International guests cover the variety of themes in the animation world. Guests in the past were:
Theodore Ushev
Theodore Ushev is a prolific, groundbreaking, and Oscar®-nominated director whose films have won more than 200 awards, including the Annecy Cristal. Born in Bulgaria, Ushev has been living in Montreal since 1999, where he has directed 15 films at the National Film Board of Canada.
Julian Rosefeldt The Berlin-based artist Julian Rosefeldt (born in Munich in 1965) is internationally renowned for his visually opulent and meticulously choreographed moving image artworks, mostly presented as complex multi-screen installations. Inspired equally by the histories of film, art and popular culture, Rosefeldt uses familiar cinematic tropes to carry viewers into surreal, theatrical realms, where the inhabitants are absorbed by the rituals of everyday life, employing humour and satire to seduce audiences into familiar worlds made strange. Rosefeldt is holding a professorship of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich since 2011. Website
Bin-Han To, Concept Artist and Filmmaker, Berlin
Bin-Han To (* 1984) studied at the Filmakademie Ludwigsburg and is an Animation Filmmaker and Concept Artist. He lives and works in Berlin. His Film "Revolting Rhymes“, after a Book by Roald Dahl (Dir: Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer, Bin-Han To) was included in the shortlist for the Oscars 2017. Website
Jonathan Hodgson, Animation-Filmmaker and Associate Professor at the Middlesex University, London
Jonathan Hodgson is an internationally renowned, BAFTA winning animation director based in London. He studied animation at Liverpool Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. He was the animation director of Wonderland: The Trouble with Love and Sex, the first full length animated documentary on British TV. Website 1 / Website 2
Uri Kranot, Animation-Filmmaker and main tutor at the ANIDOX:LAB, Viborg
Uri Kranot is an award winning filmmaker and animation director. Originally from Israel, he has been living, working and making films in different countries. Together with partner and co-director Michelle Kranot, their films won more than thirty international prizes and participated in numerous film festivals. He has given master classes all around the world. Recently Animated film “Hollow Land” has been shortlisted for an Academy Award. Website 1 / Website 2
Lukas Frei, Gamedesigner, Zurich
Lukas Frei is the co-owner of „Gebrüder Frei – Die Spielemacher“ in Berne, who develop classical board games, among which „Icon Poet“ an internationally successful game, which tempts its players to invent short stories of all sorts. Website
Duscha Kistler, studied Art History, Film Studies and Modern German Literature in Zurich and until 2011 was director of the animated film festival Fantoche. She is a member of the Swiss Federal Ministry of Culture’s Animated Film Commission, as well as a freelance curator, consultant and cultural manager, active in the past, inter alia, for Martin Heller Enterprises on the project Sound Development City and for the Sitterwerk (arts centre) in St. Gallen.
Johan Jensen, Filmmaker, Makropol, Copenhagen
Johan Knattrup Jensen graduated from filmschool in 2012, and his work have since been shown in most of the major film festivals, incl. Cannes, Locarno, IDFA, and New York Film Festival, as well at biennales, art galleries and museums all over the world. His work traverses both cinema, installation, and performance, and he is considered to be among the pioneers of cinematic virtual reality. Website
Johan Grimonprez, Filmmaker and artist
Johan Grimonprez’s curatorial projects have been exhibited at museums worldwide, including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; and MoMA, New York. His filmic works are in the collections of Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; and Tate Modern, London. His feature films include dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1997), Double Take (2009) and Shadow World (2016). Traveling the main festival circuit from the Berlinale, Tribeca to Sundance, they garnered several Best Director awards, the 2005 ZKM International Media Award, a Spirit Award and the 2009 Black Pearl Award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and were also acquired by NBC Universal, ARTE, and BBC/FILM 4. Website
Studio spaces, studios, workshops and well-equipped computer workrooms with highly qualified support are available for production. The Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art offers an exceptional infrastructure with workshop spaces that can be used by all students for their project work.
The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) is the university of applied sciences of the six cantons of Central Switzerland and the largest educational institution in the heart of Switzerland. In addition to their studies, students benefit from a wide range of sports and language courses and services offered by the university. Lucerne is located in the midst of a breathtaking landscape with mountains and lakes and offers a wide range of leisure and cultural activities.
