Speakers
25/10 / Unsung Women Heroes of Animation
Nancy Denney-Phelps is a journalist writing about European animation and festivals as well as a producer of music for animation. Along with her composer/musician husband Nik Phelps, she co-founded the Sprocket Ensemble dedicated to presenting live performances of original music with screenings of contemporary animation from around the world. Nancy's writings have appeared in such publications as CARTOON and ANIMATOON as well as on her regular blog for AWN (Animation World Network). She is also a regular correspondent for ASIFA/San Francisco and a member of the ASIFA International Board of Directors as well as an Ambassador At Large for the Emile Awards. Nancy has served on numerous International Animation Festival juries and taught time management for animators at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Art and Design. She is the pitching coach at ANIMARKT in Lodz, Poland as well as a member of their Brain Trust Advisory Board. Her strong interest in the history of animation has led her to present programs on the history of animation traced through music at many animation festivals and conferences worldwide. She also works as advisor to several animation festivals and in 2019 was the recipient of a Life Time Achievement Award from ANIMA KON Animation Festival in Bilbao, Spain.
Born in Texas, Belgium-based composer Nik Phelps has played with musical artists as diverse as Eric Johnson and Lou Rawls, Frank Sinatra and They Might Be Giants, and Frank Zappa and Mary Martin, He recorded with Tom Waits, playing on three films and five CDs. He has been scoring film since 1988, starting with the seminal San Francisco soundtrack group The Club Foot Orchestra, and has been working in the animation field since 1995. In 1996 he founded the live film music project The Sprocket Ensemble. Nik creates music for animators such as Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Lei Lei and Ivan Maximov, and gives workshops dealing with the creative process.
26/10 / Animation Education / Three Case Studies
Nicos Synnos is an animator, filmmaker.
He has worked on animation productions in the U.S, U.K. and Cyprus. He founded the animation studio Τoonachunks in Limassol, where he produced animation, short experimental films and videos. He participated and earned awards at international animation, film festivals, and video art exhibitions.
He is a founding member of Animafest International Animation Festival, NeMe Arts Center, Cyprus Animation Association, ASIFA Cyprus and the president of Limassol Cinema Club.
His research interests focus on experimental animation and film, filmic time and space, frame by frame motion, and the production of experimental animation images for film, video and new media.
Synnos has been teaching animation and photography in higher education in Cyprus since 2001. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Fine Arts of the Cyprus University of Technology and the coordinator of the Lab for Animation Research which studies the artistic possibilities of animation.
Christa Pfafferott works as a writer and director in Germany. In her film THE CORNER (90 min., 2021), screend atthe Dokfilm fest Leipzig, she traces the story of a photo from 1945 with archive, documentary and 3D material.Her previous film "Another World" (80 min.) about nurses and patients in a clinic for forensic psychiatry wasawarded with the Marlies Hesse Prize and shown repeatedly at festivals, on television and is actually screened onNetflix. She also wrote her dissertation “The panoptic gaze” on the subject.Her films such as “Heavy Birth”, “Festival of the Elderly” or “Ms Pabst & Ms Wüst” have received various fundingand awards.From 2018-2019 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Bauhaus University Weimar in Germany. She graduated asan artistic-scientific doctorate as Dr. phil in art at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts.From 2004-2009 she studied film directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. In 2004 she graduated fromthe Henri Nannen School of Journalism in Hamburg.As an author, she writes for German publishers and newspapers and the bi-weekly column “Between People”,inspired through observations in everyday life. She is a lecturer for experimental film (Filmgestaltung) whichincludes animation film, for script writing and content development at the Filmakademy Baden-Württemberg.
Dr Eleni Mouri is a professor of animation in the Department of Graphic Design and Visual Communication of the University of West Attica.
She holds a BA in Graphic Design, a MSc in Animation and a PhD on the subject of Animation in Advertising.
She has worked for fifteen years as a freelance animator on TV animated spots such as Kounoupi, Blitz, Artoon and Kuak.
Since 1987, she has been teaching TV Graphics, Storyboarding, Cartoon and Animation.
A selection of student films created under her supervision may be seen here: www.youtube.com/teianima
She has taught History of Animation, Motion Graphics and Audio-visual Content Production in the framework of Master programs.
She is the director of the UNIWA master program ANIMATION (2D and 3D) and teaches Principles of Screenplay and Cinematic Narration and Two-Dimensional Animation.
She has also taught Animation in various European Universities under the ERASMUS + program and summer schools.
Publications:
FRAME by FRAME, 2004, second edition 2009 and 1960 -2000 Greek Animation, from NEXUS Publications.
Her work has been published in international academic journals and conference proceedings.
27/10 / Animation Production / Presentations
Nenad Bogdanovic
Planning & Development Coordinator of the Organization
European Programmes and Cultural Relations
National Contact Point “Creative Europe” and “CERV”
Music Research, Innovation and International Networking Center
Lefteris S. Eleftheriou is a Certified Film Commissioner and a Director, Head of Filming Unit at Invest Cyprus. In his capacity, Lefteris is proactively promoting Cyprus, for more than twelve years, as an attractive destination abroad in key economic sectors of the economy. Lefteris has many years of experience on
promoting the real estate sector. He also possesses years of experience on working for the drafting of legal amendments for the development of the investment environment and entrepreneurship, as well as providing facilitation and aftercare services for new and existing investors.
In 2013, Lefteris took a lead role as part of a team assigned to prepare the strategy for the development of the film industry in Cyprus. Following intense efforts, in 2017 the Council of Ministers adopted the Cyprus Film Scheme. Representing Invest Cyprus, Lefteris is now the Chairman of the Cyprus Film Commission, the body responsible for assessing applications for the Scheme, also leading the national effort for the promotion of Cyprus as an attractive film destination. As of 2022, Lefteris is an elected member of the board of directors of the European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN), the official association of the film
commissioners in Europe.
Lefteris holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences and Philosophy from the Hunter College, New York and a Master Degree in Politics from New York University, having also attended law courses at the University of London and political communication courses at the University of Cyprus. During his eight-year stay in New York, as well as following his return to Cyprus, Lefteris was professionally engaged in the field of political management, lobbying and campaign consulting.
Lefteris has also worked as a Marketing Manager in the corporate intelligence services, covering the Mediterranean region; Middle East; Gulf and Eastern Europe.
28/10 / Guests of Honor: Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
British animator Joanna Quinn discovered animation while studying Graphic Design at Middlesex University London. Her graduation film Girls Night Out, introduced audiences to the character of Beryl and kick started Joanna’s animation career by winning 3 awards at Annecy. She is renowned internationally for her drawing skills, wonderful characterisations and her humour. Joanna’s films have won many awards including 4 BAFTA’s, 3 EMMY’s and 3 OSCAR ® nominations. Joanna works collaboratively with writer/producer partner Les Mills and their most recent film Affairs of the Art was nominated at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Les Mills studied Fine Art in Cardiff, london and the USA but gradually became more interested in film, culminating in him becoming Director of the Film School at the University of Wales, Newport. Les first collaborated with Joanna on her graduation film Girls Night Out and since then they have worked together, forming Beryl Productions International in 1988. Les wrote & produced the next 3 award winning Beryl films and produced Wife of Bath for which he won a Bafta and an Emmy. He received the 2022 British Animation Awards Writers Award and was nominated for an Oscar for Affairs of the Art.