Rise & Shine International Jury

Helga Fodorean

Helga Fodorean joined the Animest team in 2018 as a festival producer. She is also the president of the Animest Association, within which she acts as the financial director for all the projects developed year-round under the Animest umbrella. She is a formally trained scriptwriter with a strong interest in new media filmmaking, and a self-taught producer working in animation and documentary filmmaking. Successfully managing her family business since 2010 – an art center and dance school of over 100 pupils – she gained valuable experience in business- and cultural management as well.

Ana Nedeljković

Ana Nedeljković was born in Belgrade in 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 and animator and is also active in art education.
Her first animated film Rabbitland (2013, co-directed by Nikola Majdak Jr.) was awarded the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. It has also received numerous other awards and has been shown at more than a hundred festivals worldwide. Her second film Untravel (2018, co-directed by Nikola Majdak Jr.) was also screened at numerous festivals including Berlinale, Annecy and Sundance, and was nominated for the Annie Award. Her new short film Money and Happiness (2022) has recently premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. At present she and Nikola are working on their first animated feature.

Luce Grosjean

In 2014 Luce Grosjean founded Sève Films, a distribution company destined to promote student films in animation festivals, but also young talent directors. In 2017, she associated with Miyu Productions to create Miyu Distribution, specialized in distribution in festivals and international sales for animation. Four of the films that she distributed have been nominated at the Oscars, one to the César and her films are known international successes. Her company received the award of the best short film distribution company in 2020 by UniFrance and La Fête du Court Métrage. In 2021, she signed her first feature films, Archipel by the Canadian Felix Dufour-Laperrière and Dozens of Norths directed by the Japanese Koji Yamamura. She curated a short film program released in the theaters in France, erotico-trash, named “Plan cul la praline”.

Eric Reginaud

Eric Reginaud has been the head of Ciclic Animation since 2015. Prior to that, Eric worked as an animation studio manager, a producer and distributor, and as a drawing teacher.

Tutors

Matthieu Darras

Matthieu Darras has designed and leads several programs for film/talent development, active worldwide, notably the First Cut Lab, the Pop Up Film Residency, and the Full Circle Lab. Previously, he founded & directed the European Network of Young Cinema NISI MASA, wrote for the film magazine Positif, and was the artistic director of TorinoFilmLab. Matthieu Darras worked for major film festivals in Europe: as a programmer for the Cannes Critics’ Week, as a consultant for the Venice Film Festival, and as a delegate for the San Sebastian Film Festival. He also directed the Bratislava Film Festival.

Anna Vášová

Anna Vášová started as a script executive for the Czech TV. She also lectured at the Academy of Performing Arts and wrote scripts for the theatre/TV/radio. Later she headed the production arm of Barrandov Studios and became the Director of Programmes for the Czech TV. From there, she moved for 15 years to Eurovision in Geneva, where she coordinated over 50 co-productions across 86 TVs in 56 countries. After her return to Prague in 2015, Anna became a member of the Czech TV Director’s Advisory board, led two sectors at the Visegrad Animation Forum and served as member of the FAMU Artistic Board. She also returned to independent scriptwriting, script-advising and tutoring. In 2018 Anna set up the animation production company 13ka (13ka.eu) together with the fresh producer Karolina Davidova. Since then, Anna has worked there as a producer, scriptwriter and script editor. She occasionally lectures at FAMU, acts as an expert for MEDIA programme, and participates at festivals and workshops as a tutor or a jury member.