MEET THE JURY

All the animation in the competition screenings will be watched and evaluated by pedantic but fair juries.

The Junior Competition will be evaluate german animation director  Veronica Solomon. Solomon has done many short animations and especially stop-motion animation as well as children’s content is close to her heart. Solomon has reacently moved to Tampere, Finland.

The festival’s new Nordic&Baltic competition series will be judged by Liisa Vähäkylä, Executive Director of Finnanimation. Vähäkylä has several years of expertise in the field of animation, and she has reasently published a new book called Nordic Animation – Balancing the East and the West.

Belgium director Soetkin Verstegen is the judge of the National competition. Verstegen won the 2021 festival’s Best National Animation award with his experimental animation Freeze Frames. In addition, Verstegen teaches animation at LUCA School of Arts in Belgium. At this year’s festival, Verstegen will also hold a Masterclass Beautiful Frames focusing on his own works and inspirations.

Judge for Documentary Competition we have Lapland born producer, writer, director and film editor Pauliina Punkki. She has a Master of Arts degree in film from the University of Art and Design, Helsinki. Her resume from 20 years in film and television as director and film editor includes several award-winning shorts, feature films, documentaries and tv-series. Pauliina Punkki’s  feature documentary film Snowball Effect will have its cinema theatre release in Finland 2023 and in Elisa Viihde 2024.

For the International Competition jury we have this year Cinemaissi festival’s Artistic Director, director Tamara Aalto, producer and Art Director Elli Murtonen and film and animation student, director Roosa Vuokkola from Aalto University.

Suomen Elokuva- ja Media-alan työntekijät SET ry will grant 500 euros award to the Best National Animation.

Award Ceremony on Saturday 20.5. at 20.00 in Kino K13.