As executive vice president of creative for Sony Pictures Animation, Karen Toliver is responsible for the creative supervision of a number of upcoming features for the studio, from inception to script, and through production.

In her role, Toliver is also in charge of recruiting key storytelling talent, and discovering and acquiring new creative material and intellectual property aligned with Sony Pictures Animation’s vision including original concepts, books, comics, video games, shorts, websites, and toys.

Toliver is also the producer of the animated short film, “Hair Love,” directed by Matthew A. Cherry.

Toliver has extensive experience in production and development, including 10 years at Fox Animation where she supervised the production of the “Rio” film franchise and the latest three films in the “Ice Age” series, which grossed a combined $3.1 billion at the worldwide box office. Toliver also spearheaded the original feature “Ferdinand,” which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature.

Toliver served as a production executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios on films such as “Brother Bear,” “Chicken Little,” and “Meet the Robinsons.”

Toliver began her career as an assistant at Walt Disney Pictures working on the “Mighty Ducks” franchise.

Everett Downing is an animator, story artist and director living in the Greater Los Angeles area. Born in Boulder, Colorado and raised in Denver, he studied Film, focusing on computer animation at Columbia College in Chicago. Everett began his career as a story artist at Big Idea Productions before making his break into feature film, animating at Blue Sky Studios on the original “Ice Age.” He worked as an animator and story artist on three more features there (including “Robots,” “Ice Age 2,” and “Epic”) before taking a position as an animator at Pixar Animation Studios. After animating on several award winning feature films (every feature from “Ratatouille” to “Monster’s University”), he transitioned back into story where he boarded on the “Toy Story That Time Forgot” and “Cars 3.” He’s since worked on several feature films at Dreamworks Feature Animation, Paramount Studios, and Sony Pictures animation. Currently he’s working at Netflix Animation where he just finished storyboarding on Jorge Gutierrez’s animated mini-series, “Maya and the Three.”

Max Lang is an Oscar®-nominated and BAFTA®-winning animation director. He jointly directed the award-winning animated films The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom for Magic Light Pictures as well as the animated Christmas special Albert for Nickelodeon. He was assistant Director on the first season of The Amazing World of Gumball for Cartoon Network.

Max is also a story artist, illustrator and character designer. Max’s illustrator credits include collaborations with his wife Suzanne on the picture books, Families! Families! Families! and the New York Times and Independent Booksellers bestseller, Grumpy Monkey.

Matt Williames began his 23-year career at the age of 14, when he started working professionally as an animator while still in junior high school. At the time, Matt worked on projects ranging from the animated feature Quest for Camelot, to independent shorts, including the Oscar nominated Stubble Trouble.

After high school, Matt attended CalArts’ Character Animation program, and at age 20 went on to be hired by Warner Brothers Feature Animation as an animator on Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Upon the wrap of that film, Matt was met at a crossroads of career paths: stay doing what he loved in hand drawn animation, which seemed to be dying a slow death, or pursue CG, which was booming and employing all of his friends. He chose the former – a career that has taken him to almost every major studio, working across several different capacities, and leaves him as one of the few remaining hand-drawn animators actively working in the industry. Matt has worked on such films as Coraline, Princess and the Frog, Me and My Shadow, and was part of the core team that animated the Oscar-nominated and Annie Award-winning Adam and Dog.

Matt just wrapped as the supervising animator of Mogens from the highly anticipated hand drawn animated film, Klaus, and is currently doing character design for Warner Animation Group’s DC Super Pets. He lives in Southern Oregon with his wife and 3 daughters.

After graduating in Applied Arts, Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec joined the Ecole des Gobelins in 2003. Her first two short films, Madame (made during her studies in 2006 ) and Escale (2010) were selected at the Annecy.

In addition to her work as a graphic designer on television sets and advertising for luxury brands, she also worked as an animator on short films like Bang Bang! by Julien Bisaro, nominated at the 2015 César Awards for the best animated film, and Smart Monkey by Vincent Paronnaud (Winshluss) and Nicolas Pawlowski.

Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec continued her career as a character animator for feature films such as Ernest and Célestine, The Rabbi’s Cat, The Day of the Crows and April and the Extraordinary World. In 2016, she collaborated as a cartoonist on the animated series “Lastman”, an adaptation of the comic strip created by Bastien Vivès, Balak and Michaël Sanlaville.

The Swallows of Kabul is her first feature film as Director.

At four years old, Zabou played in one of the episodes of the TV show “Thierry la Fronde” alongside her father, Jean-Claude Deret. Zabou studied cinema, modern Greek and English for her bachelor’s degree and attended the Simon course.

She was an Animator at “Recré A2” in the 80s ands made her film debut in 1982. Often playing more comedic roles (BANZAÏ, THE BEAUF, PROMOTION SOFA), it did not take long for her to distinguish herself. In the 90s, she worked with filmmakers like Diane Kurys (LA BAULE-LES-PINS, 1990), Coline Serreau (THE CRISIS, 1992), Philippe Lioret (CORRESPONDENCE REQUIRED, 1997) and Pierre Jolivet (MY SMALL COMPANY, 1999), or the Jaoui / Bacri tandem in KITCHEN AND DEPENDENCY in 1993.

In 2001, she directed her first feature film, BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES, with Bernard Campan and Isabelle Carré. The film was awarded with 3 Césars including best first feature film. This was followed in 2006 with THE MAN OF MY LIFE and in 2009, JE L’AIMAIS. During this decade, Zabou Breitman acted in the films of Michel Deville (ALMOST PEACEFUL, 2002), Gilles Lellouche (NARCO, 2004) and Rémi Bezançon (THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, 2008).She acted under the direction of Pierre Schoeller, THE MINISTER with Olivier Gourmet and the PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK by Bruno Podalydes.

In 2010 she directed her fourth feature film NO ET MOI, based on the novel by Delphine De Vigan.In 2017, she co-wrote and directed the TV series “Paris Etc.” for Canal Plus.

At the same time, she has pursued a successful career as a theater director, notably with “Winter under the table” (Molière du Metteur en Scène 2003), Roland Topor, “Des Gens”, an adaptation of Molière’s work by Raymond Depardon and “La Compagnie des spectres” (2010) by Lydie Salvayre.

Currently her show “logiquimperturbabledufou” is being performed at the Theater du Rond-Point.

Anca Damian studied at the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts where she obtained a diploma in Cinematography and a Doctor’s degree in Arts, Cinema and Media. After graduating, she worked as a director, screenwriter and producer for several documentaries on art related topics, and also as a director of photography for two long feature films, and many other documentaries and short films.

In 2008, she made her first long feature film as a director, screenwriter and co-producer, Crossing Dates/ Intalniri Incrucisate (2008), a layered story that made Jay Weisseberg write in Variety “keep your eyes on Anca Damian”. The film was selected in international film festivals like Busan, Chicago, Goa, Cottbus, Goteborg and Rome.
In 2012, her second feature as Director, screenwriter and producer, Crulic – The Path To Beyond / Crulic Drumul Spre Dincolo, received international success. Both the autobiographic narration and theexperimental form ensured the Kafkaesque movie favour of many festival selectors – Locarno, Telluride,BFI London Film Festival, Annecy, Busan, New Directors/New Films in New York among others 250 festivals. The movie got more than 35 international prizes, among which the Cristal Award in Annecy.

In 2013, her next feature, A Very Unsettled Summer/O Vara Foarte Instabila an innovative look upon aPirandello-inspired love triangle, was an English- speaking film with international cast: Kim Bodnia, Jamie Sives and Ana Ularu. The coproduction also gathered Romanian, Swedish, Czech and UK partners.

In 2015, her second animated feature The Magic Mountain/Muntele Magic continues to establish Anca Damian’s visual innovation style combined with strong topics. The story of a Don Quixote in Afghanistan is also the second film of a trilogy that started with Crulic. It world premiered in Annecy, and had its international premiere in Karlovy Vary IFF international competition. It was selected in more than 60festivals, such as San Sebastian, Leipzig, Amiens, Busan and won 11 international prizes. Anca Damien was also the first to receive the Audentia Award in 2016 offered by Eurimages, which intends to celebrate women who have had the courage to become a director, by giving their work greater visibility and inspiring other women to follow in their footsteps.

In 2018, her most recent live action feature Moon Hotel Kabul premiered in Warsaw IFF, where it received the Best Director accolade, while her latest short animated feature The Call travelled the world in 40 international festivals, among which Annecy, Toronto, Sundance, and won 5 international prizes.

She was awarded the Mirada International Award in Madrid International Film Festival 2018 – New Directors Platform, for being “a total creator, a true landmark and an unchallenged inspiration for new directors”.

Born in 1966, Watanabe joined Studio Mates in 1986 and debuted his first original picture with the same studio. In 1988 he moved to Shinei Videos and was active in a wide range of roles including key animator, animation director, and director.

Watanabe directed the short theatrical release Obachan no Omoide (2000), and the feature film Doraemon: Nobita’s Dragon 2006 (2006) and became a free agent in 2011. After that time, he tirelessly built up his directing portfolio with projects such as the TV series Mysterious Girlfriend X (2012), Danchi Tomoo (2012-15), If Her Flag Breaks (2014), Space Brothers (2012-14), and Ace Attorney (2016). Three TV series directed by Watanabe aired in 2018, including After the Rain, Gurazeni, and Major 2nd.

Children of the Sea is his fourth time directing a full-length theatrical release.

Marcell Jankovics has written, designed and directed several hundred animated short films: singles and series. He directed the first full-length animated film produced in Hungary, Johnny Corncob (1973). He was the leading director of the series Gustavus, Hungarian Folktales and Legends from the Hungarian History. Besides directing, he was the writer, storyboard and graphic designer, and part animator of his three full-length animated films: the aforementioned Johnny Corncob, Son of the White Mare (1981), and Song of the Miraculous Hind (2002), as well as of his independent short films. Since 1989 he had been working on the drama The Tragedy of Man, an animated feature adapting the work of noted Hungarian dramatist, Imre Madách, which was ultimately completed and released in 2011. His short films have been equally celebrated with Sisyphus (1974) having been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 48th Academy Awards, and Fight (1977) receiving a Palme d’Or for short film at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.

Marcell Jankovics was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1941. In 1960, one year after leaving high school, he joined the Pannonia Film studio, where he began as an apprentice, but was soon appointed to as- sistant animator and then to animator. Since 1963 he has made animated films independently. In 1964 he was chosen to be a member of the directing triumvirate of the worldwide popular animated series Gustavus. Since 1965 he has worked as a film director. In 1995 he became Art Director of Pannonia Film studio, and was then its Managing Director from 1996–2007.

Since 1988 he has regularly made television programs and given talks on the radio on film-related sub- jects. He is the co-founder the DUNA TV (1992), a Hungarian-speaking channel with English subtitles covering half of the world. He was the co-author of the New Hungarian Encyclopaedia (1993–1997), and participated in the Hungarian pavilion of the EXPO 2000 in Hannover. From 1998–2000 he was the President of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, the President of the Hungarian Cultural Society (since 1998) and president of the St Stephen Founda- tion (since 2006). – World Cultural Council

WHITE SNAKE
Amp was involved in the production of Little Door Gods, Tea Pets, Cats and Peachtopia.Before joining the Light Chaser Animation Studios, he worked in CGCG (Xiamen) Inc. and Imagi Animation Studios, as animation supervisor and assistant director，and participated in the Hollywood animation series such as Astro Boy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Green Lantern.

Ji Zhao studied at the Communication University of China and UCLA. He has nine years of working experience in the field of filmmaking and has participated in the editing of a number of films home and abroad, such as The Karate Kid: The Grandmaster, Swordsmen and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Zhao worked as the editor and post-production supervisor of Little Door Gods, Tea Pets, Cats and Peachtopia.

Zhao made his directorial debut with co-director Amp Wong on Light Chaser Animation’s 2019 film White Snake, a breakout success in China and an official selection of Animation Is Film. In 2021, Zhao directed New Gods: Nezha Reborn, the first film in Light Chaser Animation’s New Gods universe, which re-imagines classic Chinese mythology. Zhao’s latest film, New Gods: Yang Jian, is the follow-up to New Gods: Nezha Reborn and the second entrant in Light Chaser Animation’s exciting new world.

Yonfan wrote, directed and produced all 14 of his motion pictures.
Throughout his career, he gave Maggie Cheung her first on-screen romantic role and made Chow Yun-fat a box- office star, Story of Rose (1985), discovered Daniel Wu, Bishonen (1998) and revived the career of the legendary Rie Miyazawa, Peony Pavilion (2002). He has worked with practically every Chinese screen siren of his era. He has restored his complete film library and is now restoring his photographic work including images of China and Tibet in the late 70’s and 80’s.
As a connoisseur of Chinese paintings, Yonfan has made donations to Musée Guimet Paris and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. He has had books of his art collections, photography, memoirs of world cinema and short stories published in Chinese, English and Japanese.
No.7 Cherry Lane is Yonfan’s debut animation and his first new film in a decade (Prince of Tears in Venice Competition, 2009)

Marc du Pontavice, Xilam Animation’s President, began his career with GAUMONT, where he co-founded GAUMONT Television (1991‐95), supervising the production of a hundred hours of prime time fiction, including the series Highlander. He created GAUMONT Multimedia, whose assets he acquired in 1999 to found Xilam Animation.
Since that time, Xilam has established itself as one of the world’s leaders in animation production, with several worldwide successes, including series such as Oggy and the Cockroaches or Zig & Sharko, all exec produced by Marc du Pontavice.
Xilam has won several awards (7 nominations and two prizes at the Annecy festival). In the past two decades, the company has built up a catalogue of over 2000 animation series episodes, broadcast in more than 190 countries. Today, Xilam employs over 400 people, including 300 artists.
Marc du Pontavice has also produced a dozen feature films; live action films (such as the acclaimed Gainsbourg, a Heroic Life by Joann Sfar) and animation movies (I Lost My Body by Jeremy Clapin), films which have been selected for competition in major festivals (Cannes, Venice, Annecy, etc) and which have been awarded three “Césars.”

Makoto Shinkai was born in Nagano prefecture in 1973.

In 2002, he debuted with self-produced Voices of a Distant Star, which won many awards including Best Public Submission at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 21. His first feature released in 2004, The Place Promised in Our Early Days won Best Animated Film in the 59th Mainichi Film Awards. In 2007, 5 Centimeters Per Second won Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival in Italy. In 2011, Children Who Chase Lost Voices was released nationwide and won the Golden Monkey King Award at the 8th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival. In 2013, The Garden of Words won Best Anime Feature Film in Germany’s Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film.

In 2016, Your Name was released to great commercial success, becoming the second-highest-grossing film behind Spirited Away (2001). At the 40th Japan Academy Prize, it won Excellent Animation of the Year and Screenplay of the Year, a first for an animated film. Also critically acclaimed overseas, it won many awards including Best Animated Feature Length Film at the 49th Sitges Film Festival, as well as Best Animated Film at the 42nd Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.

In 2006, a short film Uki created for a university graduation project was selected as the first sponsored work by the Tokyo Douga Kakumei [Anime Innovation Tokyo]. The short animation based on the project CENCOROLL was released in 2009 and met with highly favorable reception. Uki later worked as a character designer for titles such as the 2012 television anime Tsuritama, directed by Kenji Nakamura, and the theatrical and OVA title Digimon Adventure tri., directed by Keitarou Motonaga, between 2015 and 2018. In addition to anime production, Uki works as a manga artist and illustrator.

Rebecca Sugar is the creator of Cartoon Network’s six-time Emmy-nominated series Steven Universe, an animated slice-of-life action comedy revolving around Steven, the “little brother” to a team of magical aliens—the Crystal Gems—who defend the planet Earth.

After graduating from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) with a BFA in Animation, Sugar joined Adventure Time in 2009. During her time on the iconic series as a storyboard artist and writer, Sugar garnered both Emmy nominations and an Annie Award win, as well a deep fan base following the many songs she wrote for the show.

Sugar’s work has been hailed for its inclusion, making history as the first animated series to win a GLAAD Media Award in 2019, with previous nominations in 2017 and 2018. The series was also awarded the 2018 Peabody Award in the Children and Youth Entertainment category.

Sugar was also included in Variety’s Hollywood’s New Leaders 2016: The Creatives list, where she was recognized alongside other notable artists such as Damien Chazelle, Jerrod Carmichael and Donald Glover. A children’s book adaptation of the Emmy-nominated Steven Universe episode “The Answer” also written by Sugar was released on Sept. 6., 2016 where it became a New York Times bestseller.

In the late 1990’s, Jérémy Clapin studied animation and illustration at the École des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (Paris Decorative Arts School). After graduating in 1999, he started working in 2000 as an illustrator and directed his first short film in 2004, Une Histoire Vertébrale (A Vertebral Story), which was very well received in festivals. In 2008, in Skhizein, he told the story of a man hit by a meteorite who finds himself shifted 91 cm from his physical body, thus rendered invisible. Jérémy Clapin then worked in advertising and in 2012 he made Palmipedarium, in which he chose a way to do animation that is much closer to live action.

Sergio Pablos’s experience in the Animation field has not only been limited to the Original Story or Executive Production of the well-known Despicable Me feature hit. His career includes credits as Supervising Animator for Disney titles such as Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules just to name a few.

Sergio’s work has led him to be nominated twice to the Annie Awards: for his Character Design work on Fox’s Rio and for his Character Animation on Disney’s Treasure Planet. Sergio is currently writing and directing the original animated feature Klaus at the Sergio Pablos Animation Studios in Madrid, Spain.

Gitanjali Rao emerged into the international stage with her animated short, ‘Printed Rainbow’ which premiered in Cannes Critic’s week 2006 and won the Kodak Discovery Award, Petite Rail D’Or and Prix Du Jeune. The film went on to win 25 awards and was short listed for the Oscar in 2008.

Her four independently produced animated shorts, Printed Rainbow, Blue, Orange and TrueLoveStory, have been to over 150 International film festivals and received over 30 awards. She has just completed her debut Animated feature Film, Bombay Rose.