The Festival
Panel of Judges
England
Joan Ashworth
Joan Ashworth is a director and designer of animated films. She has worked in industry and academe for 28 years, directing commercials, title sequences and short films and conducting research. Until July 2015 she was also Head of the Animation Department at London's Royal College of Art. Ashworth is currently in production of a film on suffragette and artist, Sylvia Pankhurst. She is also engaged with research into animation and health advising on how animation can be a valuable tool in exploring real world issues.
Japan
Taku Furukawa
Born in Iga (Ninjya small town) Japan, 1941. After working with Yoji Kuri in his studio for 3 years, he started his career as an independent animation film maker and also as a freelance illustrator for editorial & advertising.
Furukawa published picture books for children, made TV-CM and Manga. At the same time, he started to make animated shorts such as "Oxed Man" (first in 1969 Annecy's competition) and "Hanano Hanashi" (2012).
Furukawa has won several awards for his productions, such as: "Phenakisti-scope" (1975 Annecy jury special), "TarZAN" (Hiroshima in 1990), "from heart to heart" (Hiroshima in 1992), "TYO STORY" (awarded 3rd in Japan Media Art Festival Excellence Award in 1999), Retrospective (Ottawa in 2003). Selection & Jury, in Hirishima, Seoul, Shanghai, Holland, etc.
Joined Omunibus animated short "Winter Days" (2003), "TOKYO LOOP" (2006).
He has been the Honorary Chairman of new Chitose Airport International Animation Festival since 2014, the vice-president of Hiroshima, President of JAA (Japan Animation Association) and a member of the Japan Media Arts Festival Operating Committe since 2013.
Brazil
Marcelo Marão
Marcelo Marão is a brazilian director and producer of animation films. Having graduated from the Escola de Belas Artes, UFRJ, Marão directed 10 short films (Eu Queria Ser um Monstro, Engolervilha, O Anão Que Virou Gigante and others). He participated in over two hundred animated productions for advertising, TV and cinema.
He was the founding President of ABCA (the Brazilian Organization for Animated Films), which he is still a part of, as member of the Council of Directors. Marcelo Marão was a professor in the post-graduate course of animation at PUC; coordinator of the International Animation Day and he is the managing partner of the production agency Marão Desenhos Animados.
Film Director/Writer
Cinzia Angelini
Cinzia Angelini is a writer, story artist and director who has worked in the animation industry for more than twenty-five years. She has written and is currently directing “Mila,” a high-quality CG short film about a little girl whose life takes an unexpected turn in WWII. The film is produced by the largest independent, world-wide, virtual studio collaboration ever created. UNICEF Italy is just one of the many sponsors who have joined the Mila team in their groundbreaking endeavor. After working in London and Munich for Amblimation and then Warner Bros, Cinzia moved to Los Angeles to start the American chapter of her career. While her first Hollywood studio was Dreamworks, she eventually followed a path that would lead to a series of collaborations as animator and story artist, with all of the major studios, such as Sony Imageworks, Walt Disney Animation, Warner Bros, Illumination Entertainment and Cinesite Studios. Her work includes “Balto,” “Prince of Egypt,” “Eldorado,” “Spirit,” “Sinbad,” “Spider-man 2?, “Open Season,” “Meet the Robinsons,” “Bolt,” “The Minions Movie”, “Despicable Me 3” and the upcoming “Everest” and “The Grinch.”The notoriety she gained from her development of the virtual crew and studio for Mila led to her invitation to speak at TEDx Trento in 2017, and then TEDx Vail in 2018. There she introduced her idea of bridging cultural diversity through the magic of animation.
England
Marcus Armitage
Marcus Armitage is a BAFTA nominated animator and filmmaker from Yorkshire with an MA in animation from the Royal College of Art.
Marcus makes films about change in modern Britain. Characters caught in the middle or fighting against it. He uses drawing, painting and mixed media to show transformation in his animated worlds.
Portugal
João Meirinhos
Director of Cinema du Desert, João Meirinhos travels around the world showing samples of films in the most unforeseen villages in the planet. After his M.A. in Visual Anthropology by the University of Manchester, he works as a documentarist.
Brazil
Cesar Maurício
Cesar Maurício has a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, having obtained it in Cinema de Animação from the Escola de Belas Artes da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in 1992. He specialized in Teaching and Research in art, culture and education at Guingnard in 2006 and obtained his MA degree in Latin-American Documental Cinema from Escuela de Cine de Barcelona, in 2012. Cesar is now taking his PhD in Contemporary Art from the Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.
He is the artistic coordinator of the ONG Favela é Isso Aí since its foundation in 2004 until today; an audiovisual arts teacher and the director of over 50 videos of animated films, documentaries and videoclips. He is the author of Inflamável, a book with poerty, lyrics, music, drawings and wood engraving images, that he produced between 1990 and 2010.
England
Rita Street
Rita Street is an executive producer and indie development artist under the Radar Cartoons, LLC. umbrella. She is excited to be opening a second development company called Panita Productions with EP Lina Silva of Kreiworks, dedicated to sourcing, developing and selling Latin American content.
As a writer, Rita has spent her career dedicated to creating great "heroes" that audiences want to embrace (and buyers want to pick-up). This dedication led her to publish the popular ebook: "A Cartoon Girl's Secret Guide to Developing Kids' Comedies That Sell." Rita is the co-creator of the upcoming Disney EMEA comedy, "Space Chickens in Space." Her executive producer credits include: "Hero: 108"; "Teenage Fairytale Dropouts" and "Ruby Gloom". Currently, Rita is working on the development of a Latin American network project. Rita is also the ep of a CG feature film project called "100% Wolf" for producer Flying Bark in Australia. Rita is the founder of the international non-profit organization, Women In Animation. She is also proud to have served as a former publisher of "Animation Magazine".
Brazil
Ygor Marotta
By being a visual artist, Ygor makes performances, paintings, drawings, videos, illustration, photos and some experimental music. In 2010, he met artist Ceci Soloaga and together they created an audiovisual duo. VJ Suave is a combination of the analogue with the digital world, by projecting animation on the streets. As VJ Suave, the artists have created 4 short films for motion projection: Trip (2013), La Cena (2012), Homeless (2011) and Run (2011). Their main double performance is Suaveciclo, a bicycle adapted for projecting films while moving. They also make video mapping, vjing, live real time animated drawings, and audiovisual performances and installations. They wish to invoke love through light.
Portugal
Manuel Sacadura
Manuel Sacadura is the founding partner of TRIX, where he is the Director and Head of Animation. He has experience in many techniques, from animated films and stop-motion to 3D and 2D animation, and also in real images. He is a renowned professional in films for advertising and communication. He works as a screenwriter, director and head of animation, art and actors; illustrator and, of course, as animation artist. He has been a teacher of subjects related to animation and 3D. He is also a practicing melomaniac.
Italy
Rino Stefano Tagliafierro
Over the years, Rino Stefano has had experience as art director, visual-artist, graphic designer, animator and 2Dcompositor. He has made video-art, commercials, short films, fashion video, videomapping, videoprojections and videoinstallations for exhibitions, museums and special events.
He has made videos for important brands, such as Coke, Samsung and Louis Vuitton. In 2015 with the ADV "Untouched" for Coke won the Gold Award at the LIA AWARDS 2015 in London and the CLIO Award at NY-CLIO Festival. He also created music videos for major Italian and international artists as Four Tet, Stumbleine, Digitalism, and others. He has collaborated with several studios, professionals and in movies projects such as "A Rose Reborn" by Park Chan-wook.
In 2013 he cofounded the studio KARMACHINA. As an author he has taken part in several contemporary art exhibitions in Milan and New York, among others, receiving international awards in festivals such as Short Film Corner Cannes and Festival d'Annecy.
In 2014 he published the short film "Beauty", obtaining great outcome and recognition wordlwide and gaining the approval of major national and international newspapers and specialized magazines, such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, Wall Street International, Bild, The Guardian, etc.
In 2016 he published Peep Show.
Argentina
Ezequiel Dalinger
Ezequiel Dalinger is graduated in Design of Image and Sound by the University of Buenos Aires (FADU – UBA).
Director and creator of ANIMA LATINA, Latin American Animation Film Festival (Buenos Aires, Argentina). He has also programmed for other festivals and organizations. He has served as jury member and speaker at numerous national and international film festivals and markets.
He currently contributes as a journalist to different national media like the website Ultracine and the magazine Directores, while maintaining his website Zona de Animación. He has published many articles in academic journals.
Brazil
Daniel Hanai
Daniel Hanai is graduated in engineering with a master's degree in social communication. He has been working as a cultural producer at SESC since 2001 and nowadays he is manager at Sesc Araraquara. Besides his job, he also has a filmmaker carreer as director and producer of documentary and feature films.
Portugal
Ulisses Dias
Director of the BANG AWARDS. He brings his experience as an actor and film producer and of musical events to the management of "SLINGSHOT - Design e Produções Multimédia, Lda." and "NAU Identidade - Comunicação e Promoção Turística, Lda.".
Portugal
Ana Umbelino
Municipal Councillor for Torres Vedras. Her first degree is in Psychology and her Masters in Educational Science. She has also studied on a History of Education doctorate programme.
