A stop motion animator for over 20 years, Tim Allen was a Senior Animator on Oscar winning Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio & a Key Animator on Wes Anderson’s Oscar nominated film Isle of Dogs. His other credits include Fantastic Mr Fox, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride & Frankenweenie, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires & The House for Netflix. As well as animating on Oscar winning Peter & the Wolf & Oscar nominated My Life as a Zucchini, he’s served many years of TV series work including Fireman Sam, Postman Pat plus Shaun the Sheep & Creature Comforts USA for Aardman Animations. Tim is well known for his work on commercials & animating short films for up & coming directors. He was Animation Supervisor on The Magic Piano as well as the stop motion Club Penguin specials for Disney. Tim’s latest movie with Aardman will soon be on Netflix - Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget! Tim has an extensive background in teaching animation techniques worldwide for trainee animators of all experience levels

Ana Grgić (PhD, University of St Andrews) is a film scholar and film industry practitioner. She is Associate Professor at Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania. She is author of Early Cinema, Modernity and Visual Culture: The Imaginary of the Balkans (AUP, 2022) and co-editor of Contemporary Balkan Cinema: Transnational Exchanges and Global Circuits (EUP, 2020). Her research on Balkan cinemas, archives, and film history has been published in Early Popular Visual Culture, Studies in Eastern European Cinema, Apparatus and KinoKultura. While president of the cultural association, Balkan Cultural Centre (Croatia), she co-organised a year-long film literacy travelling program, the 5C project (funded by Creative Europe Media programme, and the Croatian Audiovisual Centre), and as a Board member of the Albanian Cinema Project, she collaborated on film preservation workshops Archives in Motion in 2016. Previously, Ana worked in the film industry for several years, starting her career on the set of HBO’s hit television series Rome in Cinecittà, Italy, and later joined the visual effects industry in London’s Soho district (The Moving Picture Company, CBS production’s American Assassin, Fox production’s Bohemian Rhapsody).

John Osborne is a writer, producer, filmmaker, and has a film production office in Mendocino, California. Currently he has several projects in development. Seabiscuit’s Legacy (http://seabiscuitslegacy.com), is a documentary feature film about the training of the legendary race horse, Seabiscuit. The Outlaws of Mendocino (https://www.theoutlawsofmendocinomovie.com/) is a narrative feature about a robbery gone wrong, and an epic chase across Northern California in 1880. It is based on a true story that occurred in Mendocino. My Ever Changing Body is a short animated documentary film about bridging the age divide. It is a marvelous international co-production with ADDART. He has worked on many commercial films, and recently was a character in a 4 part mini-series. While in Europe, he will be location scouting for wineries where he can film a road trip documentary through various wine areas. John is the Associate Programmer for the American Documentary Film Festival (AmDocs). Traveling to Europe every year, he assists Teddy Grouya, the Festival Director, in procuring films for their program in Palm Springs, California. AmDocs is a prestigious festival presenting a wide range of international documentary and animated films.

An award-winning filmmaker, Theodore “Teddy” Grouya is currently the Founder and Director of the American Documentary And Animation Film Festival and Film Fund (AmDocs), as well as the Director of the Architecture Design Art Film Festival (ADAFF). Before and after graduating from UCLA, Teddy worked on several Hollywood films as well as directing live television. Later, Teddy received an M.A. from the Australian National University in International Relations and then worked in international programs for the State Department. Today, Teddy is directing several film and television programs. Additionally, Teddy continues to work as an editorial and production consultant on films in development as well as in the rough cut stages- recent films include The Bill Murray Experience and Planet Of The Humans (executive produced by Michael Moore). AmDocs’ year-round mission is to enhance and encourage education outreach through film as well as international conference and filmmaker exchanges. www.amdocfilmfest.com

Arba Hatashi was born and raised in Peja, Kosovo. She started volunteering at a very young age in different non-government organizations, with a focus on culture development. For the last ten years, she has been working actively with Anibar on organizing the only animation festival in Kosovo, managing and working on the transformation of the only active cinema in the city of Peja, Cinema Jusuf Gërvalla, into a multifunctional, social and cultural space. She started as a volunteer in 2014 working with the festival to continue coordinating the program of the festival for three years prior to being appointed in 2019 the Festival Director of Anibar International Animation Festival. Since 2018, she has also managed the Anibar Animation Academy and its educational projects working towards the improvement and development of education in the field of animation in Kosovo. She has previously been a jury member at Fantoche International Animation Film Festival, Anima - The Brussels Animation Film Festival, Zlín Film Festival, REX Animation, and other engagements.

Managing Director at the VFX Animation Studio 3DEERS

Maria Mavroeidi was born in Patras. She is a Producer and Production Director at Dahouse Studio. She studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Technology at the Polytechnic School of the University of Patras and holds a postgraduate degree. She has played pivotal roles in crafting numerous television and digital advertisements. She has also participated in the production of short fiction and animation films, as well as documentaries of both short and feature length. She is as an active member of ASIFA Hellas - Hellenic Animation Association and a member of PACT - Media Producers Association.

Konstantinos P. Kakarountas was born in Lamia, Greece. He is an award-winning director and producer who has participated in numerous international and domestic film festivals. He studied Fine Arts and Communication Arts in France at the Angouleme and Poitiers Schools of Fine Arts. He has collaborated with various production companies both in Greece and abroad. Additionally, he has worked as a VFX Supervisor on many cinematic projects. He has directed several short films and is currently working on two new productions. He is a creative thinker who enjoys combining art with technology. He is the founder of Dahouse Studio and the President of ASIFA Hellas - Hellenic Animation Association. He is also a member of PACT - Media Producers Association.

Eleni Mouri (PhD, University of Novi Sad, Serbia) is a Professor at the University of Western Attica, specializing in Motion Design - Animation. She has been actively involved in the animation industry since 1979, either as a freelance professional in the production of television animated spots (companies such as "KOUNOUPΙ," "BLITZ & ΣΙΑ Ο.Ε.," "ARTOON STUDIO," and "ΚΟΥΑΚ"), or through her artistic work presented at numerous distinguished festivals and Contemporary Art Galleries in Greece and abroad. Since 1987, she has taught TV Graphics Storyboarding, Cartoon, and Animation at the Department of Graphic Design and Visual Communication. A selection of student films can be found at www.youtube.com/teianima. She has also taught in master's programs, covering topics such as the History of Moving Images, Motion Graphics, Visual and Acoustic Content Production. She is the director of the master's program in ANIMATION (2D and 3D) at https://animation.uniwa.gr/ and teaches Screenplay Principles, Cinematic Narrative, and 2D Animation. She has taught Animation at European and Greek Universities through the ERASMUS+ program and summer schools. Her published work includes the books "FRAME by FRAME" (2004 and 2009) and "1960-2000 Greek Animation" from NEXUS Publications, as well as contributions to collective volumes and proceedings of international conferences on the subject of animation.

Kleoniki Drougka is a graduate of AUTH in Philosophy, holds a master's and a doctoral degree. Her ideological orientations focus on scriptwriting – cinema, poetry, prose and education. She has published scientific books, poetry collections and participated in other Collective works. Her scientific articles have been published in Greek and foreign journals, in proceedings of Greek and international conferences and her poems / novels in various literary journals. She has written short fiction film scripts and participated in the creation of documentary films, winning awards in Greek and international competitions. She teaches Screenwriting at the Department of Cinema, School of Fine Arts, AUTH and at the Inter-Institutional master’s Program "Creative Writing" (University of Western Macedonia - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).

Brian C. Morris was born and raised in the USA. He is a 2d and 3d Artist/Animator and Game Designer with experience in the industry, which includes working as animator and 3d artist in the core design teams at Midway Games and William Bally Pinball of Chicago, Illinois. He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) degree from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago followed by a Master’s in Digital Arts from The University of Arts London (Camberwell). In 1999 Brian relocated from Chicago to Thessaloniki, Greece, where he continues his freelance work in the digital media industry for multiple clients in the US, Europe, and Asia, providing content in the areas of 2d and 3d animation, 3d Modeling, Character Design, Game Design, educational videos, television, film, and video games. Along with his professional work Brian teaches Game Design at The American College of Thessaloniki (ACT) in the Division of Technology and Sciences. Also, he teaches Game Design at AAS College School of Art & Design (partner institute of the University of Sunderland, UK) where currently he holds the position of Animation Course Leader. Most recently he is also freelancing in Virtual Reality Development/Level Design in Unity for the Quest2 VR system. He is member of the Chamber of Visual Artists of Greece (Επιμελητήριο Εικαστικών Τεχνών Ελλάδος). His accolades include: 2019 TAF Animation Festival Award - Award for contribution to Animation, 1996-1995 Play Meter Magazine Awards of Excellence - Best Pinball Game of the Year Attack from Mars and Theater of Magic, Awarded Fellowship Honors - School of The Art Institute of Chicago's exclusive degree show.

Dionysia Arvanitou is a production support advisor and project coordinator at the Film Office of the Region of Central Macedonia. She brings in this post her solid 15 years of experience making a variety of films for a variety of industries. Her capacity as executive producer coordinating with the producers, directors, and departments in executive production and her efficient administrative support as scientific and technical consultant of the projects, coordinator of the work group (project manager). She worked as coordinator of the PAME CINEMA educational program: for Northern Greece and provided scientific support and technical implementation of film seminars and films for Primary and Secondary Education.

Dimitris Savvaidis is a producer, scriptwriter and director from Thessaloniki, Greece. After having years of experience in advertising, directing and storytelling, Mr. Savvaidis founded ADDART in 2014 with the vision to promote art and culture in the city of Thessaloniki. Through the years, he has won multiple awards for its projects and cultural contributions and in 2015 Mr. Savaidis created and organised the very first Thessaloniki Animation Festival. Ever since then ADDART has become an award-winning animation studio, having partners from all over the world, like France, USA, UK, Japan, Germany, Canada, Ireland etc and working with well-known networks. Besides producing, Mr. Savvaidis is very passionate about animation, and he is personally involved in the creative process, from giving birth to ideas to actively participating in the development.

Dim­itris Kazantzis is a Greek com­pa­ny man­ag­er and line pro­duc­er, based in Thes­sa­loni­ki. He holds two bach­e­lor’s degrees. His passion for enter­tain­ment led him to join the ani­ma­tion pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny Fun­ny Tales in 2018. He has pro­duced numer­ous suc­cess­ful projects, including an ani­mat­ed TV series, an award-win­ning video clip, and a mul­ti­ple-award­ed short ani­mat­ed movie. After work­ing as a Line Pro­duc­er for some time, he cur­rent­ly serves as the act­ing Gen­er­al Man­ag­er of the company.

Vasilis Eudokias is a graduate of the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering at the University of the Aegean (MEng) and completed his thesis on Transmedia Storytelling. He is active in the field of animation, advertising, and illustration. As a freelancer, he has worked as a colourist and compositor on the production of the short film "Chairs" by Jordan Ananiadis (Greece) and at the animation production company A+C Studios (UK), contributing to the entire pre-production process for the creation of advertisements and short films. Additionally, he has participated as a trainer in animation workshops at ASIFA Hellas, the Animasyros International Animation Festival, and European programs in collaboration with the Vardakeio School of Ermoupolis, as well as in Short Film Seminars of the General Secretariat of Information & Communication and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Cinema. In recent years, he has been living in Thessaloniki and working as a Creative Director, Writer, Director, and Designer at the animation production company FUNNY TALES STUDIO, working on a wide range of productions, including the recent animated series "Pix & Leo" and the short film "((echo))."

Lefteris Faidas is a designer based in Thessaloniki. With a background in product and application design, he operates in the field of animation for advertising and entertainment. His primary areas of expertise include storyboarding, concept art, visual development, character design, and background design. Additionally, he has worked as an illustrator and designer for applications, printed materials, and comics. Short animated films he has worked on have participated in animation festivals worldwide. Since 2019, he has been employed at AddArt as a Creative Director. His responsibilities include designing, supervising, and implementing proposals and animation productions.