2019 Juries
- Feature films
- Short films
- Graduation films and Off-Limits short films
- TV and commissioned films
- Contrechamp
- VR
- Jury for the Best Original Music Award
- Fipresci Jury
- André-Martin Award Jury
- Festivals Connexion Award Jury
- CANAL+ Young Audience Jury Award
- Perspectives Jury
- Jury for the Vimeo Staff Pick Award
- Junior Jury
Sommaire
The jury members will have the delicate task of choosing among the competing films and bestowing 20 official awards, including the Cristal for short films and the Cristal for feature films.
Check out the jury members for Annecy 2019.
Feature Films
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Julie GAYET
Producer
Rouge International
FranceBiography
Actress, director and film producer, in 2007 Julie Gayet created Rouge International with Nadia Turincev. In 2017 she co-produced the film Raw, by Julia Ducournau, as well as the out of competition documentary shown at Cannes, Faces Places. In 2013, as director, Julie co-curates Mathieu Busson’s documentary Cinéast(e)s, in which more than twenty female filmmakers disclose their roles and place within cinema professions. In 2018 she co-produced The Insult by Ziad Doueiri and distributes the Chinese feature film Have a Nice Day by Jian Liu, screened at the Festival the same year.
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Yoshiaki NISHIMURA
Founder, CEO & Producer
Studio Ponoc
JapanBiography
Studio Ponoc (since 2014): Founder and producer, Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017, Hiromasa Yonebayashi) and Ponoc Short Films Theatre, Volume 1 – Modest Heroes (2018, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Yoshiyuki Momose, Akihiko Yamashita).
Studio Ghibli (2002-2014): Advertising for various Studio Ghibli films including Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Tales from Earthsea (2006), and Ponyo (2008). First and second feature-length films with Yoshiaki Nishimura as producer, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) and When Marnie Was There (2014), earned nominations for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.
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Nora TWOMEY
Partner & Creative Director
Cartoon Saloon
IrelandBiography
Nora co-directed Tomm Moore’s Academy Award nominated The Secret of Kells. She was creative producer on the show Puffin Rock and head of story on Academy Award nominated Song of the Sea. Nora directed The Breadwinner. The film was nominated for an Academy Award & Golden Globe and won the Jury Award, Audience Award/Première along with Best Original Music Award, sponsored by the SACEM, at Annecy 2018. Nora is now working on "My Father’s Dragon", a feature film for Netflix, while Cartoon Saloon is also in production with "Wolfwalkers" and the TV series "Dorg Van Dango".
Short films
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Dimitri GRANOVSKY
Les Éditions Granovsky
FranceBiography
The primary passion of Dimitri Granovsky for communication, art, cinema and technologies has over the years drawn him to animation. He was Deputy Director of the École Georges-Méliès, he also taught animation film history and film analysis, was President of the RECA (a network of French animation schools) and moderator for the Work in Progress sessions at the Annecy Festival. Currently he devotes his time to film animation book publications, with his latest publication Athleticus that he will be signing during the Festival.
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Izabela PLUCIŃSKA
Director & Producer
ClayTraces
PolandBiography
Born in Poland, Izabela Plucińska is now living in Germany. She studied fine arts and film as an undergraduate and completed her PhD in the field of animation at the National Film School in Lodz. Plucińska has some thirty films to her credit, including Jam Session (2005), which won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Esterhazy (2009) and Sexy Laundry (2015). Currently she is teaching at the Academy of Art in Szczecin while busily working at her own production company, ClayTraces. She is back with Portrait of Suzanne, her latest film, inspired by the short novel by Roland Topor.
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Koji YAMAMURA
Director
Yamamura Animation, Inc.
JapanBiography
Born in 1964, Koji Yamamura has dedicated a large part of his career to making films for children. Mt. Head, Oscar nominated in 2003, The Old Crocodile (2005), Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor (2007), Muybridge’s Strings (2011), were awarded over 90 prizes including the grand prizes of 4 major animation festivals: Annecy, Zagreb, Ottawa, Hiroshima. He was a member of many international juries and had many retrospective screenings worldwide. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he is also a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Graduation films and Off-Limits short films
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Antonio CANOBBIO
Senior Vice-President & Chief Creative Officer
Titmouse, Inc.
USABiography
At Titmouse, Inc., Antonio Canobbio oversees the creative direction of all projects, including Metalocalypse, Black Dynamite, Motorcity, Niko and the Sword of Light, Little Big Awesome, and the studios’ first feature film, Nerdland. He began his animation career working as a layout artist in his native city, Paris until Chris Prynoski, who was working at MTV, noticed his unique portfolio drawings showing up on the fax machine (yes, really – via fax!). Chris lobbied to have Antonio join him at MTV New York and years later they made the move to Cartoon Network in Los Angeles, and have been working together since.
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Dean DEBLOIS
Writer & Director
DreamWorks Animation
USABiography
Dean DeBlois joined DreamWorks in 2008. Golden Globe® winner and two-time Academy Award® nominee, Dean is the writer/director of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, one of the most popular animated franchises in film history. He is a regular at the Festival and the first images of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) were shown during the Screening Events in 2018. In addition to his animation work, Dean has also written and sold various live action feature film projects to Disney and Universal Studios. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Writers Guild, and Asifa.
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Virginia MORI
Director & Illustrator
ItalyBiography
Virginia Mori is based in Pesaro and Milan. She studied at the State Art Institute in Urbino. In 2008 she won the "SRG idée suisse" prize at the Call for Projects during the Annecy Festival. This enabled her to produce her first short film The Play of Silence, which stood out at international events, launching her career as an illustrator and director of animated shorts. One of her illustrated books Vento (Withstand) made with Virgilio Villoresi has been recently exhibited at Montreuil Children’s book fair in Paris. She works freelance for renowned international clients and galleries.
TV and commissioned films
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Vrej KASSOUNY
Director
ReAnimania Int. Animation Film & Comics Art Festival of Yerevan
ArmeniaBiography
In 2009 Vrej Kassouny founded ReAnimania IAFCAFY. As a filmmaker he is involved in many animation and fictional films as director, animator, producer, and is an actor. A fine artist, painter, political cartoonist and illustrator, Vrej lives in Armenia where he mostly works in animation. He went to Aardman animation studio for a three month’s course in Bristol, UK. In 2006 he founded his animation studio KASSart production, in Yerevan, Armenia. He is the Armenian representative for Eurimages at the Council of Europe, and also the Armenian ambassador of the European Animation Awards.
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Judith NORA
Producer
Silex Films
FranceBiography
Co-founder of Collectif 5050, Judith Nora cut her teeth at Miramax, New York, Avenue B and Ad Vitam, Paris, before cofounding Silex Films and Silex Animation 2D studio with her partner Priscilla Bertin. She has produced several feature films including The Parisian Bitch, Princess of Hearts, the shortcom Connasse for Canal+, and series such as The Adventurers of Modern Art (Arte, 2015). Two animated TV series will be released soon: Brazen, adapted from the successful collection of comics by Pénélope Bagieu for France Télévisions, and Romanticism: The Adventurers of Art, directed by Amélie Harrault, for Arte.
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Sébastien ONOMO
Producer
Les Films d’Ici/Special Touch Studios
FranceBiography
Sébastien Onomo is a French film producer who trained at the National Audiovisual Institute. He produces at Films d’Ici and at the heart of the company Special Touch Studios that he co-founded, of which he is the chairman. He is co-chairman of a Francophone focus group for Unifrance since 2017, expert advisor for the NAI, La Fémis, & GOBELINS, l'école de l'image and is member of various commissions and juries. Among the twenty or so TV and cinema films he has produced, we can note Le Gang des Antillais by Jean-Claude Barny and Funan by Denis Do, winner of the Cristal for a Feature Film at Annecy 2018.
Contrechamp
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Jinko GOTOH
Producer
USABiography
Born in Japan, Jinko Gotoh was raised in California and attended the prestigious Columbia University. She is a producer and consultant for the animation industry with over thirty years' experience spanning a wide range of media. Having worked at Pixar and Disney Feature Animation, her screen credits include The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince, The Illusionist, 9, and Finding Nemo. Jinko is currently producing two animated features for Netflix: Klaus by Sergio Pablos, and Escape from Hat by Mark Osborne. She also serves as vice president for Women in Animation, and is a published poet.
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Anja KOFMEL
Director & Illustrator
Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion
SuisseBiography
Anja Kofmel studied at the HSLU in Switzerland and the ÉnsAD in Paris, before attending courses in storytelling, storyboarding and production. Since 2010 she has been working as an illustrator and as an animation and documentary filmmaker. Her first animated feature, Chris the Swiss, premiered at Cannes International Critics' Week 2018. It won several awards and was nominated for the Camera d’Or, Emile European Animation Awards and Prix Lumière. She is currently working on her next feature, an animation/live-action hybrid about the impact of new technology on modern society.
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Gerben SCHERMER
Curator Contemporary Art and Animation
NetherlandsBiography
As curator of contemporary and animation art Gerben Schermer (1959, Netherlands) is known for his choice for quality and innovation. From 1985 until 2018 he created, directed and developed the international Holland Animation Film Festival. Schermer’s track record in the presentation of the art of animation shows ambitious programming, yet intimate and accessible, including committed and experimental programmes, animation installations and artists in residency. In 2017 he co-curated the exhibition China, Art in Motion at the Musée-Château d’Annecy, with contemporary Chinese animation installations.
VR
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Voyelle ACKER
Immersive Experience Producer
ON Animation Studios
FranceBiography
Voyelle Acker is a graduate of the EDHEC and the Sorbonne. She has 18 years’ experience in the development, production and distribution of audiovisual projects in France and abroad. Ten years at France Télévisions, including Head of the Youth Department, then in charge of New Writing and Transmedia, she explores web writing and new media. In 2016, she moves to teaching, coaching talent, incubating innovative projects and editing international co-productions. In 2018, she joins the ON Animation studio, which is dedicated to feature film production, to develop immersive narratives.
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Jeffrey BOWERS
Senior Curator
Vimeo
USABiography
Jeffrey Bowers is a Senior Curator at Vimeo, where his responsibilities include selecting Staff Picks, managing Staff Pick Awards and Vimeo's Best of the Year awards. His background includes programming features and shorts for the Tribeca Film Festival, Hamptons International Film Festival, and Rooftop Films. He also co-curated VICE media’s VICE Shorts, where he wrote the short film column, I'm Short, Not Stupid. Bowers has served on juries and participated in speaking engagements at places like the Berlin Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and SXSW Film Festival.
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Jimmy MAIDENS
Co-Founder, Chief Scientist, VFX Supervisor
Penrose Studios
USABiography
Jimmy Maidens is a co-founder at Penrose Studios, home of award winning VR pieces Allumette, Arden’s Wake, and the recognized VR social-collaboration tool, Maestro. He is a veteran CG filmmaker, having served as a tech lead and artist at DreamWorks for 12+ years on films such as the Shrek and Madagascar series. As a true CG generalist, Jimmy has wide expertise in multiple areas of production from development to final delivery. Jimmy is a life-long VR enthusiast, and has amassed a large VR headset collection over several decades.
The jury for the Best Original Music Award for a Short and Feature Film, sponsored by the SACEM.
- Marcel Jean
- Laurent Perez Del Mar
The Jury of the André-Martin Award
The André-Martin Award jury members will honor a French Short Film and a French Feature Film.
- Mohamed Beyoud, Artistic Director, Meknès International Animated Film Festival
- Cécile Giraud, Cinema Mediator, Cinémas Indépendants de Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Alexis Hunot, Animation Film Activist
- Marie-Pauline Mollaret, Chief Editor, Écran Noir
- Bernard Payen, Head of Programming, Cinémathèque français
- Igor Prassel, Artistic Director, Animateka International Animated Film Festival
- Matilda Tavelli, Co-director, Animatou International Animation Film Festival
Jury for the Festivals Connexion – Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Award / In partnership with Lumières Numériques & Mèche Courte
CANAL+ Young Audience Jury Award
- Nathalie Leffray, Youth sector
Junior Jury
This year the Junior Jury is comprised of 8 members aged between 9 to 16: 3 young Japanese students from the Kineko festival will join 4 young students from the Atelier de cinéma d’animation d’Annecy et de Haute-Savoie (aaa) and 1 student from the Cinéma d’animation du collège Les Balmettes.
Jury members
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Short films:
- Théo Garayt, 13 years old, aaa
- Yaël Verkindt, 14 years old, aaa
- Marline François, 13 years old, collège Les Balmettes
- Reon Ozawa, 13 years old, Kineko festival
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Graduation Films:
- Gwen Thomas, 17 years old, aaa
- Harika-Maria Avila, 16 years old, aaa
- Hiroaki Nishiura, 17 years old, Kineko festival
- Mizuki Yoshii, 16 years old, Kineko festival