Main and Anidoc Competition:
Ana Nedeljković, Mihai Mitrica and Vessela Dantcheva
Ana Nedeljković (Belgrade, Serbia, 1978)
She graduated in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She was awarded a PhD in art practice at the same faculty. She is a visual artist, director, animator and educator. Her first film “Rabbitland”, co-directed with Nikola Majdak (2013) was awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. It has received numerous other awards and has been shown at more than a hundred festivals worldwide. Their second film “Untravel“(2018) was screened at Berlinale, Annecy and Sundance, nominated for the Annie Award and received numerous awards. Their third film “Money and Happiness” (2022) has been premiered in Locarno, and screened at Annecy and numerous other festivals. At present they are working on project development for their first animated feature film “New Rabbitland”. Working within their own studio, they also make many commercial animation projects as well as conducting animation workshops. She lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia
Mihai Mitrică (Romania)
Mihai Mitrică is the co-founder and the director of Animest, the animation film festival based in Bucharest. Animest is the only Oscar-qualifying film festival in Romania, with follow-ups and special editions in various cities of Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
Mihai is a short film curator and selector for various international festivals, his main areas being animation, Romanian short film and horror film. He curates animation programmes for international festivals, promotes Romanian film in markets such as Annecy and Clermont-Ferrand, and has been invited as a jury member in festivals around the world.
Since 2014, Mihai has been a freelance producer of animation short films, working with some of the best representatives of the new generation of Romanian animators. His most recent (co)productions with Safe Frame Studios include: Cradle by Paul Mureșan, selected in over 100 international festivals; Amok by Balázs Turai, winner of the Annecy Cristal and of the Heart of Sarajevo award; Simply Divine by Mélody Boulissière and Bogdan Stamatin, winner of Audience Award Mephisto 97.6 at DOK Leipzig and of a Special Mention at IDFA Amsterdam.
Vessela Dantcheva
Vessela Dantcheva is an animation director and producer. She graduated in Animation at Rotterdam Art Academy in 2002 and gained her animation experience in the Netherlands. Her first professional film was ‘Anna Blume’, then she was part of the creation of ‘Father’, ‘Travelling Country’, the poetry collection ‘Mark & Verse’, ‘Hierarchy Glitch’, ‘Trace’, ‘Balconada’ and many others. In 2008 she co-founds Compote Collective and since then she is managing the production of diverse artistic animation films, which are screened and awarded worldwide. Compote Collective is one of the leading animation production companies in Bulgaria with a record of 45 animated films. Vessela is invited often to participate in workshops, presentations and as a jury member at international festivals and pitching events. She is a lecturer in animation studies at New Bulgarian University and National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Student and Music Video Competition:
Nikola Majdak, Ligia Soare and Ivan Bogdanov
Nikola Majdak (Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1972)
He has an MFA from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, camera department. For the past 30 years he has been a freelance cameraman, animator, director and lecturer. His first film “Rabbitland”, co-directed with Ana Nedeljković (2013) was awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. It has received numerous other awards and has been shown at more than a hundred festivals worldwide. Their second film “Untravel“(2018) was screened at Berlinale, Annecy and Sundance, nominated for the Annie Award and received numerous awards. Their third film “Money and Happiness” (2022) has been premiered in Locarno, and screened at Annecy and numerous other festivals. At present they are working on project development for their first animated feature film “New Rabbitland”. Working within their own studio, they also make many commercial animation projects as well as conducting animation workshops. He lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia
Ligia Soare (Romania)
Ligia Soare has been working in the world of festivals for over two decades. She is part
of the founding team of Animest – the Bucharest International Animation Film Festival.
In terms of programming, Ligia mainly focuses on films and connected activities for
young audiences, as well as means of including audiovisual education in school. As
regards promotion of European films and innovative ways of building audiences, Ligia is
involved in the projects of the Animation Festival Network, an alliance of festivals with
similar goals and visions, of which Animest is a founding member. Ligia also works with
cultural organizations, film festivals, producers and distributors, as an accomplished
audiovisual translator of films and screenplays and as a screen translation trainer. Her
recent interests and studies focus on cultural accessibility; Ligia is the initiator of a series
of inclusive cinema events, educational projects and professional training for cultural
managers and festival organisers.
Ivan Bogdanov (1973)
Ivan Bogdanov (1973) was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. After graduating in animation from the Willem de Kooning Academy of Art and Design in Rotterdam, he worked as an animation director, illustrator and comic artist. He co-founded Compote Collective together with Vesela Dancheva. Over the past decade he has created several award-winning animated films.