Thomas Volda — Croatia
Thomas Volda is a British-born animation film director and multidisciplinary artist based in Croatia, working primarily in stop-motion animation. A graduate of the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Together with his partner Ivana Volda the couple have written, co-directed and animated several animated short films. Their distinctive work blends handcrafted animation with experimental visual storytelling, exploring themes of memory, nature, perception, and the human condition. Their films including Simulacra, Imbued Life, and Remember How I Used to Ride a White Horse, have been screened internationally at major animation festivals and received numerous awards. Alongside filmmaking, Thomas is multidisciplinary artist often combining animation and performance art disciplines in his work, he has created puppet animation performances at numerous international festivals and galleries across Europe.
Marija Vulić
Marija Vulić graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, Department of Applied Sculpture. She has dedicated her long line of work to the development of film and fine arts, as well as to the education of children and youth through the JAFILM association and the animation school for school-aged children. She initiated the establishment of Animator Fest – European Youth Festival of Animated Film, born out of the success of the school and the need to open a new space for promoting this art form. She is the author of the short animated film “Trkija / Elusiveness”, which was named the best Serbian animated film of 2020 and has won numerous international awards. Today, she works at the Cultural Center of Jagodina as the fine arts program editor, while also working as the artistic director of Animator Fest within this institution where the festival is held.
Aleta Rajič
Aleta Rajič (1990) holds an MA in English language/literature and Art History from University of Mostar, BiH. She learned how to animate alongside her father and mother who worked together in animation for many years and founded NAFF, the first animated film festival in BiH. Natural Selection (2019) is her debut animated short, and Chronicity (2024) is her latest. Both films have been selected at numerous international festivals (Annecy, Animafest Zagreb, Sarajevo Film Festival etc.) and won multiple awards.
Tina Smrekar
Tina Smrekar focuses on developing and producing author driven animation shorts with an analogue touch. Co-founder of and producer at Finta Film. The films she produced screened at Berlinale (Cosmonauts, 2026, Leo Černic), Locarno (Steakhouse, 2021, Špela Čadež), Sundance (Nighthawk, 2016, Špela Čadež), receiving more than 100 awards, among those a number of festival Grand Prixs and a Jury Award in Annecy. Co-productions with Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and France. Associate Professor at the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts, helping young talents develop across media. President of the Slovenian Animated Film Association and Supervisory board member of Slovenian audiovisual collecting society AIPA.
Vuk Jeremovic
Vuk Jeremovic was born 1959 in Frankfurt on Main (Germany), but his spent his childhood in ex Yugoslavia. Following the family tradition, he studied Architecture at The Technical University Belgrade and graduated in 1984. After spending one year in the navy as a diver, he decided to dedicate his life to art: painting and drawing. He started exhibiting in 1986 and during the following years he was considered as a promising young artist in former Yugoslavia. He decided to move to Munich in 1991 where he studied at the academy of Fine Arts with professor Gerhard Berger. Later, he graduated as master student with professor Joseph Kosuth, 2002. His inclusion into the animation world was due to a casual encounter with one renowned animator, Nedeljko Dragic, from Zagreb. He joined the animation course Dragic was giving and felt in love forever with the moving images. His first animation was based on a cheetah in motion, The Wind Subsides. That first film was shown all over the world, and it won 2 Grand Prix and 17 Awards. The next film, inspired by a R.M.Rilke’s poem, Panther, was also successful. It won 15 international awards and came into final balloting for the Oscar award (1998) as best animation short. Since then, his life has been linked to animation and he has continued to create short films: Diary (2000)Oscar qualified, Faces (2002), Quercus, (2003), The Wheel Turns (2005) , Close Your Eyes and Do Not Breathe (2006) ,Lux (2007)and Patience of the Memory (2009) Oscar qualified, La isla de los Muertos (2011), Oscar quailfied, “11” (2022 ), Moral Support (2024) Oscar qualified.
Vuk was a member of Festival-Jurys, like in Madrid (Spain), Jena, Regensburg, Dresden (Germany), Zagreb(Croatia), Belgrade(Serbia) ,Krok (Russia and Ukraine)) Talinn (Estonia) Ljubljana (Slovenia) Liberec (Czech Republic) Skopje ( Macedonia). He also done some animation workshops in different countrys like: Spain, Portugal, Tunisia, Estonia, Colombia and Lebanon
Marko Meštrović
Marko Meštrović (1972, Stuttgart) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He has been making animated films since 2000. His films were screened at some of the most important film festivals (Locarno, Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand, Ottawa, Edinburgh, Sarajevo) and received many awards. He plays drums in the world music band Cinkuši.
His filmography includes : How (2025), The Raft (2021), Trip (2017), Levitation (2014), Why Elephants? (2012), No Sleep Won’t Kill You (2010), Note (2008), Silencium (2006), Gipsy Song (2004