Latvia

Ieva Lība Ratniece is an animation filmmaker from Riga, Latvia. In her personal creative practise, she is interested in experimentation, exploration of materiality and textures, abstract forms of storytelling and the act of embodied listening and seeing through unique marriage of image and sound. She has graduated with a Master’s degree from KASK (The Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in Ghent, Belgium with specialisation in Animation film in 2024 and obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Art Academy of Latvia.

Lithuania

Dovydas Vilkelis is a 3D animation and VFX producer. After film management studies in Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Dovydas turned to the field of video post-production. Since 2011, the producer has been heading studio Animatrix, working in advertising, gaming and film industries. Studio is currently presenting a short film Stolen Colors and is working on Czech feature film Rosa & Dara. Dovydas is also a board member of the Lithuanian Animation Association and the Baltic Film & Creative Tech cluster.

Norway

Gaute Hesthagen holds a BA from The Norwegian Film School's directing program. His work ranges from comedy in a car to visual epics in space, including episodic tv, short films Bokaj, Nostalgia and Danny's Magical Potion, screened at international festivals. Global campaigns include Mastercard, LEGO, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, IKEA, Schweppes, Tuborg and Vodafone. One of very few directors to have shot in zero gravity twice: for LEGO with NASA, and Mastercard's Guinness World Record football match.

Lithuania

Tomas Juchnevič is an animation director, CG artist, animator and rigger with over a decade of experience in the animation industry. He has worked on games, animated shorts, VR, TV commercials and LEGO animation projects. Passionate about character performance and storytelling, Tomas has developed his craft through workshops mentored by professionals from Pixar, DreamWorks, and Valve. At BLON, he presents Stolen Colors, where he served as co-director, animation director, rigger, animator.

Finland

Juho Maurinen is a filmmaker, visual artist, animator and musician from Helsinki Finland. He has deep roots in DIY culture and he’s been described as an “unstoppable genre bending creative force”. Maurinen believes in sincerity and personal intuition in all his work and he enjoys finding new ways of creating.

Sweden

Lovisa Andersson is a Swedish filmmaker who has spent the last 3 and 1/2 years studying Character Animation at The Animation Workshop. Doppelgänger is her directorial debut, being Lovisa and her teammate's graduation film. As a creator, Lovisa is very drawn to the internal lives and thought processes of people. To take private and personal emotions and force them to the surface.

Estonia

Liisi Grünberg is an illustrator and animation director who has worked on animated short films and commercials. She directed the short films Miisufy (2023) and Summer in the Office (2025), and is currently developing a new film. Her work explores the relationship between humans, nature, and animals.

Sweden

Johan Edström is a producer. He owns APPARAT Filmproduktion AB and is partner of THE CHAPEL FILMS AB.  He has since 1977 worked as an animator, director and producer in Sweden, Europe, Japan, the United States and Canada.  He has been a guest lecturer in Animation at SKH, Sörängen, Campus i12, Folkuniversitetet, North Park University, Den Danske Filmskole, and StopMotionLab. Johan is a co-producer of Ida Melum's film Ovary-Acting (2025) and the main producer of Anna Mantzaris film PLEASE (2026).