INTERNATIONAL JURY

Pavel Horáček Czech republic

Pavel Horáček was born in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. He graduated in Film History and Audiovisual Culture from Masaryk University in Brno, devoting his thesis to means of expression and specific animation techniques, namely in Czech animated films. For three years, he worked as programme director at the AniFest, International Festival of Animated Films in Teplice. Since 2013 Pavel has been working as programme director of Anifilm, International Festival of Animated Films, founded in Trebon, settled now in Liberec city. He is an co-founder and curator of the aniont.com, presenting authorial works of animation online. He prepares programmes of animated films for institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad. Pavel writes about film and animation, and served as a jury member of various international festivals.

OISHI Tatsuya Japan

Animation director. Major works include ‘Paniponi Dash’ and ‘Goodbye, Mr. Despair’ (both as opening director), ‘Hidamari Sketch’, ‘Hidamari Sketch x365’ (production design), ‘Bakemonogatari’ (series director) and ‘KIZUMONOGATARI: Koyomi Vamp’ (director and scripter) etc.

Josh Shaffner United States

Josh Shaffner is a film maker and visual artist. He received his BFA in Painting and Drawing from The University of Montana 2005 and his MFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts in 2015. He is the author and animator of several short films including ‘The Rehabilitation of Sleep’ 2012, ‘Flaws’ 2014 ‘Service’ 2015 and his latest work ‘In Dreams’ 2023 which is currently touring festivals. Splitting time between Missoula, MT and Los Angeles, CA Josh works as an educator and freelance artist.

HIRAO Takayuki Japan

Director, screenwriter, producer, and novelist. Born in Kagawa Prefecture. A freelance director on various productions after working at MADHOUSE and ufotable. Currently working mainly on CLAP Animation Studio’s works. His works include ‘Pompo: The Cinéphile’ (movie, director and screenplay), ‘GOD EATER’ (TV anime, director and screenplay), ‘The Garden of Sinners - Paradox Paradigm’ (movie, director), the short film ‘Sakura no Ondo (Temperature of the cherry blossom)’ (director, story, screenplay), and ‘Yoyo and Nene, the Little Witch Sisters’ (movie, director and screenplay). In 2019 he published the novel ‘Nokemono Ouji to Bakemono Hime’. He is currently working on his latest original film with the team of ‘Pompo: The Cinéphile’.

nuQ Japan

Animation artist and illustrator. Active in a wide range of fields, Nu-Q’s works are not only the animation works featuring the characters “Ichiro” and “Futako” moving around in a pop and colorful style, but TV commercials, music videos, character design, picture books, and book illustrations. Representative works include ‘NEW TOKYO ONDO’ (animation), ‘Shin Kokon Omotenashi Chanpuru’ (wall painting), and ‘Educational Sticker Puzzle’ (picture book). Intagram: @nuq_artworks

Gao Yuan China

Gao Yuan was born in Kunming, Yunnan, China 1986. In 2009, Gao received her BA degree from the Communication University of China in Animation Arts (Beijing, China).
Gao Yuan's solo exhibitions "Gao Yuan: Eternal Return" and "The Omen" were presented at Capsule Shanghai in 2017 and 2019. Gao Yuan's animations have been selected by major film festivals including "Locarno Film Festival: Pardi di domani" (2020), "Vancouver International Film Festival" (2017) "Hong Kong International Film Festival" (2018 & 2017), "International Film Festival Rotterdam" (2017). Her work is featured in the collection of M+ Museum, Hong Kong, Sunpride Foundation, Hong Kong and the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection.

SAKAI Kazuo Japan

Born in 1972. After becoming an animator, he works on "Mushi-Uta" as his directorial debut. His most famous works include ""Love Live! Sunshine!!"" as director and "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" as assistant director.

TAKINO Masumi Japan

She started her career as a sound designer while she was still a student at the Tokyo University of the Arts' Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment, and she has since worked extensively in animation, movies, commercials, and video games. Her work includes the animated movie "Ghost Cat Anzu" (2024), animated short movies "The Great Rabbit" (2012), "Bird In The Peninsula" (2022), "A Bite Of Bone" (2023), live-action movie "Mado" (2022) and animated TV series "Dinosaur Biyori" (2021), "Shinobanai! CryptoNinja Sakuya" (2023. 2024), "Ikimono-san" (2023) among others. She also took part in various movies and video games as a foley artist."