriter, designer, animator and producer of animated films, graphic and painting artist and since 1982 Professor at Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts. He is well-known as a master of animation in Poland. His very personal films, internationally acclaimed, have received numerous awards.

Across the Fields 1992

born 1954, USA

Since her graduation from Rhode Island School of Design in 1976 Karen Aqua has been making animated films. Her award-winning films have been screened at Festivals in New York , Zagreb, Hiroshima, Ottawa, Stuttgart and Annecy. Since 1990 she has produced, directed, and animated 22 segments for the acclaimed “Sesame Street” television program.

Ground Zero - Scared Ground, 1997

born 1964, Japan

Koji Yamamura made his first animation movie when he was 13 years old and in 1993 he set up his own studio - Yamamura Animation. The zenith of his career marked the great success of the short film ‘Mt. Head’. This film won the Grand Prix in Annecy and Mediawave, got the Jury Special Prize in Leipzig and was nominated for the Oscar in 2003.

Mt. Head, 2002

born 1965, Russia

Konstantin Bronzit studied in St. Petersburg at the School of Art and Design and worked as an animator in a studio specialized in popular scientific movies. His short film ‘At the Ends of the Earth’ , 1999, received nearly 70 awards and was nominated for the César, the most highly revered prize in French cinema.

Am Ende der Welt,, 1999

born 1953, Netherlands/UK

Michael Dudok de Wit lives in London and has worked as an animator and independent animation director since 1978 in different studios. He has also been a part of Disney studios team for  ‘Mickey’s Audition’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Fantasia 2000’. Apart from that he is directing his own films and illustrating children’s picture books. In 2001 he received an Oscar for his short film ‘Father and Daughter’.

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Father and Daugther, 2000

born 1961, Czech Republic

Michaela Pavlatova studied animation in Prague.  Her animated short films have received numerous awards at international film festivals, including an Oscar nomination for  ‘Reci, Reci, Reci’ in 1991.  ‘Repete’, another contemporary classic won the Grand Prix in Hiroshima and the Golden Bear in Berlin in 1995. She teaches Animation in Prague , San Francisco and in Harvard.

Repete, 1995

born 1967, France

Nicolas Jacquet studied at the Beaux Arts in Nantes and at the Gobelins in Paris. Since 1992 he has produced six short films. In 1998 he received for his film ‘l’arene’ the Renzo Kinoshita award. ‘French killers’ was part of the competition in Zagreb 2004. 

French Killers, 1997

Brasil

Otto Guerra belongs to the creative and animated ‘gaucho cinema group’ in the Brazilian state of Rio Grand do Sul. He has become the name of reference for Brazilian ‘underground’ animation. In 1978 he founded his own company. Since then he has tried to reach mass culture and address children’s themes with his wonderful satire.

The Blue Kingdom, 1989

Canada

After studying graphic design and illustration Paul Driessen began his work in the Dutch advertising industry but he developed his career in animation in Canada. The golden opportunity of his life was when he got the offer to join the team of ‘Yellow Submarine’. His non-verbal films are full of irony and bitterness and have sometimes an even morbid humor. He teaches Animation in Kassel, Germany

2D or not 2D Hirns, 2002

UK

Phil Mulloy graduated in 1973 from the Royal College of Arts but he didn’t dedicate himself to animation completely until after 1988. He worked for almost 20 years on documentaries and television programs. The sarcasm and bitterness of his dark comedies is without limits. In keeping with his extremely critical themes, his style is minimalist, crude and consciously primitive. Nevertheless his film received international awards.

The Chain - The Horrors of War, 1997

born 1953, UK

Ruth Lingford a former occupational therapist received her degree in animation from the Royal College of Art when she was already over 30 years old. Her movies are deliberately somber and deal with difficult themes like death, sexuality, violence, capitalism and infertility. She has now become a well-known professor at the Royal College of Art.

Death and the Mother, 1997

Australia

Sarah Watt completed her master degree at the prestigious Swineburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne. With the ‘Best short’ award in Venice for the film “Small Treasures” her name was known internationally. She is a scriptwriter and has just completed her first feature “Look both ways”, a combination of live action and animation.

Small Treasures, 1995