Feature Film

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  Brenda CHAPMAN Writer, Director United States

  Brenda CHAPMAN started her career as a story artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1987, contributing to The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. She also worked on a few non-fairytales, including The Rescuers Down Under, Fantasia 2000 and was the story supervisor on the original The Lion King - for which she won ASIFA’s Annie Award. CHAPMAN then helped launch DreamWorks Animation Studios, where she co-directed The Prince of Egypt. In 2003, CHAPMAN joined Pixar Animation Studios where she created, wrote and directed Brave, winning an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe. She also directed Come Away, starring Angelina Jolie, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

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  AKIMOTO Kenichiro Director Japan

  AKIMOTO Kenichiro began his career as an animator at Madhouse. He was in charge of 3D modeling and rigging for the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc film trilogy, and later worked as CG director and modeling supervisor on projects such as Thirst, and Harmony. He participated as CG director on Children of the Sea, served as art director on Poupelle of Chimney Town, and worked as unit director on Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko. He is currently directing the upcoming film All You Need Is Kill, a new project co-produced by Warner Bros. Japan and STUDIO4℃.

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  KIM Yonghwan Director South Korea

  KIM Yonghwan is a South Korean animation director at STUDIO LICO, a subsidiary of WEBTOON. He made his feature directorial debut with Your Letter, based on the WEBTOON Series of the same name, written by Hyeon A Cho. The director was praised for his nuanced sensitivity and warm storytelling in portraying the emotional journey and transformation of Sori, a transfer student who stumbles upon a mysterious letter and sets out to uncover its meaning. Your Letter was first showcased as a special screening at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, followed by its selection as the opening film and official competition title at BIAF 2024, where it won three awards including the Jury Prize.

Short Film

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  Nina GANTZ Director Netherlands

  Nina Gantz graduated from the National Film and Television School with her animated short film 〈EDMOND〉, which received 38 awards including a BAFTA and the Sundance award for Best Animated Short. Her OSCARS nomination short film 〈WANDER TO WONDER〉 premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won numerous awards including Best Animated Short at SXSW, Best Short Film at the Bifa's, Jury Prize at BIAF, Best Short Annie Awards and BAFTA. She finds inspiration in combining different techniques, such as stop-motion, puppetry and live action.

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  Anastasiia FALILEIEVA Director Ukraine

  Anastasiia FALILEIEVA was born in 2000 in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. She studied stop-motion animation and directing at the Kiyv National cinema and television University. Her recent animated documentary 〈I Died in Irpin〉 became a festival hit worldwide. Anastasiia is one of a very few stop-motion professionals left in the Ukrainian industry. In her works she explores themes of time passage and memory collecting.

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  KIM Hanna Director South Korea

  KIM Hanna majored in Character Animation at CalArts in the United States. She did an internship at Disney Animation and worked as a story artist at DreamWorks. Her student short film Raccoon and the Light won the gold medal at the Student Academy Awards, and she has received multiple accolades from festivals such as BIAF, Paris International Film Festival, Fine Cut Festival of Films. Her short film Peculiar and Strange was selected for the short competition at BIAF2023, and received awards at Animated Expressions Expo. She has worked as a story artist on DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and Dog Man.

Graduation / TV&Commissioned Film / Korean Short Film

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  IM Chaerin Director South Korea

  Director IM is a Korean animation director who works on experimental animation that explores social issues such as sex and gender with fine craftsmanship, materials, and techniques. In 2017, she received a bachelor's degree in design from Seoul National University College of Fine Arts, and a master's degree in experimental animation from California Institute of the Arts in 2020. The director's short films Flora, Mate, Eyes and Horns, and I Am a Horse were invited to compete at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Animafest Zagreb, and Ottawa International Animation Festival. Her work was supported by the Filmværksted Viborg and NEF Animation residency at Fontevraud. Currently she is developing her next film Haan with Miyu Productions.

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  JANG Yena Voice Actor South Korea

  She made her debut in 2015 as a member of the 6th class of Daewon Broadcasting Voice Actor's Association. She has performed in a variety of animations, including Suzume in "Suzume"(2023), Baby Shark Ollie in the "Baby Shark" series, and Laraping in "Catch! Teenieping". With her wide vocal range and versatile expressiveness, she is actively working not only in animation but also in games, audio dramas, and OSTs.

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  Geefwee BOEDOE Director United States

  Geefwee Boedoe graduated from the CalArts in 1988 with a BFA in Character Animation. Since then, he has worked professionally in the animation industry for Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Liaka, ReelFX, and other studios in both pre-production and production. Geefwee Boedoe worked as a hand-drawn animator on films such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast before transitioning to story and visual development on The Incredibles, How to Train Your Dragon, Finding Nemo, and Boss Baby, to name a few. In 2011, Geefwee Boedoe’s independent short film Let’s Pollute, which he wrote, animated, and directed, was nominated for an Academy Award. As a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he has also been an active judge at the Albany Film Fest for the last decade. Geefwee Boedoe began teaching Character Design and mentoring animation seniors at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2015 and continues to work as a freelance designer while pursuing multiple personal projects.

COCOMICS Music Prize

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  KIM Taeseong Composer, Music Producer South Korea

  Starting with the 2002 film Hello! UFO, he served as the music director in films such as Bedevilled, HanGong-ju, RoaringCurrents, ThePriests, 1987:WhentheDayComes, SteelRain, Svaha:TheSixthFinger, ExtremeJob, KIMJi-young:Born1982, SpaceSweepers, TheRoundup, Hansan:RisingDragon, Noryang:DeadlySea, Exhuma, DarkNuns, MyDaughterIsaZombie, TheKingofKings, and others.
  For TV dramas, he served as the music director such as Sky Castle, Be Melodramatic, The guest, WATCHER, Yumi's Cells, INSPECTOR KOO, Happiness, My Liberation Notes, and others. At BIAF 2024, he received the COCOMICS Music Award for Your Letter.

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  LEE Soojin Singer South Korea

  She served as the honorary ambassador for BIAF2021 and gained public attention as the ‘visualcenter’ on JTBC’s audition program Mix Nine. In June 2020, she debuted as the leader of the girl group 〈Weeekly〉, guiding the team to numerous rookie awards, including the Melon Music Award for Best New Artist, the MAMA Best New Artist Award, the Brand of the Year Award for Best Rookie Female Idol, the Asia Artist Awards New Wave Award, and the Korea Culture and Entertainment Awards K-POP Star Award. Their representative track After School is approaching 180 million views on YouTube, and they have also released songs such as Ven para and LIGHTS ON. She released the single ‘Maboroshi Phone Booth’ with rapper D-Hack. She is currently studying in the Division of Theatre at Dongguk University while preparing for her next projects.