Jury
Magda Guidi
Magda Guidi lives and works in Pesaro, Italy. She has been drawing animated films since 2010. Magda is considered one of the greatest exponents of contemporary italian animation cinema. Her most recent film is Sogni al campo (with Mara Cerri, in 2020, produced by Miyu Productions, Withstand Film). The film has been selected in Orizzonti competition at the 77th Venice Film Festival, and received a special mention at Animateka festival in 2020, won the firs prize at ABIFF (Animation Bucharest International Film Festival) 2021 and Visioni Corte International shorti Film Festival, 2021.
Magda has been teaching animation cinema at the ISIA in Urbino since 2018, and she is one of the founders of ALMA (free association of animators from the Marche region born in 2020) and artistic co-director.
Kolja Saksida
Kolja Saksida (Slovenia, 1981) received his Master’s degree in Film Studies from the ECAL University of Art and Design, Lausanne. Kolja works in the field of filmmaking as a director, producer and teacher.
His animated series Koyaa – Wild Life was screened with success on the national Radio Television Slovenia throughout the 2005 season. Kolja also realized the short puppet animated films Kiddo – Slingshot and the KOYAA series (14 films) and the animated film Azulejo or visual illusion created in mixed technique. His films were shown at more than 250 international film festivals, televisions and other venues worldwide.
As a producer, he also focuses on the development and realization of ideas by other authors and ensures that the initial synopsis is used to create an author’s animated film, either in the stop motion technique or in the 2D technique.
He is currently one of four producers of the animated feature film Of Unwanted Things and People (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and France) in the technique of stop animation.
Kolja is an Associate Professor of animated film at the School of Arts at the University of Nova Gorica. Kolja is a member of the European Film Academy, a member of the Slovenian Animated Film Association (DSAF), and the founder of the production house ZVVIKS (zvviks.net).
Velislava Gospodinova
Velislava Gospodinova is a Bulgarian animation director, storyboard artist, VFX professional and animator. Her author’s short animation films The Lighthouse (2009), The Blood (2012) and Firebird (2017) have been presented and awarded at numerous international film festivals. She was selected and participated in 2010 in the prestigious Berlinale Talent Campus. In 2014 she founded her own production company in Sofia – “Red Stroke”, for the creation of personal and commissioned animation projects. For over 15 years, Velislava works professionally in the fields of visual effects, architectural visualisations, commercials and storyboarding, while at the same time participating in different exhibitions, workshops and academic symposiums. Currently, she is a lecturer in the BA and Master’s animation programs at New Bulgarian University, where she is also a PhD candidate with a thesis on the development and application of the cut-outs in animation.
