Jury
Official Jury
Lifia Soare is one of the organizers and programmers of the Bucharest International Animation Festival Animest. She has been part of the project almost from the beginning and is currently in charge of the festival's parallel activities and events dedicated to children.
Signe Baumane
Official jury & Special Guest
Signe started working at the Riga Animated Film Studio as a beginner. After several jobs in Latvia in 1996 she moved to New York. There he worked for freelance animator Bill Plympton and from 1998 she started making her films in her own studio. Signe has written, directed and animated 15 short films and two feature films. With her second feature film "My Love Affair With Marriage" she was nominated for Best European Film and received numerous international awards such as the Special Jury Distinction at the Annecy Festival or the Grand Prix of the Zagreb Film Festival 2023.
Carmen Córdoba
Official Jury
In January 2012 he decided to take a big professional leap and dedicate himself to what he is truly passionate about: telling stories through animation. Her first animated short film "Roberto", was released in 2020 and has won more than 170 national and international awards. Her second animated short film "Amarradas", won the Movistar Plus+ award for Best Short Film Project at Weird 2021 and has just been released, having been selected at festivals such as Weird Market 2022 and Animario 2022. She is currently working as director on the animated feature film "Un mundo própio", currently in development.
Miren Aperribay
WIP Jury
Miren Aperribay, founder and distributor of Atera Films, has released successful Basque productions such as "Handia" and "Loreak". Atera Films is also committed to titles by new directors. The company is currently distributing Jayro Bustamante's Guatemalan films, "Temblores" and "La Llorona", which have been selected for more than 100 festivals, including Venice, Berlin, San Sebastian and Sundance. The latter, La Llorona, was nominated to represent Guatemala at the GOYA and OSCARS in 2021. A member of the association of women audiovisual professionals "Hemen", she was a member of the Arts and Culture Council of Gipuzkoa until 2019. She is also a founding member and vice-president of the recently created Association of Independent Distributors.
Vanesa Fernández
WIP Jury
Vanesa Fernández Guerra is director of the Zinebi Festival and coordinates the Audiovisual Communication Degree at the University of the Basque Country. She has collaborated with ZINEBI for years as a member of the short film selection committee and has programmed special screenings and other cycles in the feature film section of ZIFF-Zinebi First Film. She has also worked as a freelance, advising on the development of film projects. In addition, she has participated in different commissions for the assessment of the development and production of U. film projects, groups of experts in WIP (Work in Progress) forums, LAB and Pitching sessions at different international festivals.
Eduardo Elosegui
WIP Jury
Eduardo Elosegi Euskal Herriko animaziozko zinemaren oinarrizko figura da, bertako animaziozko ekoizpen handietan lan egin baitu: Juan Bautista Berasategiren Balleneros (1990); Juan Bautista Berasategi, Carlos Varela eta Maite Ruiz de Austriren Haizearen Erronka(1992); Txavi Basterretxea eta Joxan Muñozen Eduardo Elosegi is a key figure in animation cinema in the Basque Country and has worked in animation productions such as Whaling, by Juan Bautista Berasategi (1990); The Legend of the North Wind, by Juan Bautista Berasategi, Carlos Varela, and Maite Ruiz de Austri (1992); The crab island, by Txavi Basterretxea and Joxan Muñoz (2000); Ahmed, Prince of the Alhambra, by Juan Bautista Berasategi (2002); Nur and the Temple of the Dragon, by Juan Bautista Berasategi (2015); Lur and Amets by Imanol Olasagasti and Carlos Zabala (2019); as well as several television series, TV movies, and advertisements. In addition to his work within the industry, Eduardo has been the cinematographer of more than 40 independent animated short films, including Bego Vicario's Goya Award-winning "Pregunta por mí" (1996). He has also collaborated in all of Isabel Herguera's films, including "El sueño de la Sultana" (2023).(2000); Juan Bautista Berasategiren Ahmed, Alhanbrako Printzea(2002); Juan Bautista BerasategirenNur eta dragoiaren tenplua (2015); Imanol Olasagasti eta Carlos Zabalaren Lur eta Amets (2019) eta hainbat telesail, telebistarako film eta publizitate kanpaina. Industrian egindako lanaz gain, Eduardo animaziozko 40 film labur independenteren argazki zuzendaria izan da, horien artean Bego Vicarioren Pregunta por mí (1996), Goya sariaren irabazlea. Isabel Hergueraren film guztietan ere parte hartu du, El sueño de la Sultana (2023) lanean barne.