Submissions for FAF 2023 Nordic-Baltic competition programs have closed. The preselection committee is coming to Fredrikstad and will make their selections this weekend, 8-9 July. This year, the festival had over 180 submissions, with representation from every country in the Nordic-Baltic region, and 16 other countries were included as co-producers. This amounted to over 19 hours of viewing for the judges! The festival administration was excited to see students from 23 colleges and universities submit to the student film category, which shows how much the field of animation is growing.
The pre-selection jury consists of FAF festival director Anders Narverud Moen, journalist Nancy Denney-Phelps, and visual artist Gina Thorstensen. The official festival selection will be announced at the beginning of August.
About the Jury
Nancy Denney-Phelps is a journalist who writes about European animation and festivals. She is also a producer of music for animation. Alongside her composer/musician husband, Nik Phelps, she co-founded the Sprocket Ensemble, which is dedicated to presenting live performances of original music with screenings of contemporary animation from around the world. Nancy’s writings have appeared in publications such as CARTOON and ANIMATOON, as well as on her regular blog for AWN (Animation World Network). She is a regular correspondent for ASIFA/San Francisco and a member of the ASIFA International Board of Directors. Nancy is also an Ambassador At Large for the Emile Awards. Nancy works as an advisor to several animation festivals and, in 2019, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ANIMA KON Animation Festival in Bilbao, Spain.
Gina Thorstensen is a visual artist working in the fields of animation, interactive media, decoration, and sculpture. Her virtual reality experience Kabaret premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2023. She has worked as an art director on several animated films, most recently on The Island by Anca Damian, and has directed many animated music videos. Gina holds a B.A. in art and design from La Escola Massana in Barcelona and an M.A. in film and new media from the Norwegian Film School.