Archives: Biographies

Multiartist and Dj Nadda is a secret gem of the Norwegian club underground scene. She is sought after for her specific taste and mastery of the dance floor, admired by her fellow DJ peers, with former club performances at Jaeger and Hærverk. Running the club hot with electric ambient-electro-techno.

Yohann Comte is the co-founder of Charades, a sales and co-production company based in Paris. Before founding the company in 2017, with partners from Wild Bunch, Studiocanal and Asuna, Yohann was Deputy Head of International Sales at Gaumont. At Charades Yohann co-produced Revenge by Coralie Fargeat, French Hit Comedy The Shiny Shrimps, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s starrer Suicide Tourist. He also served as executive producer on arthouse shocker Swallow and Venice 2020 competition title The World to Come. Additionally, he worked as an associate producer on Mamoru Hosoda’s Cannes Première 2021 success Belle. Recently he co-produced the Cannes 2022 Competition Title Tchaikovsky’s Wife and served as an executive producer for Sanctuary a twisty playful thriller starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbot.

Niels Putman is the artistic director of Kortfilm.be, an online hub on short films, and chief editor of the independent short film magazine Talking Shorts, the latter of which he co-founded. He’s also part of Avila’s editorial team which offers a curated collection of contemporary and classic Belgian films online and in cinemas.

As a freelance film programmer and curator, Niels is affiliated with Fantoche International Animation Film Festival, Film Fest Gent, and queer film festival PinX, and has contributed as a guest curator to festivals in Quebec City, Dresden, and Poznan.

Niels holds a master’s in Film Studies & Visual Culture at University of Antwerp, and Audiovisual Arts at RITCS, Brussels. His work as a journalist and critic has been published in several Belgian outlets, including De Standaard, Etcetera, and Fantômas. Niels has served on juries at international film events in the likes of Tampere, Cannes, and Festival Regard, and is an official member of the Belgian Film Press Union and FIPRESCI.

Cornelia Boysen is one of Norway’s most experienced producers and is behind some of Norway’s biggest box office successes. She has produced a wide range of both animated and live-action films for a broad audience, among them the animated trilogy and box office hit about Louis and Luca (2013, 2015 & 2018) and the EFA Young Audience Award winner from 2020; The Crossing. She is currently in production with three feature films, scheduled for release in 2024/2025.

Endre Eidsaa Larsen is an associate professor in Film and Animation Studies at Volda University College. Endre teaches film and animation history, theory and analysis, and centers his research on questions of aesthetics, style and perception. In 2021, he finished his Ph.D. with the thesis Figures of Cinema: A Figural Approach to Film and Film Analysis (Larsen, 2021).

Anaïs Colpin comes from the diffusion department at the Fresnoy School of Digital Arts and the Short Film Department of the Cannes Film Festival, and is now coordinator and in charge of distribution at Manifest since it’s creation in December 2015. She manages a catalogue of more than 350 films, for which she and her colleagues ensure their careers in festivals as well as sales in France and internationally.
Colpin is a lecturer at the University of Caen – Master Production, at the Maison du Film or European Film Production Training Centre. She is also the vice president of the Unifrance Short Film Commission.

Frederick Howard, educated at Westerdals School of Arts, Communication and Technology and The Norwegian Film School, is currently refining his PhD focused on the management of multi-disciplinary collaborative processes. He stands as the leader of Storm Films and holds a board position at the VFX power house, Storm Studios. Among his acclaimed productions are Three Wishes for Cinderella (2021), Captain Sabertooth and the Treasure in Lama Rama (2014), and the Disney, Samka and Cartoon Saloon co-pro Vikingskool (2022), where he serves as executive producer and series creator. Howard currently spearheads the production of four approved animated features.

Arnaud Delord is one of the founders of Fortiche Production, and one of the co-directors of the Arcane series (2021).

Graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris (ENSAD), he began his career as director in the world of music videos (Deus, Tahiti Boy, Mellow, Stuck In The Sound, BB Brunes…) where he developed concepts that mixed live action and animation techniques.

He collaborated with Jérôme Combe and Pascal Charrue on advertising films. Their complementarity gives the three friends the idea to found their own studio, and Fortiche production is born.

This internationally renowned animation studio, located in Paris, is also known for its collaborations with big names of the video games’ industry such as: Ubisoft, Carbine Studios and Riot Games. They have an electric culture that reflects their vision and way of working. They have developed a unique graphic style mixing 2D and 3D media, combined with an ambitious staging inspired by cinema. The combination of this visual style and their narrative ambitions make Fortiche’s signature instantly recognizable in the industry.

In 2012, the studio produced and directed a music video for the French band Limousine, called La Gaviota, and it was noticed by Riot Games. Riot came to them in 2013 to direct and produce Get jinxed. Started a long partnership between the two companies and with Christian Linke, showrunner of Arcane. The studio has produced projects such as League of Legends: Rise, League of Legends: K/DA – POP/STARS, League of Legends: Warriors, Coldplay and Gorillaz music videos and the Rocket & Groot series for Marvel Studios.

In 2021, Arcane Series was released, marking another milestone for the studio and the team. The show, acclaimed by the critics and the audience, received several Emmys.

Emmanuèle Petry-Sirvin grew up in Boston until the age of 10 and graduated with her Ph.D. in La Sorbonne’s in international literature. Her career in animation started as the head of Europe for the Canadian production company Nelvana European, in charge of co-productions and international sales (Babar, The adventures of Tintin, to name a few) where she gained her first Emmy Award (Rolie Polie Olie). After 2 years as head of creative development at Millimages she joined forces with Jean-Baptiste Wery in 2010 to create Dandelooo, in order to develop, produce, and distribute worldwide ambitious animation, mostly based on children’s books or unique talent. She created the hybrid series The Treehouse Stories, (2nd Emmy Award) and more unique programs (Mum is Pouring Rain), along with book-based animated jewels (Billy the Cowboy Hamster). She just presented the new series Hold on Gaston! at Cartoon Forum in Toulouse. Her true pride is to work with the best team in the world.

Martine Andersen is a graphic designer and illustrator who’s passionate about storytelling, and specializing in strategic design. Working as a freelancer at a micro (one-woman) design studio developing concepts, identities, and tailor-made solutions with an emotional foundation, rooted in usability, creativity, and craftsmanship. Andersen collaborates within film and television by creating designs and illustrations for promotional work and animated vignettes, with more than ten years of experience.

Laura Almantaitė, film producer and director of BLON Animation and Games Festival, started her career in the audiovisual industry in 2007 with the Paris-based Media Consulting Group. Laura has worked on a dozen film projects, including documentary, animation, and fiction films; she focuses on social topics and international co-productions. Laura currently produces a VR work Eyes of Shame by Tomas Tamosaitis as well as a short poetry-based animated film A Woman and Her Lives by Rasa Joni and has a feature animation project in script development.

Ánnámáret, Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, is a Sámi yoiker. She released her first yoik album Nieguid duovdagat with her band in February 2021. Prior to that, Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman had released two solo albums with Ánnámáret Ensemble (Beallječiŋat 2011 and Gollehelmmot 2016). She has also worked as a solo artist on numerous Sámi music productions.

Marja Viitahuhta is a media artist whose works include short films, presentations, installations, photographs, and collages. Her works have been exhibited internationally, for example at the Cannes Film Festival, where her film 99 Years of My Life was awarded in 2004. The said work has also been acquired for the collections of MoMA and Kiasma. Many of Viitahuhta’s works explore immortality in relation to existence, examine women’s biographical stories and experiences, and investigate the relationship between text and images.

Turkka Inkilä is a multi-genre musician and composer. Together with his band Tölöläb, he aims to create electroacoustic music that breaks away from scenic conventions. The music combines the unpredictability of modern music, the sincere pursuit of beauty, and the bodily experience of electronic dance music. He is currently studying the Japanese Kinko School’s Shakuhachi Programme under the guidance of his teacher Gunnar Jinmei Linder. Additionally, he actively participates in the Helsinki-based association Eloa ry as a composer, arranger, and flutist.

Ilkka Heinonen is a musician and composer who specializes in folk music. His instruments include the Finnish bowed lyre, G-violone, and the contrabass. In addition to bands that have gained influence from European folk music cultures, Heinonen has worked as both a solo artist and in an orchestra, performing in concerts and participating in projects involving modern and traditional music.

Center of the Universe is known for producing videos to nearly all of his tracks, with a notorious use of green screen, B-film tricks, and funny animations. For FAF he presents a new audiovisual show in collaboration with VJ Kristoffer Lislegaard, with live video effects and attempts to take the concept Animated Live literally! Center of the Universe just released the album COU, where all the songs are acronyms, and an album of electronic Norwegian folk music together with Kenneth Lien, receiving plenty of good reviews and coverage in the media. Now the album Long Player is on its way. You can dance to this music that is inspired by house, disco, oriental, and various folk music.

The Center of the Universe is an artist who mainly, but not only, works with music and sound. The band, which is a solo project (hence the name) has released nearly 20 full-length albums, plenty of remixes, and also works for films, theater, and sound art.

Will Ashurst started as a traditional animator and story artist in 200. He co-created King Arthur’s Disasters in the UK, which earned him a BAFTA nomination. He has contributed to many children’s film productions and as director he also helped reimagine the Elias universe for an international audience in Elias’ New Adventures. He made his debut as a feature director on the award-winning Anchors Up, also from the Elias universe. He currently works at Qvisten Animation and has had success with the Cattle Hill film series, his fourth feature, The Brothers Gruff go to Splashworld will be released this Christmas.

Stacey Abbott is a Professor Emerita in Film and Television at Roehampton University, UK. She is a leading scholar of horror cinema and TV, with a specialism around vampires and zombies. She has taught courses on horror as well as the history of animation for over 15 years. She is the author of “Celluloid Vampires” (2007), “Undead Apocalypse: Vampires and Zombies in the 21st Century” (2016), the BFI Film Classic on “Near Dark” (2020), and co-author, with Lorna Jowett, of “TV Horror” (2012). She is currently writing a new book that weaves together her love of the horror genre and animation, “Horror Animation: History, Aesthetics, and Genre”.

Multi-artist and DJ-shaman Snorre Magnar Solberg has during the last decade established himself as one of Norway´s most uncompromising techno DJs. Whether it has been through his own Club No-No and Ambient Garden, label and event concept, or the multiple collaborations with the Berlin-based Sex Tags Mania, Solberg has a unique in-the-moment punk attitude, mixed with years of experience. Improvising an all-night-long, eclectic mix of self-composed material in ambient, techno, acid, electro, and experimental electronic music.

Ola Lysgaard is a visual artist working in live visuals, animation, comics, game dev, and everything else that’s fun.