Jeff Rowe is the writer and co-director of Sony Pictures Animation’s original feature comedy “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” with Michael Rianda. Rowe graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2011. He was employed by animation studios Film Roman, Bento Box Entertainment, and Rubicon Holding Group before serving as a writer for Disney Television … Jeff Rowe
Myke Chilian is a Los Angeles based animator, storyboard artist, writer, voice actor, and musician. He is the creator and executive producer of the HBO Max series, Tig n’ Seek, which is produced by Cartoon Network Studios. Chilian has previously written and storyboarded for Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa and helped establish the look for Adult Swim’s Rick … Myke Chilian
Dan Krall is an Emmy® and Annie award-winning artist, producer, and art director with over 25 years’ experience in the animation industry. He currently serves as Consulting Producer on Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, the upcoming animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television and coming soon to HBO Max. Prior credits include popular titles such as Dexter’s Laboratory, The … Dan Krall
Ramin Zahed is an LA-based author and journalist who specializes in animation, visual effects, pop culture and indie films.
Raye Rodriguez is the Creator and Executive Producer of the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series High Guardian Spice. Raye graduated from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Rodriguez began his career as a director, storyboard artist and character designer at Fox Animation Domination High-Definition (Fox ADHD). He served as a Character Designer at PUNY Entertainment … Raye Rodriguez
Ray Pride is the longtime film critic of Chicago’s Newcity arts monthly and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine. His history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” in words and images will be published in 2022.
Erick Oh is an Oscar nominated Korean filmmaker based in California, USA. His films have been introduced and awarded at numerous film festivals including Academy Awards®, Annie Awards, Annecy Animation Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, SIGGRAPH, Anima Mundi and more. Erick became an animator at Pixar Animation Studios from 2010 to 2016. Erick’s latest film OPERA … Erick Oh
Born in Tijuana B.C., Sandra Equihua graduated from IBERO university with a bachelors in Graphic Design. She has had the opportunity to work as a graphic designer, illustrator and a character designer next to her husband, Jorge Gutierrez, in companies such as WB, Disney, Nick JR, and Nickelodeon. Both created the animated series El Tigre: … Sandra Equihua
Kristin Lowe is Chief Creative Officer, Features for DreamWorks Animation. In this role, Lowe oversees feature development, casting and artistic management for the studio’s renowned feature film division. DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming 2022 feature slate includes The Bad Guys, an original film based on the best-selling books, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the sequel … Kristin Lowe
Originally from England, Deborah Cook has designed and built costumes for every LAIKA film. Her designs for Kubo and the Two Strings won a nomination for Excellence in Fantasy Film by the Costume Designers Guild, and she received a Visual Effects Society nomination for Coraline.
JARED BUSH (Director/Writer) was previously co-director and screenwriter on the Oscar®-winning feature “Zootopia” as well as screenwriter for the Oscar-nominated “Moana” and executive producer on “Raya and the Last Dragon.” He was also co-creator, executive producer, and writer for Disney XD’s animated comedy adventure series “Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.” Bush, who began his career as … Jared Bush
Born February 12, 1979 and raised in Osaka. After some time as a production assistant and episode director, he made a splash with Mobile Suit Gundam 00 as an episode director and storyboardist, as well as the series’ assistant director. Since his directorial debut with No. 6 in 2011, he has not only continued his work in episode direction … Kenji Nagasaki
CARLOS LÓPEZ ESTRADA (Director, Story by) joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in late spring 2019. He is a member of the Studios’ story trust, and, in addition to directing “Raya and the Last Dragon,” is currently directing his next as-yet unannounced feature film with the Studio.
DON HALL (Director, Story by) began his career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in June 1995 as a story apprentice on “Tarzan.” He served as a story arst on several development projects and produtions, including “The Emperor’s New Groove” and “Chicken Little,” before becoming head of story for “Meet the Robinsons” and “The Princess and the Frog.”
Haipeng Sun was born in 1979 in Wuhan, China. Graduated from Wuhan Art College and awarded First Prize for Excellent Domestic Animation Works Of 2014 by National Press Publications Broadcasting And TV Office in China. Short film Super Bao awarded Prize DigiCon6 by “The 12TH Tokyo TBS”, Animated Short Film Awards by“The 15th Seoul International Cartoon … Haipeng Sun
Brandon Jeffords is co-directing, along with director Kirk DeMicco, Sony Pictures Animation’s original animated musical “Vivo,” which features brand new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creative force behind the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
Kirk DeMicco is directing, along with co-director Brandon Jeffords, Sony Pictures Animation’s original animated musical “Vivo,” which features brand new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creative force behind the Broadway smash “Hamilton.”
Michael Rianda is the writer and director of Sony Pictures Animation’s original feature comedy “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” a very personal project inspired by his own delightfully crazy family, and a childhood infatuation with robots.
Ari Folman is an Israeli director, screenwriter, and film score composer. He has written for several successful IsraeliTV series, including the award-winning In Therapy (Be Tipul), which was the basis for the HBO series In Treatment. He is the director of the Oscar-nominated Waltz with Bashir and The Congress.
Born in 1980, a comedian and picturebook author. He formed the comic duo King Kong with Yuta Kajiwara in 1999. In addition to his work as a comedian, he has authored many picturebooks and books on business strategy.
Yusuke Hirota joined STUDIO4°C in 2001. He served as the Studio’s computer graphics director first on the TV series Piroppo (2001, directed by Katsuhito Ishii), and then on many titles including The Animatrix – BEYOND (2003), Genius Party – BABY BLUE (2007), Genius Party Beyond – MOONDRIVE (2008), Berserk The Golden Age Arc 1 – … Yusuke Hirota
Andrea Warren joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1998, when she began as a marketing production assistant on “A Bug’s Life.” She then moved on to be an art department coordinator for the Academy Award®-winning feature, “Monsters, Inc.,” and served as a digital painter for another Academy Award-winning feature, “Finding Nemo.” Warren accepted her first managing … Andrea Warren
Enrico Casarosa joined Pixar Animation Studios in January 2002. He began as a story artist on “Cars”before moving on to work on the Academy Award®-winning feature films “Ratatouille” and “Up.” He made his directorial debut with the Academy Award®-nominated short film, “La Luna,” which screened theatrically with “Brave” in 2012. He then went on to … Enrico Casarosa
Aurel is a French illustrator born in 1980. He is working as a press illustrator for the national daily Le Monde and the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné. He has also worked on numerous graphic reports for various french news- papers.
Jonas Poher Rasmussen is a Danish/French film director born in 1981. He debuted in 2006 with the acclaimed TV documentary Something About Halfdan, followed by a series of radio documentaries from around the world.
Born in 1956, Florence graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Arts D coratifs with a specialization in engraving. She began her professional career as a layout artist for the press and exhibited drawings and engravings. In 1991, she directed her first short film Hammam. Since then, she has imposed a very personal style on animated … Florence Miailhe
Having grown up in a seaside town and with a fisherman father is hard for Nahuel since he has a crippling fear of the ocean. He’s desperate for a solution and he just may have found one in a mysterious book, the Levisterio. Taking the book brings about new problems for Nahuel though as a … Nahuel and the Magic Book
Animation Is Film alumnus, Patrick Imbert (AIF ’17, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales) returns with the Opening Night selection The Summit Of The Gods (Le Sommet des Dieux) based on the manga by Jirô Taniguchi and Baku Yumemakura. Seventy years after George Mallory and Andrew Irvine climbed to the top of Mt. Everest, an old Kodak camera, … The Summit of the Gods
Pompo is a talented, gutsy, and unapologetic movie producer. She works on her filmmaking day and night in the movie capital Nyallywood. One day Pompo tells her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene, “You will be the director for my next script”. Will Gene succeed his first time as a director and create a “masterpiece”? He … Pompo The Cinephile
One night, Kitty, the most famous imaginary friend in history, pops into being from the ink-filled pages of Anne Frank’s diary. She doesn’t understand where her old friend has gone (or why, for that matter, their former home has become a tourist attraction). Aided by a crafty pickpocket and a band of young refugees seeking … Where is Anne Frank
From Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation — the studio that brought you Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and this year’s critically acclaimed The Mitchells vs. The Machines — comes Vivo, an animated musical adventure featuring all-new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Hamilton and In the Heights. Vivo follows a … Vivo
Poupelle of Chimney Town is the story of young Lubicchi living among the thick smoke from the chimneys of his isolated town, yearning to see the “stars” — to know the truth — his father always told him about. One Halloween night he meets Poupelle, a man made of garbage, and together they look to … Poupelle of Chimney Town
“The Mitchells vs. The Machines” is an original animated comedy from director Mike Rianda (Gravity Falls) and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Lego Movie). When Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), a creative outsider, is accepted into the film school of her dreams, her plans to meet “her people” … The Mitchells vs. The Machines
From the celebrated Oscar®-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu, creator of Mirai, Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and more, comes a fantastical, beautiful and contemporary thematic story of one girl’s growth in the age of social media. Suzu is a 17-year-old high school student living in a rural village with her father. For years, she … Belle
Forced to flee their small village, when sister and brother Kyona and Adriel are separated from their parents, they must make their way across an unkind world in the hope of being reunited. Mixing elements of fairy tale and fable with upsettingly realistic depictions of the contemporary migrant experience, the “crossing” of the title refers … The Crossing
In his stunning, Cesar Award-winning directorial debut, French political cartoonist Aurel tells the story of Josep Bartoli, the Spanish painter, cartoonist and writer who chronicled, with unrelenting specificity, his time in French concentration camps as a refugee from the Spanish Civil War. Spanning multiple decades and continents, Bartoli’s tale is told via flashback, by an … Josep
When we first meet Juan he (like us) is awestruck by the powerful, balletic artistry of a traditional Chinese Lion Dance troupe. It’s a dance that requires incredible concentration, strength and grace all while wearing elaborate and heavy costumes and the team who seems poised for victory is interrupted by a mysterious interloper. A chase … I Am What I Am
In My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission, U.A. High School students Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, and Katsuki Bakugo face the greatest crisis in My Hero Academia history, with only two hours to save the world! During their internship with the number one Pro Hero Endeavor Agency, Deku and his new friend Rody find themselves wanted … My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission
Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Disney and Pixar’s original feature film “Luca” is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay) shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, Alberto (voice of Jack Dylan … Luca
In the years following a vicious war, the Empire of Zol now controls the land and citizens of rival Aquafa – except for Aquafa’s Fire Horse Territory, where wild dogs that once carried the deadly Black Wolf Fever continue to roam free. When a pack of dogs race through a Zol-controlled mine, Van, an enslaved … The Deer King
As Amin, now living in Denmark, prepares to marry his longtime boyfriend, his desire for a new, honest life forces him to reconcile his ostensibly contented present with his secretive and mysterious past. Revealed in a series of raw interviews with friend (and the film’s director), Jonas, Amin recounts having to flee the mujahideen-run Afghanistan … Flee
Lady Nikuko is a brash, jolly, scattered and passionate woman in an otherwise sleepy, small seaside town in northern Japan. She’s also the mom of 11-year-old Kikuko, who is her opposite in many ways. Kikuko is a stringbean of a young girl, pensive, quietly curious and methodical in how she approaches life in this sleepy, … Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Raya and the Last Dragon travels to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together in harmony long ago. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and it’s up to a … Raya and the Last Dragon
Acuña is a visual communicator by profession but works as a director / animator. In the year 2007 he created Carburadores, making to date more than 100 audiovisual pieces in different animation techniques, mainly animated television spots for various brands. He also directs videoclips for musical artists such as Javiera Mena and Solo di Medina, … Germán Acuña
Why was Elsa born with magical powers? The answer is calling her and threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she’ll set out on a dangerous but remarkable journey. In “Frozen,” Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In “Frozen 2,” she must hope they are enough. From the … Frozen 2
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 … Ayumu Watanabe
With the release of Ne Zha, the Chinese animation industry has come into its own. The $20 million budget film has grossed an astounding $700 million at the Chinese box office, demolishing the $235 million prior record head by Disney’s Zootopia. Animation Is Film is thrilled to present a special screening of Ne Zha followed by … Ne Zha
Mamoru Hosoda was born in 1967 in Toyama. After graduating from Kanazawa College of Art, he joined Toei Doga studio (now Toei Animation Co, Ltd) and began his career as an animator. In 1999, he directed his first 20 min. short film, Digimon Adventure, which was released in theaters. In 2000, he directed a forty-minute … Mamoru Hosoda
After graduating from Gobelins, l’école de l’image, Patrick Imbert worked as an animator on several feature films. He later became animation director on the feature Ernest & Celestine, where he met Benjamin Renner. After this fruitful collaboration, they decided to continue working together.
Peter Debruge is Variety’s Chief International Film Critic.
An internationally respected critic and historian of animation.