BLON 2025 events

Bold, wild, and equipped with musical tracks

Léa Buffard is french, she arrived in Brussels in 2020 to start animation studies at ENSAV la Cambre. Since then she had her master's degree with a movie made from painting on cellulo. She really enjoys getting her hand dirty with painting as well as the comfort of Ctr+z in digital animation.

Kateryna Omelianenko earned a Bachelor’s in Animation Directing from Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University in 2024. Her film The Bus Stop screened at international festivals like Monstra (Portugal) and Hi FUNNY World (China), and was nominated for Best Animated Short at Ukraine’s Golden Dzyga Awards. She contributed to the animation anthology Cherry Orchard by the House, which screened at the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland Festival and made the Academy Awards longlist. Kateryna specializes in 2D animation, often featuring unique monsters and anthropomorphic animals.

Olena Onyshchuk (lulenni) is an animation director, animator, and illustrator based in Kyiv, Ukraine. She focuses on creating touching, relatable stories — often in the genres of drama and adventure, passionate about bringing simple yet emotionally rich narratives to life.
In addition to her work in the animation industry on various projects, including music videos like Likhtaryky for Tonya Matvienko (2025), Patron the dog series (2022-2024), Olena develops personal films that reflect her artistic vision. Her works include Window (2022) and Memoirs (2024), the latter being her graduation film for Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television.

Originally from Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, Iryna graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts, and currently lives in Tallinn. Inspired by the landscapes of her region, the director is interested in exploring the concept of place attachment when it comes to nature, especially in the context of the russian invasion in Ukraine, and how war changes our relationship with a place

Martinus Klemet is an Estonian animation director known for blending surrealism, pop art, grotesque, and humor. He holds a BA in Fine Arts and an MA in Animation from the Estonian Academy of Arts.
His animated shorts have screened internationally and won awards. Besides films, he directs music videos, commercials, museum projects, and more.
Martinus has spoken about his work worldwide and mentored students at the Estonian Academy of Arts. He is currently pursuing a practice-led PhD exploring new narratives combining animation and improv theatre.

Wanja J. Sæther is a social worker and manager of the largest crisis center in northern Norway’s Salten region. With over 32 years of experience, she has worked extensively with victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and various social issues including family welfare, youth disadvantage, homelessness, trafficking, and addiction.
Wanja is an active advocate against domestic violence and serves on the board of Norway’s Shelter Movement. She has contributed to books, films, and articles, including a handbook on escaping violence. She also works on ethical issues as a member of a national ethics council. Wanja lives in Steigen and has five children.

Nawojka Wierzbowska – director and screenwriter of animated and live-action films, graduate of the Film School in Katowice. Her diploma film A Fairytale for a Restless Night was acclaimed at Polish festivals, while Evil Never Sleeps brought further awards, including FRAPA and the Silver Koziołek. She developed her skills at La Poudrière and Young Horizons Lab, and collaborated with the Munk Studio. Currently, she is working on her feature debut Till Death Unite Us.

Ignotas Kuprys creates animation as a way to speak through silence, distance, and what often remains unspoken. His work is shaped by slow observation, internal states, and a relationship with the environment. In both his creative and theoretical explorations, he quietly reflects the importance of nature - not as a background, but as a sensitive, equal part of being. He is drawn to the intersections of noise and silence, presence and withdrawal, and the inner world of a person.

Matas Pakutinskas is a Lithuanian animator and illustrator, holding a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. His work explores surrealism through the lens of historical context and personal experience, employing metaphor, composition, and symbolism to craft compelling visual narratives.

Martynas Genkovas is a 3D artist with a passion for photography, visual arts, and graphic design. His inspiration comes from bringing ideas to life—whether through the lens of a camera or the limitless canvas of the digital world.

His journey in the creative realm began with a fascination for light and form, which naturally led him to explore the intricate details of graphic design and the immersive possibilities of 3D art. He thrives on blending these disciplines: his painted works often reflect the mood and composition of his 3D renders, while his design sensibilities shape the visual storytelling across all his projects.

From crafting intricate 3D models and environments to designing compelling graphics, he enjoys the challenge of transforming concepts into captivating visual experiences. Always striving to push creative boundaries, he continually explores new techniques and seeks innovative ways to tell stories.

Martynas graduated in Graphic Design and later continued his studies in Photography and Media Art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where he successfully completed his degree.

Mantas Jurgis Talmantas is a media artist working in the fields of 3D, animation, photogrammetry, 360° panoramas, and virtual reality.
In 2023, his VR piece “Imaginary Beings” was exhibited in the show “Primordial Sky” in Šiauliai Art Gallery, as well as in the exhibition “Bardo. Three States” at the VDU Arts Gallery “101”.
His 2022 VR work “Legal Entities” was selected for the Merck Award for Innovation in XR at the “goEast>” festival.
Mantas Talmantas’s short 360° film “The Fall” was shown at the “VR Theater Forest”, the Future of StoryTelling conference, and was named one of the monthly favorites on the Littlstar virtual reality video distribution platform.
He earned a degree in Digital Media from the International School of New Media at the University of Lübeck (Germany) and studied Photography and Media Art at the Vilnius Academy of Arts.

Sonata Vilkevičiūtė is a stop-motion animator who also works with various textile techniques. From a young age, she was interested in animation and doll-making. She attended Kaišiadorys Art School and later graduated from Kaunas Art Gymnasium with a specialization in textiles. For her final arts exam, she decided to explore animation and created her first stop-motion animated short film, "In the Rhythm of a Clock.

She is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA), works as an educator with the Animatest team, and occasionally collaborates with the animation studio Kadrų Skyrius.

Jorė Černiauskaitė - beginning animation director who started her creative journey at Animatest with the film "Can't Bear It".The main themes of her artistic work are the relationship with oneself, the environment and other people.

Olga Abramova graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she studied animation. She is interested in urban spaces and their development, and her work is inspired by urban dystopian imagery. "Glimpses among parallels" is her bachelor thesis and debut film.

Aurelijus Čiupas is an animator, director, and audio-visual artist from Lithuania. His practice is driven by relentless exploration and tinkering with new media technologies, reflected in his work with VFX in animated films, interactive installations, and recently - generative AI.
Through his MA degree in animation, obtained at Estonian Academy of Arts in 2024, Aurelijus refined his practice as a filmmaker and combined it with unconventional digital animation techniques, seeking to employ generative AI with purpose and finesse.
His MA thesis was realized through an ongoing educational blog that seeks to demystify AI technology in the context of animation art while presenting contemplative insights and critique.

Rebeka Salomėja Kavaliauskaitė (25) grew up in a creative family in Ignalina – a small town surrounded by nature and lakes where her artistic worldview began to take shape. Her inclination toward introspection, combined with the influence of her surroundings, became fundamental to her creative expression. Personal memories of relatives and neighbors, along with a sensitive observation of global events, naturally blended into her work. Animation became a natural medium through which she could express these experiences. After completing her vocational studies in media design, she continued her education at Vilnius College of Technologies and Design (now VIKO), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in animation. Currently, Rebeka is pursuing a master’s degree in animation at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. In recent years, she has created two animated short films – Notes (2023) and Home (2024).

Antanas Skucas, a film director and data artist, lecturer at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. His debut animation short “Childhood Diary” was awarded by the Lithuanian Silver Crane Award. In 2015 he established a film production company “Tylus kinas”. Also works with new media, XR, VR, AR, AI.

Julius Zubavičius obtained a Multimedia Director BA degree. In 2011, Julius moved to London to further his film sound designer career, where he continues to live and work. Julius has been working on more than 30 film projects as a sound designer, recordist, and composer.

Aistė Misiūnaitė is an emerging animation director who graduated in 2025 with a Master’s degree in Animation from the Vilnius Academy of Arts. Her debut short animated film, Night Confession, was created as her graduation project. In her work, Aistė explores psychological themes – how inner states, traumas, and fears can be brought to the surface through animation, and how art can become a tool for confronting rather than suppressing them.

Ugnė Žvirblytė is currently a second-year animation student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts. What drew her to animation was the complete creative freedom it offers to create eccentric and unconventional things.
In her creative work, she often seeks to address issues and questions that are relevant both to herself and to those around her. She is particularly interested in the relationship between humans and their environment – one of the central themes in her work. She frequently transforms parts of the human body, combining them in unexpected ways to enhance emotional impact.
For her, art is a way to create a personal world – one full of strange chaos and madness. This world helps her explore emotions, identity, and the boundaries of reality.

Beatričė Jackutė is an animator, director, and actress working in Lithuania. She started her creative journey at Justinas Vienožinskis Art School in Vilnius and “Animatest”, where she acquired basic animation skills. Beatričė is currently studying at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in the second year of the Animation Studies programme and is deepening her knowledge of character creation and performing arts as a member of the theatre company “Insiti”.

Elijas is an animation student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, working in the stop-motion technique using and combining different mediums such as clay, puppet animation and video footage. His primary interest when creating animations is re-purposing ready-made objects or existing media to create new environments, characters, and narratives.

Rusnė Dragūnevičiūtė is an animator from Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2022 she graduated from University of the Arts London with a bachelor's degree in Animation Arts and chose to continue her artistic development at the Royal College of Art. In her work Rusnė focuses on themes of nostalgia and friendship, creating textured and colourful worlds of light through both traditional and digital means. Currently, she is interested in developing an animated series.

Film director, animator, illustrator based in Lithuania. Creates animated films, underground music videos, draws film industry meta comics, works as an assistant director on movie sets.

Anu-Laura Tuttelberg graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2013 with an MA in Animation, specializing in stop-motion. Her graduation film Fly Mill won 20 prizes globally. Her first post-graduation film, On The Other Side Of The Woods, premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival and won 12 awards across 85 festivals. Winter in the Rainforest, the first in her nature trilogy, premiered at Annecy in 2019, winning 13 festival prizes and the Estonian Cultural Endowment Award. Anu-Laura, known for her set designs in stop-motion films, won the 2022 Estonian Film and TV Award for Best Production Design. She teaches animation at her alma mater.

Žilvinas Ledas is PhD of informatics and develops video games more than 14 years now. He is a co-founder and CTO at Tag of Joy – an indie game development company which creates games merging fun and innovation. With their products the team has gained multiple awards at various international competitions. Žilvinas also teaches Game Development at Vilnius University and is active in local game development community.

Nathan Jurevicius is an illustrator, director, toy designer, and concept artist known for creating immersive worlds like Scarygirl. His work spans limited-edition figures, games, and animation.
He has worked in London and Providence, taught character design at Pictoplasma Academy in Berlin, and was Creative Director at Dark Slope, a VR/AR studio. Nathan is also known for the Australian Academy Award-winning PELEDA universe, inspired by Baltic mythology.
Now, he freelances internationally across games, animation, toys, and publishing.