Jury

International Animation

Selection Jury

Jan Gadermann, born in Bietigheim-Bissingen, is the author and director of three short films, co-creator of the cardboard picture book series ‘Mats & Frida’ and animates for the ‘Sandmännchen’ programme, among others. He first studied film studies in Mainz, then animation at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. He graduated in 2022 with a master's degree in animation directing with the short film ‘Laika & Nemo’. The film was screened at over 150 festivals worldwide and won a student Oscar, among other awards.
Matisse Gonzales lives and works in Berlin as an animator, illustrator and director. In her work, she refers to her Bolivian origins and her current place of residence and defines her work as ‘chaotic but structured, tragic but funny, extroverted but intimate’. ‘Gravedad’, her graduation film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, toured festivals around the world and was nominated for the Quirino and Annie Awards in 2020 and longlisted for the Academy Awards in 2022. Gonzalez is the creator of ‘Era Solo Una Roca Que Se Parecía a Alguien’ (It was just a stone that looked like someone), the pilot episode of her own series for Cartoon Network Latin America, which has more than 90,000 views on YouTube and awards at several festivals. The director is currently working on the development of her first feature film ‘Condenaditos’, a personal project combining 2D and stop-motion, produced by the German studio Seufz, the French studio Ikki Films and the Bolivian Celeste Studio.
Nadezhda Svirskaia was born in Naberezhnye Chelny, USSR. She works as a curator and producer of animation projects. After studying journalism at Kazan State University, she graduated as an art curator from the School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops" at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.From 2001 to 2022, based in Moscow, Nadya organised exhibitions, screenings and thematic events on artistic animation in collaboration with museums, galleries and festivals in various cities. In 2019, together with friends, she founded the international nomadic microfestival Shcha 7 Seconds Animated Films, which was presented at Big Cartoon Festival, Animafest Zagreb, StopTrik Festival, Zubroffka, Supertoon, Countryside Animafest Cyprus and Festival of Animation Berlin (FAB). In 2022 she participated in the Artist-in-Residency programme at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Nadya is involved in political animation activism and is against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She has lived in Berlin since 2022.
Pia is the artistic director and co-founder of the Festival of Animation Berlin (FAB) and art and German teacher at Primo - Levi - Gymnasium, in Berlin - Weißensee. She is also an animator and completed her studies in animation directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF after completing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and the University of Stuttgart.With her practical and aesthetic knowledge of film and her didactic experience as a teacher, she played a key role in the concept development of the platform "Kurzfilm im Klassenraum" and its highly flexible compatibility for teaching.

Award Jury

Andrea Martignoni is an Italian performer, sound designer, historian into the field of Animation. He has created soundtracks for short animated films by Blu, Saul Saguatti, Michele Bernardi, Pierre Hébert, Roberto Catani, Petra Zlonoga, Virginia Mori, Soetkin Verstegen, Martina Mestrovic. Izabela Plucinska, Manfredo Manfredi and many others. He collaborates with several international festivals with master classes, workshops, lectures on topics related to animation and soundtrack. He is often invited to international juries and selection committees throughout the world. He has performed with Fred Frith, Basmati, Pierre Hébert, Compagnia d’Arte Drummatica, Edoardo Raon, Mazen Kerbaj, in several international film and music festivals. He won the Golden Reiter for the best soundtrack at the 23rd edition of the International Short Film Festival FilmFest Dresden and the Italian Asifa Award in 2010. Since 2020 Andrea Martignoni is artistic director of ANIMAPHIX New Contemporary Languages Film Festival in Sicily.
Holly is an animator and art director at Reuters' London Bureau, where she uses animation to report on international developments, such as the conflict in Gaza, the war in Ukraine and Sino-America competition in the Pacific. In 2015 she organised the first Factual Animation Film Festival, which, thanks to the efforts of its talented team, now celebrates its 10th year.
Anne Isensee is an animation director from Berlin. She studied Animation at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (EnSAD) Paris and the School of Visual Arts New York. Her animated short films have been shown and awarded at international film festivals. She has been giving lectures and workshops at film festivals, universities and in social initiatives about equality, accessability and inclusion. Since 2021, she is a board member of the Animation Association Germany.
Hynek Spurný is a film producer who graduated in film production from FAMU in Prague. He founded film production company Altum Frames, where he focuses on the development and production of fiction, animation, and documentary films. His producer’s goal is to create films that resonate with audiences through their originality, emotional depth, and artistic integrity. He strives to collaborate with authors who bring a strong creative vision and an authentic voice to their work. He has cooperated on Electra by director Daria Kashcheeva, which won the Best International Short Film award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and was in the short list for best short animated film at the Oscars. He produced Kuku by Daniela Hýbnerová, which secured nomination for best animated film in the international competition at IndieLisboa Film Festival. Recently, he completed the short animated film World I Live In (2024) with director Ester Kasalová, which premiered at Animafest Zagreb. Additionally, he is currently producing the feature-length documentary Master Frank by director Jiří Šlofar and preparing a new feature-length fiction film, Na Vánoce budu doma, directed by award winning director Jan Prušinovský. He is also a Co-Director of Prague Film Festival and the Director of ANIRAMA pitching forum, that focuses on animated films in development.

German Animation

Selection Jury

Bin-Han To is an award winning creative director for animated content in Film, Game and Mixed Reality with a particular focus on visual development and narrative animation, with more than 10 years of experience across all disciplines of the 3D and 2D animation workflow. Mixed Reality and video game projects like the DCP-winning indie game “Tilt Pack” and various Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality projects have been part of his exploration and expansion into other fields, and been fuelled by his passion for video games and real time content. Bin-Han is a recurring lecturer on Visual- and Story-Development for Animation at the HSLU Lucerne, Switzerland. His best known work is the critically and commercially acclaimed Roald Dahl adaptation “Revolting Rhymes” which he co-directed with long time collaborators Jan Lachauer and Jakob Schuh. The adaptationwon an Emmy, Annie, BAFTA, Annecy Crystal and was nominated for an Academy Award. Bin-Han works and lives in Berlin.
Monica Koshka-Stein is from Australia and moved to Berlin in 1993. With a background in music, film, performance and art she has been working for interfilm Berlin since 1998. Monica became Artistic Director of KUKI Young Short Film Festival in 2011 and leads film curation workshops for youth, gives lectures and curates short film programs with a young audience focus. She joined the short film selection committee of Berlinale-Generation in 2021 and founded KUKI’s digital film & civic education platform “Kurzfilm im Klassenraum”. Monica celebrates the inventiveness and empathetic potential of the short form.
Rosangela de Araujo is a Brazilian multimedia artist and writer based in Berlin. She studied Visual Communication at Escola de Belas Artes, UFRJ, in Rio de Janeiro. Her experience as animator and assistant director in the award-winning short film Cristo Procurado by Rui de Oliveira led her to pursue a MFA degree in Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts, under legendary artist Jules Engel, on a full scholarship. In 1996, she moved to Berlin, where she built up an all-round experience in the animation film industry. Between 1998 and 2020 she taught Experimental Animation focusing on authentic artistic expression and visual story-telling at the Filmuni Babelsberg "Konrad Wolf". In 2022, she substituted Isabel Herguera as Professor for Animation/Experimental Animation at Academy of Media Arts Cologne. As creative producer in animation, Rosangela helps directors to overcome storytelling blockages and to structure their production, whilst, most importantly, staying in touch with their authenticity.
Sébastien Wolf was born in Essen in 1976. He studied fine arts at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Bernd Becher, Thomas Ruff and Vadim Glowna. Since 2002, he has produced animated films and music videos in collaboration with Tinka Stock and Ian Ritterskamp. His work has been shown at international festivals, including the Sundance Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Outfest and the Festival of Animation Berlin (FAB) and has been honoured with awards at the Palm Springs Int. ShortFest, Hamburg Short Film Festival, exground filmfest, Cortoons Festival Gandía, among others. Sébastien Wolf lives and works in Berlin.

Award Jury

Frank Geßner is an artist and professor of the theory and practice of visual arts at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. He has held guest professorships at the Berlin University of the Arts, the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, and the Jilin Animation Institute in Changchun, China. He has also been a guest artist at CalArts/California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, USA. He has given lectures, written essays, and conducted workshops both in Germany and abroad.
Born in Paris, Anne Vasseviere has lived and worked in Berlin for 25 years and promotes French films and co-productions in Germany at the Film and Media Office of the Institut français Deutschland. After studying German language and literature and cultural management, she has been intensively involved in Franco-German cooperation, and above all in the flourishing of the French Film Week since its foundation and now at the end of November in many German cities. When curating, she has great fun selecting current French exclusives and first films. She organises various workshops for children and pupils, supported by Vision Kino and the Franco-German Youth Office, and would love to be involved in more film education and workshops for young audiences.
Photo_Maria Trigo Teixeira
Maria Trigo Teixeira is an animation film director and artist based in Porto and Berlin. She studied Animation at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and Communication Design at the University of Porto. Her graduation film “Inside me” (2019) received the German Short Film Award and was screened and awarded at festivals worldwide, qualifying for the Academy Awards. "It shouldn't rain tomorrow" (2024), her next short film, premiered at Annecy and won the Portuguese National Animation Award, among other awards at international film festivals. From 2016 to 2021, Maria curated and organised the monthly screenings of the Shortcutz Berlin festival. She has participated in NEF International Residency for Animated Films in France, attended the Krakow Animated Film Workshop and was selected to take part in the Berlinale Talents programme. Maria is currently working on MAN & DOG, a short film that humorously delves into the power dynamics of human relationships.
Gitte Hellwig is an animator, curator, and educational consultant with a special interest in the intersection of film, education, and social issues. She studied animation at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and cultural and media studies in Berlin. Since then, she has worked on a wide range of projects spanning animated film, cultural education, and science communication. For many years, she has been active as a presenter and curator for animation film festivals – including FAB. She is excited to be part of the jury this year.

New Talents

Selection Jury

With a background in philosophy and a passion for cinema, Carole Lunt was co-founder of the Festival, Les relations internationales, before committing over 15 years to the French Film Week at the French Institute in Germany. Co-founder of Women making Games, she also worked for several years on OFAJ-supported Franco-German workshops for young schoolchildren from France and Germany and took part in numerous projects involving video games and virtual reality. Carole Lunt teaches and participates in the dissemination of artistic and creative projects, listening to the individual stories told through film, audiovisual and literary creations.
Michelle Brand is an animation director, producer and illustrator based in Berlin, who enjoys visualising abstract ideas in abstract ways across a wide range of aesthetics. With a special focus on discussing philosophical concepts around temporality and spatiality, she keeps blurring the lines between theory and practice in both her moving and static image work. Heavily influenced by avant-garde, modern abstract art movements she is especially drawn to expressing ideas, moods and atmospheres only through colour, movement and shapes. She is also the co-founder of KINEMUS, a 2D and 3D animation studio in Berlin, exploring hybrid and expanded animation, installations and mixed media projects.
Petra Stipetić studied Fine Arts and Visual Communication. She works as a freelance animated filmmaker and lecturer. Her short films have been shown internationally at festivals and have been honoured with awards such as the Golden Rider and the Hessian Film Award. She has been teaching animation and visual storytelling at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences since 2022. In 2023, she became an artistic assistant in the animation class at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and a member of the viewing committee for the national competition at the Dresden Film Festival. In 2024, she took part in the Berlinale Talents and further developed her current animated film ‘Strangers with Hats’ at the Short Form Station. The film is currently in production. Petra lives and works in Germany.
Sabine Huber was born in 1963, studied communication design at the state academy of fine arts Stuttgart and animation at the Film Academy Baden- Württemberg. She has been working as a freelance director for various television stations since 1992. Her works include the film "Das Flederschwein in der Unterwelt" and the music video "Zehn kleine Jägermeister" for "Die Toten Hosen". As a lecturer for animated film she taught among others at the Rocky Mountain College in Denver Colorado.

Award Jury

Anja Resman is a Slovenian animator, film director, and screenwriter, born in 1997 in Kranj, Slovenia. She graduated from the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana, where she created her first short stop motion animated film Anabel. During her second year at the Academy of Arts in Nova Gorica, she directed Wake Up, and went on to graduate in 2020. Her latest short stop motion film, Beyond the Face, premiered in 2024 at the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest.
Ulf Grenzer was born in 1967 in Dresden and has studied Animation at the Film College Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF from 1988 to 1991. Ever since he has been working as a freelanced animator on various animation film productions for cinema and TV in the field of classical and TV-Animation. He‘s teaching the basics of his special field 2D-animation at the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF. Besides that he worked on Illustrations for English-learning software and several children‘s books.
Saman Aboutalebi is an animation artist, music composer, art lecturer, graphic designer, and Producer. Since 2001, his work has been showcased at international festivals, and since 2003, he has collaborated with animation and game studios.He became a permanent member of ASIFA in 2011 and is currently teaching 2D and 3D techniques at the School of Art Berlin.
Photo_Marina Belikova
Marina Belikova is a Berlin-based media artist specializing in visual storytelling through hand-drawn and 2D animation, photography, illustration, and mixed media. She holds an M.F.A. in Media Art and Design from Bauhaus University Weimar. Her thesis film, the oil-on-glass animation “The Astronaut's Journal”, has been screened in over ten countries, including Animafest Zagreb, Fantastopia and Capital City Film Festival, and has received multiple international awards. Her photographic and mixed media work delves into themes of memory, human presence in urban spaces, and the invisible traces and stories that linger in the everyday. Her photo series have been nominated for Sunny Art Prize (2021), received the Bauhaus Essentials Prize (2016) and have been shown in various international exhibitions (“ART From ELSEWHERE”, “Hero Mother”, Fringe Arts Bath, “oh my data” and others). For several years she has been a team member of FAFF (Factual Animation Film Festival), serving on the jury panel and producing the Berlin edition. She also gives lectures and workshops on the history of documentary animation and various analogue techniques. Marina maintains an independent art practice alongside her work as an art director at TTS.

Pink Panda

Selection Jury

Carolina is a Chilean director and animator based in Berlin. Her interdisciplinary work includes animation, illustration, and installation. Using various analog techniques such as paper illustration, she worked for several years at the Berlin Cinematheque and recently completed her Master's degree in Animation Film at the Film University Konrad Wolf. She also has extensive experience leading animation workshops for children in different countries around the world.
Daniel Sterlin-Altman is Canadian animation filmmaker based in Berlin, Germany. An MFA holder in Animation Direction from the Filmuniversity Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam. Daniel has directed several independent short films as well as commissioned works that have displayed and won awards in festivals worldwide, including the 2024 Cristal for Best Graduation Short at Annecy International Animation, Golden Horsemen Award at Filmfest Dresden, and Best Student Film at Animafest Zagreb. He is also an active collaborator with the intersectional queer collective, Critical Queer Solidarity, and facilitates politically-minded animation workshops throughout Germany.
Franka Sachse is an independent filmmaker. To create her animated films, she assumes the role of a scriptwriter, storyboard artist, art director, animator and director. Often she realises her visions through digital drawn animation, but also uses analog techniques to approach topics like interpersonal relationships and ambivalent feeling. Furthermore, Franka is animating young talents to animate through her sessions at international workshops and her lecturing activities at different universities.
Veronika Samartseva is an animation film director and artist working preferably in analogue cut-out animation. After studying animation at the Film University Babelsberg she was a founding member of the Talking Animals Collective and taught at the European University of Applied Sciences Berlin.Her work has been shown at international festivals and received various prizes. Currently she is working on her next short film, funded by the minister of state for culture and media as well as by Hessenfilm at studio TORP.

Award Jury

Movies are like adventures you experience yourself – that’s why I love all kinds of different films.
I like animated films because I can express myself through movement and drawing, and I can come up with characters and stories that don't exist in real life.
I like making movies because it allows me to express my creativity, and almost anything is possible.
I like movies because they visually tell a story. I enjoy seeing Harry Potter use his wand or Luke Skywalker draw his lightsaber and fight Darth Vader. Right now, my favorite movie is Episode VI of Star Wars, but there are so many other films I also like.
I love climbing, running around, and jumping, but watching movies is also a lot of fun. I especially like being outside in the swimming pool or the garden.
Basketball, drums, Lego, and Pokémon – those are my hobbies. I live in Berlin and love going to the cinema.
What I love most is making my own animated films – especially stop motion movies. But of course, I also enjoy being part of the kids' jury and watching great short animated films.
Watching animated films is especially fun for me, and I absolutely love SpongeBob. When I'm not watching films for the Festival of Animation Berlin, I also love to dance.

Commissioned Animation

Selection Jury

Frederic Liebert is an accomplished executive producer in high-end visual storytelling and creative production. With a career spanning some of the industry's most respected studios—including The Mill, Psyop, Imaginary Forces, Logan, and Fellow—he has played a pivotal role in bringing visionary campaigns to life for global brands such as Apple, Amazon, Callaway, ING, Reebok, Netflix, and many more. His expertise lies in seamlessly blending cutting-edge VFX, CGI, and AI-driven techniques to enhance creative workflows and push the boundaries of modern content production. As the co-founder of Sweetess, a Berlin-based creative production studio with global reach, Frederic brings his deep industry knowledge and hands-on approach to every project. Sweetess contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, and Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards.
Mladen Đukić is an animator, director and producer. He graduated in Film Editing from the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka in 2004. In 2010, he graduated in character animation from Animation Mentor and in 2014 he earned an MA in Film and TV Production from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. In 2008, he started Aeon Production Ltd. In 22 years, he has produced and directed 11 shorts, 6 animated. He has also directed over 200 episodes of TV shows (children, daily drama, sitcoms) and made over 500 ads, mostly animation. He co-founded the International Short Film Festival Kratkofil in 2008 and was a jury member at eight international festivals. As of 2010, he teaches animation at the Academy of Arts, University of Banja Luka. He’s a full professor, and with his colleagues, he started the Animation Department in 2014, the first and only in Bosnia. With his students, he started the project Animacikl.com.
Rike Rothe is one of the co-founders of the animation studio monströös in Berlin, where she works as a director, animator and producer. She has a degree in animation directing from the Film University Konrad Wolf in Babelsberg and successfully attended the Hamburg Animation School. As an animation professional, Rike specializes in character design, animatics and directing. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing comics, practicing Kung Fu and hiking in nature. Rike currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, and sometimes in Germany.
Stanko Stupar is a Berlin-based motion designer and creative director. He began his career in the film and gaming industries, contributing to major titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. In 2020, Stupar founded Crumb, a motion design studio specializing in high-quality animation and design for technology brands. As creative director, he has led projects for major clients, including Google and Miro Beyond his studio work, Stupar serves as a guest professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where he teaches motion design.

Award Jury

Daniel Acht is a director, screenwriter, and producer with a focus on children's and family entertainment. As co-founder and Creative Director of the Berlin-based production company Wolkenlenker, he develops series and films for a young audience.
After working in live-action film making in different positions Karsten Matern got more and more involved in animation projects. After working as a production manager for the two animation feature films “Fritzi – A Revolutionary Tale” and “The Crossing” at Balance Film in Dresden, he decided to found the Berlin based company Wait a Second! together with 6 animation directors. He is a member of the board of the AG-Animationsfilm and the AG-Kurzfilm focussing on filmpolitics, filmfunding and the support of young animation talent.
Vincenz Neuhaus is an animation director and motion designer based in Berlin. He has worked with major clients such as Nickelodeon, Volkswagen, and artists like Sido, Marteria, and Dendemann. His work has received numerous awards, including the Telly Award, ADC Award, and International Davey Award. He studied animation at the Film University Babelsberg to tell his own stories. His graduation film NOSIS premiered in competition at the Annecy International Animation Festival 2018 and won several international awards.
Photo_Marta Carbonell
Marta Carbonell Amela is a Creative Director at Zauberberg Productions, with over 13 years of experience in design and as VFX supervisor. Having led award-winning projects at renowned studios like The Mill and Psyop, she has shaped the visual identity of many compelling narratives. Her current focus at Zauberberg is on developing the look of films, blending creativity, storytelling, and cinematography. Marta’s expertise extends to art direction and co-direction, where she plays a key role in crafting immersive worlds and pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling.

Animated Feature

Selection Jury

Adrian Colmenares (They/it) is a Peruvian animator, game artist and developer living in Berlin. Their work plays with themes of gender expression, cultural identity and fantasy. Creating characters, dreams and narratives that seek to push and question the boundaries around them. Adrian works on a variety of projects such as "Memoria Colectiva", an animated documentary discussing Peru's armed conflict, and "Phasmopass", a ridiculous roguelite game featuring ghosts and volleyball. They hope you'll have a nice day.
Christine Janjira Meyer (She/They) works in the fields of graphic design, illustration and motion design. Her multidisciplinary fields of work are the result of an equally distributed passion, so that she does not have to limit herself in her creative work. She has worked for Studio Yukiko and Anomaly Berlin on advertising campaigns and commercials for Nike, Rimowa and L'Occitane, among others.
Emile Cerf is a Berlin-based artist, whose work in illustration, animation and graphic design are shaped by an approach focused on story-telling . After graduating from their studies in 2024 with their first animation short, they have provided 3D graphics and animations for various projects and started giving animation workshops, while continuing to develop their next personal project.
Maximilian Breckwoldt is a Berlin-based cultural worker and independent scholar. Since 2023 they have been working with the Festival of Animation Berlin, organising the Berlin Animation HUB, an industry event focussing on connecting animators and producers. Both in 2023 and 2024, they held workshops on Film and Genre Theory at the Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg. As a scholar, their works on the body politics of the Hellraiser films, as well as the works of Jane Schoenbrun has led them to become involved with the Horror Film conference Cine-Excess in Birmingham, UK. Furthermore they work with the queer film distributor Salzgeber and help organise the Queerfilmfestival which simultaneously happens in 11 cities in Germany and Austria and have released articles in the queer film magazine sissy.

Award Jury

I'm a Korean-British award-winning animation artist and lecturer at Central Saint Martins. With a background in fine art and character animation, I specialise in tactile, hands-on techniques such as charcoal, painting, and cut-out under the camera. My work explores emotion, memory, and identity, and I advocate for inclusive, culturally responsive approaches in animation education.
Stefan Schomerus is a filmmaker and creative professional with many years of experience in the field of children’s media. He studied at FABW. Until 2018, he worked as a Senior Producer for Creative and Design at the children’s channel Nickelodeon. Since 2018, he has been working as a freelance filmmaker and creative consultant. In 2023, he was awarded the Grimme Prize for an episode of Sandmännchen. In 2023/2024, he created eight more Sandmännchen framing stories and the short film The Journey to the Dream Sand Mill.
Yaka Hara is an animation director and illustrator with roots in Japan and Hong Kong, currently based in Berlin. They hold a master’s degree in animation from Central Saint Martins in London and have worked professionally across Tokyo and Europe for several years. Their practice is driven by a deep sensitivity to storytelling, capturing the quiet nuances of everyday life, human connection, and the world around them. They have experience working across a range of independent and collaborative projects, with a focus on thoughtful visual storytelling.
Ainissa V is a French non-binary artist based in Berlin. They studied visual communication before specializing in Motion design at Gobelins (Paris) and becoming a freelancer. They work on a wide range of projects, including music videos, branding, and live projections, with an attraction to political and queer topics. For their drag creature “Niksa” they create costumes, visuals, and performances. Ainissa is also a co-organizer of Panimation Berlin, a community of FLINTA* animators.