
Edmunds Jansons
Latvia
Edmunds Jansons (1972) is animator, director, illustrator and founder of the animation film studio Atom Art. He studied TV directing at the Academy of Culture of Latvia and animation directing at the Estonian Academy of Art. His filmography notably includes the animated documentary film Little Bird's Diary (2007), which was awarded the Best Baltic Animation award at IFF Arsenals and received the Grand Prix at Tallinn Graphic Triennial; the animated short Choir Tour (2012), which received numerous awards, among them the Best Animation Award at the 29th “interfilm” International SFF and the Award for Sound and Music at the LIAF London IAF; and the animated short The Isle of Seals (2014), screened at Annecy 2016. He is co-author and director of the pre-school series Shammies (2015), and director of the 25-min Christmas story Pigtail and Mr. Sleeplessness (2017), which was the winner in three categories at the National Film Festival Lielais Kristaps, and received the Best Children’s Short Film Award at the Fredrikstad Animation Festival. In the beginning of 2019, his first feature film Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs premiered and received the Best Animation Film for Children Award at the IFF for Children and Young Adults in Isfahan, Iran and The Journalist's Award at the 6th Kids Kino IFF in Warsaw, Poland. Since 2013, Edmunds has been teaching animation directing at the Academy of Arts of Latvia. In addition to his main line of work, Edmunds is a recognized and beloved children’s book illustrator.