2023 archive
Guests
Animation
Games / VR
Jury
Adel Khan Farooq
Jury
Animation
Adel Khan Farooq #
Director, Ukrainian Competition Jury (Norway)
Adel Khan Farooq is a filmmaker from Norway working in animation, fiction and documentary, as well as an author and journalist. His feature documentary 'Recruiting for Jihad' (2017) was screened at several major festivals, including Hot Docs, AFI DOCS, DOC NYC, IDFA, One World-International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, and CPH:DOX. His most recent film, the short animation Cockroaches (2022), was produced by the Oscar-winning animation studio Mikrofilm, and premiered at Animafest Zagreb. Cockroaches has also been screened at other major animation festivals, winning the audience award at Monstra this year.  
Agata Tracevič
Animation
Agata Tracevič #
“Animatest” educator, animator, director (Lithuania)
Agata Tracevič is an animator, artist and director. In 2023, she graduated from the animation programme at Vilnius Academy of Arts with her debut film 'Plica polonica', which is now touring festivals and exhibitions. She has a great deal of experience in animation and art, having participated in exhibitions, given workshops and lectures and had a number of internships with famous Lithuanian animation directors. Agata worked with Eva Rodz on the animation of the Lithuanian documentary series 'Andrius Mamontovas: Silence in the Sound', and was the rotoscope animator for the film 'White Plastic Sky' by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó.
Akvilė Bliujūtė – Janušė
Animation
Akvilė Bliujūtė – Janušė #
Producer (Lithuania)
Akvilė Bliujūtė – Janušė is a Producer in the animation industry orientated to children‘s films. She also writes scripts for short animated films. Akvilė graduated from Middlesex University and gained her first professional experience in Lithuania within the film industry. In 2017, Akvilė joined “Meinart” animation studio. During these years she produced various projects ranging from commercials to music videos and short and feature animated films. 
Aleksander Kauch
Games
Aleksander Kauch #
Senior Technology Lead, 11 bit studios (Poland)
Aleksander Kauch is Senior Technology Lead at 11 bit studios, and has worked on almost every one of the company's games including the Anomaly series, This War of Mine and Frostpunk. He has lectured on programming at Warsaw University of Technology and on game development at Łódź University of Technology, and is experienced in programming, game architecture and overall game development. He is also a retro games collector and a fan of gaming history.
Andrius Jovaiša
Games
Andrius Jovaiša #
Tech Journalist (Lithuania)
Discussion moderator. A veteran technology journalist and avid games fan, creator of podcasts and radio shows. 
Andrius Mackevičius
Games
Jury
Andrius Mackevičius #
Head of Publishing, Nordcurrent (Lithuania)
Andrius Mackevičius has been following the games industry for more than 30 years – a hobby that eventually led to a full-time career. He has been working for more than six years at Nordcurrent. His deep knowledge of the market and interest in the indie scene came to the fore when the company established Lithuania's first indie PC and consoles games publishing label, Nordcurrent Labs, where he is now Head of Publishing. 
Antanas Skučas
Animation
Jury
Antanas Skučas #
Director, International Competition Jury (Lithuania)
Antanas Skučas has worked in the field of animation since 2005. His debut film 'Childhood Diary' was awarded a Lithuanian Film Academy Award in 2009. In 2015, he founded the film production company 'Tylus kinas'. In addition to his creative activities, he teaches at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.  
Arthur Izakowicz
Animation
Arthur Izakowicz #
Director (Sweden)
Arthur Izakowicz kickstarted his filmmaking career at the age of 11 with his debut picture, 'The Murder Mystery'. Some years later, he was accepted into the prestigious Polish National Film School in Łódź, where he obtained his Master's in cinematography. During the early stages of his career, Arthur had the privilege of working closely with industry veterans Mattias Montero and Adam Ber as a new talent at Indio Film. Their mentorship and guidance played a crucial role in shaping his artistic vision and honing his skills as a director.
Today, Arthur is represented by the esteemed agency Social Club Film in Stockholm.
Ata Sergey Nowak
Games
Ata Sergey Nowak #
Co-founder and Managing Director, Torpor Games (Germany)
A trilingual gaming expert of German-Turkish descent, Ata began his career in gaming in 2012 and has contributed to prominent titles such as 'Hearts of Iron 3', 'Squad', 'Suzerain' and more. Along with co-founding Torpor Games, he provided the concept for the game Suzerain. Ata also established the international NGO Magna Carta and has hosted various events, including TEDx and Creative Coffee. Currently, he lends his expertise to Nowak Advisors.
Bernardas Šaknys
Animation
Bernardas Šaknys #
Journalist, animation and video game enthusiast (Lithuania)
Discussion moderator. An enthusiast of animation and video games, as a teenager  Bernardas created amateur games and animated films, and wanted to be Gordon Freeman (a character from the game Half-Life) when he grew up. Several years ago, some of his short films appeared at the Pravda One Minute festival. Bernardas believes his film directing course has been his most fun learning experience to date. Even though he never ended up becoming a director or programmer (or Gordon Freeman – he still doesn't need glasses), Bernardas uses this experience successfully in his work on radio and television, and still feels a respectful nostalgia when playing games and watching animations.
Daniel Maaß
Animation
Daniel Maaß #
Director (Germany)
Daniel Maaß was born in 1990 in Bogota, Colombia. He studied Visual Communication at Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany, and graduated with a Master's degree, majoring in animation. IN/FINITE is his graduation film.
During his studies, he also worked as an artistic assistant at the Didactics of Biology Department at University of Kassel, where he discovered his enthusiasm for motion graphics. He now works as senior art director at AirProfile, Kassel.
Edgaras Janušonis
Animation
Edgaras Janušonis #
Director (Lithuania)
Edgaras Janušonis is a PhD student at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH): Faculty of Fundamental Sciences, specialising in digital animation technologies. His short animated film, 'The Crow and The Fox' is presented at the BLON 2023 festival.
Emilija Dirsytė
Animation
Emilija Dirsytė #
“Animatest” educator, animator, artist (Lithuania)
Animator, artist and illustrator Emilija graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2023 with a Bachelor's degree in Animation. During her studies, Emilija focused on creating video projections, experimentation, animation workshops and animation courses. She has taken part in the process of game development as an illustrator-designer, and did an internship as an animator for educational videos. She has also worked as an illustrator of 2D backgrounds. Emilija currently works in art, education, animation and design.
Eva Rodz
Animation
Eva Rodz #
“Animatest” educator, director, artist (Lithuania)
Eva Rodz is an artist, director and 'Animatest' educational project manager (more about the project at https://www.instagram.com/anima__test/). Although Eva mainly uses animation as a tool for contemporary installations (participating in exhibitions), she has also begun to create educational programmes and animated films. Eva's debut film 'I'm Tired' was presented at the BLON Animation and Video Games Festival in 2022, and won the main prize in the Lithuanian Creators Programme. Eva is currently teaching animation to students at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and writing a new script for a future film.
Ewa Maria Szczepanowska
Games
Jury
Ewa Maria Szczepanowska #
Deputy Rector for Communication & New Media, Warsaw Film School (Poland)
Ewa has worked in the audiovisual industry since 2000, joining Warsaw Film School in various roles from 2015. She is currently responsible for development at the academy in the field of video games and new media, which includes creating the educational programme of the Video Games Development Department. Ewa is the originator of the Warsaw Game Jam PRO festival, a juror at the Grand Video Awards and many game jams, and the producer of the game 'Best Month Ever'. She is also the winner of a special award as part of PIXEL AWARDS EUROPE for her contribution to the development of the Polish gaming industry.
Florian Masuth
Games
Jury
Florian Masuth #
Head of Medianet Games and New Business (Germany)
Florian jumped on the wild ride that is the games industry through a student job with a small German indie studio, and hasn't found the brakes yet! He has 9+ years of industry experience in multiple roles in marketing, business development and project management.
Gediminas Skyrius
Animation
Gediminas Skyrius #
Ilustrator (Lithuania)
Gediminas is an illustrator and art director who works mostly in developing the style of animation backgrounds. Having started his professional illustration career in gaming (doing both concept art and in-game visuals), he now has experience in multiple fields of illustration – animation, games, book and album covers, and prints. His animation projects include 'Snow Shelter' (2020), 'Mora Mora' (2022), 'After Death, Before Hell' (2017), the 'Witch Hunter' movie promo animation (2015), 'Aurora's Sunrise' (2022), and 'Garrano' (2022). 
Gediminas Tarasevičius
Games
Gediminas Tarasevičius #
Director, LGDA (Lithuania)
Gediminas has worked in the games industry in various roles for many years. He is currently head of the studio No Brakes Games Vilnius, and the Director of Lithuanian Game Developers Association.
Giedrė Burokaitė
Animation
Giedrė Burokaitė #
Producer (Lithuania)
In 2015, Lithuanian film producer Giedrė Burokaitė  established a film production platform at the NGO 'Meno avilys'. In 2020, she graduated from the Emerging Producers Workshop. Giedrė has produced a number of short films and a feature-length documentary, 'Animus Animalis (a Story about People, Animals and Things)', directed by Aistė Žegulytė, which premiered at DOK Leipzig (2018). The film received awards from the Lithuanian Film Academy in three categories, including Best Documentary Film. In 2019, together with director-animator Robertas Nevecka, Giedrė founded the film production company 'Akis bado'. In 2022, a short animated film produced by Giedrė, 'Mora Mora' (dir. Jurga Šeduikytė), was awarded the Silver Crane for Best Animation of the Year at the Lithuanian National Awards.
Gintarė Valevičiūtė-B.
Animation
Jury
Gintarė Valevičiūtė-B. #
Director, Ukrainian Competition Jury (Lithuania)
Gintarė Valevičiūtė-B. is a creator of interdisciplinary art. She is actively involved in creating, organising and curating various art projects and exhibitions, and teaching masterclasses in creativity. Having completed her postgraduate studies in Art at Vilnius Academy of the Arts, she currently teaches in the Academy's Department of Photography, Animation and Media Arts. She is an active participant in its promotion of the potential uses of animation in expanded fields, and exhibits her work at art shows and film festivals.
Giorgi Tsartsidze
Games
Giorgi Tsartsidze #
Game Developer, FrozenFang Studio (Sakartvelo)
Giorgi has always wanted to create new games from creative ideas. He has spent 3+ years in the games industry, two years as a gameplay engineer. He is now developing an educational game called Base2 at FrozenFang.
Greta Semionovaitė
Animation
Greta Semionovaitė #
Director (Lithuania)
Greta is a recent graduate in animation from the University for the Creative Arts in the UK. During her studies at university, she directed three films. Her film 'Trash Can' (2022) was shown at various festivals, and her graduation film 'Thoughts About The Universe That Will Keep You Awake' (2023) recently began its festival journey. In her films, Greta mostly focuses on characters, and experiments with the use of the blank space.
Gwenola Heck
Animation
Gwenola Heck #
Director (Germany)
Gwenola Heck is a half-French, half-German animator, born in
1995 in Karlsruhe, Germany. She studied audiovisual media at Stuttgart Media University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering. Later, she worked as a 3D Artist in Stuttgart and Hamburg. Since 2019, she has been studying animation at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and works on 2D and stop-motion animation films.
Gytis Oganauskas
Jury
Gytis Oganauskas #
Deputy Director General at LRT, Ukrainian Competition Jury (Lithuania)
Gytis Oganauskas has 30 years of media experience in radio, online and TV and is the former deputy editor-in-chief of Lithuania's biggest news portal, DELFI, as well as head of its video department, DELFI TV. Since April 2018, he has been deputy Director-General of Lithuanian National Radio and Television, and is responsible for its content policy.
Harry Tuffs
Games
Harry Tuffs #
Writer, co-founder, Tributary Games (United Kingdom)
Harry Tuffs is a London-based writer and narrative designer who co-founded Tributary Games, the company behind the new social narrative party game, King of the Castle. Before Tributary, he developed the indie RPG A House of Many Doors, described by Rock Paper Shotgun as a 'formidable writing achievement'. He has been a consulting writer on Sunless Skies and Fallen London, and lead writer on Over the Alps.
Ieva Beneckė
Games
Ieva Beneckė #
Game Creator (Lithuania)
Panel moderator. Ieva has been working in the Lithuanian gamedev industry for nearly a decade. She has been a game designer, a producer, and a team lead at various local studios (Nordcurrent, SneakyBox, Estoty). She’s also a former board member of LGDA, as well as a co-creator of the games podcast Dievo Režimas/Godmode. Ieva is passionate about narrative games with a strong creative vision or message, and dreams of making one some day. Until then, she’s mixing game-inspired cocktails and sharing them on her blog (pikubytes.com).
Ieva Luckutė
VR
Games
Animation
Ieva Luckutė #
B2G Sales Manager (Lithuania)
In 2017, after completing her studies in archaeology, Ieva began working in the museum sector. After five years working on educational projects and creating events and exhibitions, her passion for technology and informal education led her to the Gluk Media team. She currently assists the public sector in discovering innovations, educates about their benefits and possibilities, creates project concepts, and sells technological dreams to museums and other institutions throughout Lithuania.
Ilya Lorenz Barrett
Animation
Ilya Lorenz Barrett #
Director (Germany)
Born in Berlin in 1991, Ilya Barrett studied at the Berlin-Weißensee Art School, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in visual Communication. He later worked as a freelance animator and illustrator in Berlin and New York. Since 2019, he has been studying animation at Filmakademie BadenWürttemberg.
Iona McEwan
VR
Games
Iona McEwan #
Director (United Kingdom)
Iona McEwan is a creative at Alchemy Immersive, a London-based immersive documentary company. Her work employs new technologies to find innovative ways of telling fascinating stories in an accessible manner. Having taken a circuitous route into immersive media, she incorporates her cross-disciplinary interests into her projects, covering diverse topics ranging from plants to moon landings.
Jean-François Le Corre
Animation
Jury
Jean-François Le Corre #
Producer, International Competition Jury (France)
Producer Jean-François Le Corre was born in 1965 in France. In April 1998, he created the production company Vivement Lundi!, which focused on animated contents and documentaries.
 
Vivement Lundi! won more than 500 awards and has been awarded as Best French Animation Producer for TV in 2011 and won the Cartoon Tribute for Best European Animation Producer in 2015 and 2023.
 
The company has produced or coproduced animated films and series for 25 years, including 'L’Homme aux Bras Ballants' by Laurent Gorgiard (Special prize Annecy’s Festival 1998), 'The Little Dragon' by Bruno Collet (2009), the series 'Dimitri' by Agnès Lecreux and 'This Magnificent cake!' by Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels. In 2019, Jean-François produced 'Memorable' by Bruno Collet, an Oscar-nominated animated short, and entered the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
 
Vivement Lundi! coproduced the multi-award-winning animated features 'FLEE' by Jonas Poher Rasmussen and 'No Dogs Or Italians Allowed' by Alain Ughetto.
Partners:
Jean-François Le Corre
Jędrzej Napiecek
Games
Jędrzej Napiecek #
CEO of Act Zero (Poland)
Jędrzej Napiecek is the CEO of Act Zero, as well as a scriptwriter for film and games, a playwright and novelist (Król, który uciekł). He is a graduate of the Screenwriting Department at the Łódź Film School, where he later taught a course on writing for video games. He has worked on many TV documentary formats at ATM Group as well as in the writers' room at Platige Image and for Netflix. He has won dozens of screenwriting and literary competitions. He is the lead writer of We. The Refugees: Ticket to Europe, the first game for which he wrote the script.
Joanna Szlembarska
Animation
Joanna Szlembarska #
Director (Poland)
Joanna Szlembarska is a director, animator and graduate of the Łódź Film School. Her films are mostly made using stop-motion animation, her favourite technique being puppet animation, due to the 'corporeality' of the medium. The theme of her works is the anxiety that accompanies human sexuality. The aesthetics of her animation are minimalist and monochromatic, but give the impression of being monumental.
Juho Maurinen, Santeri Laasanen
Animation
Juho Maurinen, Santeri Laasanen #
Directors (Finland)
Finnish filmmakers Maurinen and Laasanen are both multi-talents in the fields of art, culture and media. Besides their independent careers, they have also worked on multiple projects together including short films, animations and even musical theatre. Passion for comedy, storytelling, DIY culture and kind values has brought them together and made them an unstoppable creative team, ready to put extra effort into silly things.
Julius Zubavičius
Animation
Julius Zubavičius #
Director (Lithuania)
Julius graduated after studying for nine years at the renowned boys' music school 'Ąžuoliukas'. From the age of 13, he began composing electronic music. In 2008, Julius obtained a Multimedia director BA degree, and a sound designers' qualification from the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy, Film and Theatre faculty. During his studies, Julius participated in several international workshops, where he received multiple nominations and was once awarded first place for best sound. His career as a professional sound designer then continued in the Lithuanian TV, film and advertising industry. In 2011, Julius moved to London to further his career as a sound designer in film. He has made numerous short and feature-length films and documentaries as a sound recordist/designer/composer/mixer. He currently works freelance in Hastings, UK.
Juliya Kruhliak
Animation
Juliya Kruhliak #
Director (Ukraine)
Since 2019, Juliya ha been head of the cultural and educational centre 'SvitLytsia' – a branch of the TepLytsia cultural and innovation platform of Brovary City Council. She enjoys making animations, first using drawings, then later using plasticine. Under her leadership, cartoons have been created based on the poems of Taras Shevchenko, 'Lesya Ukrainka', memorialising significant dates. The animated figures are sculpted by the team or the children of the institution's circle. Juliya's animations have taken part in Ukrainian and national competitions.
Jurgita Rakauskaitė
Animation
Jurgita Rakauskaitė #
Producer (Lithuania)
Jurgita Rakauskaitė is Lithuanian producer who holds a BA in journalism, and has more than 10 years’ experience working in the TV and film industry. Based on her educational and professional experience, she believes that content is the key. 

In 2015, Jurgita founded the production company MAKE IT HAPPEN, which she runs to this day. During these years she has produced more than 10 original and franchise formats for national TV channels in Lithuania, as well as a number of documentaries, as well as the first Lithuanian animated series, 'Babookums'.
Justė Michailinaitė
Animation
Justė Michailinaitė #
Producer (Lithuania)
Justė Michailinaitė is a promising and ambitious emerging female producer from Lithuania. Having gained valuable experience in a number of roles across the film industry, Justė is delving deeper to achieve further success in an area that holds so much fascination for her. For Justė, cinema offers a host of opportunities to fully exploit her talents and provides a space for continuous growth and improvement. Justė is currently working on a number of new projects at various stages, both as producer and director.
Laura Vakarė Dubosaitė-Povilaityė
Animation
Laura Vakarė Dubosaitė-Povilaityė #
“Animatest” educator, animator, artist (Lithuania)
An animator and artist, Laura recently graduated with a BA in Animation from Vilnius Academy of Arts and is continuing her studies with an MA. 
During her BA studies, Laura Vakarė became interested in 3D and photogrammetry, in which she specialises. Currently, she and her colleagues teach the 'ANIMATEST animation/media art' course at the Academy Open School of Art, Design and Architecture. In 2022, Laura Vakarė's work was presented at the Kaunas Light Festival.
Leander Leutzendorff
Games
Leander Leutzendorff #
Multidisciplinary Artist (Austria)
Leander studied film at the Filmakademie Vienna and painting at the Kunsthochschule Munich. His multidisciplinary work includes performances, interactive installations as well as digital collages and paintings. Exploring themes such as consciousness, narcissism and human interaction, he often uses humour to indulge or irritate his audience. He is the producer and host of the late night show 'The Weekend Show'.
Levan Basharuli
Games
Levan Basharuli #
Game Developer, Zambara Studio (Sakartvelo)
Levan is a software engineer who also creates video games, his latest narrative adventure project being 'Mother Dear'. 
Liucija Vaisiūnaitė
Animation
Liucija Vaisiūnaitė #
Director (Lithuania)
Liucija Vaisiūnaitė is a multidisciplinary artist and film director from Lithuania, currently based in London. Her main focus is on making 2D animation films and creating immersive art for her audience. She gathers inspiration for her work from her everyday surroundings, life experiences and the people she meets.
Lucie Tvarohová
Games
Lucie Tvarohová #
Game Artist, Charles Games (Czechia)
Lucie Tvarohová is the artist behind Charles Games, and is responsible for the visual identity of its latest games. An experienced 3D and 2D artist, she has previously worked with other Czech game studios.
Maciej Stańczyk
Games
Maciej Stańczyk #
CTO, Designer & Project Manager, Act Zero (Poland)
Maciej studied graphic design at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw before discovering his passion for game design. He has worked in game development for CD Projekt Red, CreativeForge Games and Fuero Games. Currently, in addition to working with Act Zero, he is the lead designer for one of the projects at Vile Monarch, a Warsaw-based game development studio.
Margarita Valionytė
Animation
Margarita Valionytė #
“Animatest” educator, animator, artist (Lithuania)
Margarita graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2023 with a BA in Animation. Since 2022, together with her colleagues, she has taught animation courses at the Open School of Art, Design and Architecture. In 2021, she screened her short film 'Esh' for the first time at the BLON festival. Margarita has participated in various international animation festivals, including workshops organised by the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln. Together with a group of animation students, she projected animated visualisations on to a building at the 2022 Kaunas Light Festival.
Marie-Laure Guisset
Animation
Jury
Marie-Laure Guisset #
Animation Director, Animator, International Competition Jury (Belgium)
Marie-Laure Guisset is a Belgian animator, animation director and animation lecturer based in Brussels. Since studying Classical Animation in Bournemouth and Dublin, she has worked on various award-winning projects including 'The Triplets of Belleville', 'The Secret of Kells', 'La mécanique du Coeur', 'Zombillenium', and the series 'The Smurfs'. 

Most recently, she took care of Animation Direction on the Norwegian and Belgian co-produced movie 'Titina', directed by Kajsa Naess.

Whatever format or technique she works with (2D, 3D computer animation), Marie-Laure loves to bring life to the characters, create empathy, and above all to tell stories. With a focus on the essence, she likes to go for “Less is more”, while adding those little details that will push the emotion.
Märten Rattasepp
Games
Märten Rattasepp #
Narrative Designer (Estonia)
Märten Rattasepp is a former academic, researcher, essayist and narrative designer from Estonia. He has written for games such as 'Pentiment', 'Disco Elysium', 'Death and Taxes' and the upcoming 'Broken Alliance'. In 2016, he graduated from the University of Tartu with an MA degree in the field of literary and cultural theory, focusing mostly on postmodern/amodern writing, metafiction, and historiography. When not suffering at writing, he enjoys very long hikes and lifting heavy objects from one place to another (aka volunteering for various festivals). 
Martyna Gedvilaitė
Animation
Martyna Gedvilaitė #
Actor and singer (Lithuania)
Martyna is an actress and singer, who studied theatre acting at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since 2014, she has worked at the Kaunas National Drama Theatre, and has participated in various artistic projects, including dubbing the movie 'Baužiukai. Seven Fantastic Stories'.
Meinardas Valkevičius
Animation
Meinardas Valkevičius #
Director, animator, producer (Lithuania)
Meinardas has been interested in and creating animations since childhood. In 2010, he graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts with a BA in animation. His final work at the Academy, 'The Impossible Moon' has travelled to a number of film festivals globally, and has attracted much attention.
In 2012, Meinardas founded the animation studio 'Meinart', whose main vision is to create bright and creative animation in search of new narrative forms.  As a director, he has created a series of short animated films
including 'RGB', 'Hunt' and 'Look'. His newest film, 'The Perfect Fit', was released in 2022 and is now being shown around the world at various festivals. In 2023 as a director and producer, he created one of the biggest animated feature films in Lithuania 'Kakė Makė: Mano Filmas'. 
Michał Gembicki
Games
Michał Gembicki #
Partner, Remote Control Productions (Poland)
Michał began working in the video game industry in 2006 with the CD Projekt group, progressing through various product management and marketing-related positions for 10 years. In 2017, he started to build an independent publishing label that eventually became Klabater in 2018 and entered the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2019. In late 2022, he joined the German-based independent family of video game developers, Remote Control Production GmbH, as the studio partner and a Head of publishing for Lesser Evil. Recently, Michał published a video game, 'Death From Above' – a brave attempt to support Ukraine and fight for the attention of gamers. In his personal life, he is an avid video gamer with a particular soft spot for strategy and historical games. He is also an aficionado of traditional archery, and the geeky father to a nine-year-old son!
Mikhail Fiadotau
Games
Mikhail Fiadotau #
Lecturer, Tallinn University (Estonia)
Mikhail Fiadotau is an educator, researcher and game designer based in Estonia. At various times he has been an IT journalist, technical writer, interpreter, Japanese instructor and stand-in sound designer, before completing a PhD in cultural anthropology and embarking on a career in higher education that mostly revolves around game studies and game design. In his free time, he enjoys making short story-driven games that are best played in the dark, such as the recent remaster of 'The Missing Parts of Maria Gwozdek', now available on Steam.
Mona Keil
Animation
Mona Keil #
Director (Germany)
Mona Keil works with experimental visual art, focusing on animated movies. Her main interest lies in an analogue approach to visual material, so her work includes stop-motion, cut-out animation and drawn animation. After completing a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication at the Bauhaus-University in Weimar and a diploma in Animation at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, she is now a freelance director and artist based in Leipzig.
Natasha Sebben
Games
Natasha Sebben #
Games creator (Switzerland)
Natasha ('natsha') is a game and narrative designer, currently involved in developing 'Psychotic Bathtub – the Story of an Escalating Mind. And ducks', a multilinear story game about a psychotic disorder. And some ducks.
In additional, Natasha supports studios in creating their stories.
Petra Stipetić
Animation
Petra Stipetić #
Director (Germany)
Petra Stipetić is a qualified sculptor and educator who turned her love of storytelling into a profession with her animation studies in Kassel. Since then, she has produced award-winning short films that have been screened at festivals worldwide.
Petra discovered her love and talent for creating a wide variety of characters and their worlds during her liberal arts studies in Mainz, which focused on sculpture. Since 2014, when she began her studies in visual communication, with a focus on animation, she has been breathing life into her characters and letting them tell their own stories. Her short films have gone on to win various awards at national and international film festivals. Since 2022, she has been a lecturer in Animation and Visual Storytelling at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld.
Pijus Čeikauskas Pidžinas
Animation
Pijus Čeikauskas Pidžinas #
Animator (Lithuania)
From animation to street art. After getting a taste of the digital image, Pijus has moved into the real world, and hangs out here in public spaces. A versatile artist who connects together multiple disciplines, Pijus is currently creating actively in Klaipėda and working with youth employment in the field of street art.
Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas
Games
Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas #
Game Designer, Weekend Warriors (Lithuania)
Povilas Vincentas Jankūnas is an architect, exhibition designer, illustrator, comic book author and games creator. In 2019, he graduated as an architect from Vilnius TECH university, but since studying, together with a group of friends, he‘s been creating games under the independent collective name  Weekend Warriors. In 2021, his game Utility for the Soul was nominated at the prestigious festival IndieCade and awarded the prize for best art direction at the LT Game Awards. Currently, Povilas is developing a small horror game R00000, inspired by psychological trauma. 
Rasa Paukštytė
Jury
Rasa Paukštytė #
Film Critic, Lithuanian Competition Jury (Lithuania)
Rasa Paukštytė was born on 12 September 1965, in Klaipėda, Lithuania. During her academic years, she collaborated with various Lithuanian press outlets such as Kultūros barai, Kinas, and Literatūra ir menas. In addition, she contributed articles about Lithuanian cinema and theatre to foreign catalogues and publications.

Since 1988, Paukštytė has primarily engaged in writing critical and review articles on contemporary cinema and, to a lesser extent, theatre art phenomena. Her work includes regular reviews in both mainstream and specialised cultural publications, as well as the cultural supplements of daily newspapers.

Paukštytė has written books on Lithuanian cinema, including 'I Don’t Know…' (dedicated to director Vytautas Žalakevičius) and 'Lithuanian Cinematographers' (directory); she also edited Giedrė Beinoriūtė's book 'Cinematographer Audrius Kemežys: A Moment to Adjust Colours'. She was the editor-in-chief of Kinas magazine from 1998 to 2008, and has been the editor of the Lithuanian film website www.lfc.lt since 2004.
Rico Possienka
Games
Rico Possienka #
Game Developer, Maschinen-Mensch (Germany)
Rico grew up in Berlin's Kreuzberg district in the 90s. Fascinated by the German demo and hacker scene, from a young age he wanted to find out how computer graphics were programmed. After teaching himself Turbo Pascal, Assembler and Java he set out to become a game programmer. Following the death of his father, Rico ditched his maths studies and worked as a web designer until he scored a position as a game programmer at a Berlin indie studio. In his spare time, Rico plays table tennis and works on his own game engine. His favourite game series is 'Silent Hill'.
Rimas Sakalauskas
Animation
Rimas Sakalauskas #
Director (Lithuania)
Rimas Sakalauskas is a video artist and motion graphics designer, working in the fields of VR, AR and video projections.
Robin Baumgarten
Games
Robin Baumgarten #
Developer and Artist, Wobbly Labs (Germany)
Robin Baumgarten is an award-winning experimental hardware game developer and interactive installation artist based in Berlin. After researching artificial intelligence in games and working on mobile games, he is now fully focused on creating playful interactive installations that straddle the divide between games and art, such as Line Wobbler and Wobble Garden. His most recent projects also involve a scientific aspect: Quantum Garden and its larger sequel, Quantum Jungle, both visualise quantum physics in a playful yet scientifically accurate manner.
Rokas Janauskas
Animation
Rokas Janauskas #
Lawyer (Lithuania)
Rokas has been practising law since 2007. After gaining valuable experience at a leading Baltic law firm, working on behalf of one of the world's leading scientific technology companies, Rokas now has his own legal firm. He mostly advises clients on issues of commercial and business law, intellectual property, contracts and public procurement. A significant portion of his clients are film and TV producers, creative businesses and smart individuals. He usually assists film and TV producers in preparing the necessary contracts, advising on applications for state funding and disputes with funding authorities, assisting them in taking advantage of tax incentives, and securing the intellectual property rights to their work.
Rūta Stalmokaitė
Animation
Rūta Stalmokaitė #
Director (Lithuania)
Rūta Stalmokaitė is an illustrator and animator from Vilnius. A graduate of the Cambridge School of Art, UK, she illustrates and animates playful characters. Her animated film 'And the Rest You Already Know' has already been accepted into numerous international festivals. Rūta wants to continue spreading the good name of Lithuania with her art – more of which you can find at ru-st.com 
Rytis Jadzevičius
Games
Rytis Jadzevičius #
CEO, Fluxo Games (Lithuania)
Rytis Jadzevičius is a familiar face in the Lithuanian games industry, as CEO of the company Fluxo Games – an independent game development studio that specialises in creating unique game experiences for PC and mobile platforms. Rytis is also chairman of the board of the Lithuanian Game Developers Association. As a representative of the association, he actively promotes cooperation and connections between game creators in Lithuania and abroad, thus contributing to the growth of the industry. 
Šarūnas Ledas
Games
Šarūnas Ledas #
Co-Founder & CEO, Tag of Joy (Lithuania)
Šarūnas has been involved in game development for more than 15 years, and is the co-founder and current CEO of the award-winning indie game development studio 'Tag of Joy'. The company constantly looks for new ways to innovate experiences in games, and has already won multiple awards and nominations. Šarūnas is also a member of the Lithuanian Game Developers Association, which helps local game developers to meet, share their knowledge and learn.
Simona Krasauskienė
Animation
Simona Krasauskienė #
Producer, Marketing Expert (Lithuania)
Simona Krasauskienė is the producer of the film 'Kakė Makė: My Film' and the TV series 'Kakė Makė'. Over the past three years, she has been dedicated to developing the Kakė Makė and Nelly Jelly brands, both in Lithuania and internationally. Alongside her ventures into film and television, she is also a technology enthusiast, boasting more than 10 years of experience in the marketing industry.
Simona Vasytė-Kudakauskė
Animation
Games
Simona Vasytė-Kudakauskė #
Co-Founder and CEO, Perfection42 (Lithuania)
Simona is co-founder and CEO of Perfection42, a company developing AI-powered tools for visual creators. Together with her team, she is building custom AI tools that enable creatives to better tell their stories, with world-class visual quality.
Tadas Vidmantas
Animation
Tadas Vidmantas #
Scriptwriter, Director (Lithuania)
Tadas Vidmantas is a screenwriter and director. Since 2001, he has made dozens of adverts, viral videos, music videos and short films in Lithuania and the UK. In 2015, he began making feature films, and has made one each year since. One of these, 'Three Million Euros', became the most profitable film ever made in Lithuania. In 2022, he received the Silver Crane award for most spectacular film at the Lithuanian national film industry awards for 'Night Fishing'.
As Tadas says, ‘I believe that a great story, interesting, relatable characters and realistic dialogue are the most important components to any film. If everything is done right, the film converts to emotions. And this is what I sell. I sell emotions’.
Thorsten S. Wiedemann
Games
Jury
Thorsten S. Wiedemann #
Artistic Director of A MAZE. (Germany)
Thorsten S. Wiedemann is founder and artistic director of A MAZE. Under this label, he produces and curates international festivals, exhibitions and workshops at the intersection of games, games culture, digital arts and playful media. With A MAZE. / Berlin, he created international festivals to present arthouse games, playful media and alternative games culture. He generates new and controversial formats (e.g. A MAZE. Magazine, A MAZE. Pop-ups, A MAZE. / SPACE, A MAZE. Train Jam) and provides room for experimentation and exchange. In 2012, Thorsten established the A MAZE. Awards, which are given to artistic games in six categories. His focus is on the diverse and interdisciplinary discourse about the media in the 21st century, and in filling the gaps between playful media, art and technology. During his Disconnected performance, he also spent 48 hours immersed in virtual reality! Thorsten currently lives and works in Berlin.
Vaidas Gecevičius
Games
VR
Vaidas Gecevičius #
Creative Technologist (Lithuania)
Vaidas Gecevičius is a creative technologist and digital experience designer. For a decade, he has been collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to produce outstanding interactive products in different media. He enjoys exploring emerging the technologies that will shape the interactive experiences of tomorrow.
Vika Ivanova
Animation
Jury
Vika Ivanova #
Director, Lithuanian Competition Jury (Ukraine)
Vika Ivanova is an aspiring animation director and documentary
filmmaker based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. She is a student at Kharkiv Karazin University, studying art history and cultural studies. She began her career in black-and-white film photography, and shot and edited lifestyle videos. At the moment she is part of a production team working on a series of stop-motion animations. These films are dedicated to the legends and local narratives of Kharkiv, and presented as humorous and non-standard stories to unpack and discover.
Viktoriia Grivina
Animation
Viktoriia Grivina #
Director (Ukraine)
Viktoriia Grivina is a scriptwriter and production manager. She is a writer and cultural researcher from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her latest short story, 'My Azov Sea', is set for print publication in 2023. At the moment, she is working on 'Fury Tales', a series of short scripts that make use of the genres of sci-fi, magical realism and absurdist comedy to reflect on the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. 'Fury Tales' are part of the Khastoria stop-motion animation series. Viktoriia’s current PhD studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland are dedicated to the mythological and aesthetic transformations of cities in Ukraine in times of war.
Vilius Petrauskas
Animation
VR
Vilius Petrauskas #
Concept Artist, Director (Lithuania)
Vilius is an old and jaded wolf of the industry, having worked in various spheres for 15 years – VR, game development and film creation. As a concept creator, Vilius has collaborated with many interesting directors and game industry professionals, helping them to fulfil their creative ambitions. His assistance contributed to the creation of VR projects such as 'Angels' Path', and films such as 'Vesper', 'Ashes in the Snow', 'Wonka' and 'Jurassic World'. He has also worked on games such as 'God of War Ragnarök' and 'Horizon Forbidden West'.

Currently, Vilius is directing a virtual reality experience based on Baltic mythology.
Vladimir Slav
Games
Vladimir Slav #
Founder, Coldwild Games (Latvia)
Vladimir has been developing games professionally since 2016. As well as running his own company, in his spare time Vladimir looks into individual projects with stronger narrative elements. His goal is to create interactive experiences that focus primarily on telling stories.
Vytautas Lukaševičius
Games
Vytautas Lukaševičius #
Game Reviewer, Done Right (Lithuania)
Discussion moderator. Vytautas is a long-time reviewer of games and the games industry. He has written for almost every industry-related magazine in Lithuania (from VA PlayStation to Stuff). In addition, he has worked for more than eight years at communication agencies to find common paths between games and PR. Together with his colleague Kazimieras, Vytautas is currently creating a passion project – the only YouTube game reviews channel in Lithuania – Done Right (www.doneright.lt).
Xingpei Shen
Animation
Xingpei Shen #
Director (China / USA)
Xingpei Shen is an award-winning independent animator and director. His short film 'Lotus Lantern' has been shown internationally, and won Best Animated Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and Altan Khalis Independent Film Festival. His work has been shown at the Tate Gallery, Arts West, Shanghai Film Museum, CHAO Art Center and RISD Museum. He currently lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia, where he is completing his second film. 
Yi Wang
Jury
Animation
Yi Wang #
Queer East Festival Director, Lithuanian Competition Jury (Taiwan / United Kingdom)
Yi Wang is the founder, director and programmer of Queer East, a London-based festival that showcases boundary-pushing LGBTQ+ cinema, live arts, and moving image work from East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities. He also works as a cultural and creative producer in performing arts, with primary interests in marginalised voices and intercultural productions.
Žilvinas Ledas
Games
Žilvinas Ledas #
Co-Founder & CTO, Tag of Joy (Lithuania)
Žilvinas Ledas has a PhD in informatics, and has been developing video games for more than 12 years now. He is co-founder and CTO at Tag of Joy – an indie game development company creating games that merge fun and innovation, whose team's products have won multiple awards at various international competitions. Žilvinas also teaches Game Development at Vilnius University, and is active in the local game development community.
Žygimantas Kudirka
Games
Jury
Žygimantas Kudirka #
Artist (Lithuania)
Artist, writer and performer, obsessed with artificial languages, avant-garde rap and social engineering, known in the music scene as 'Mesijus'. Former games reviewer for the magazines VA Playstation, PC Klubas and Game.exe.
More: kdrk.eu 
Photo: Paulius Žižliauskas