Thomas Renoldner was born in Austria on 14 January 1960. He studied animation film at the Academy of Applied Arts Vienna between 1989 and 1994.

In his early years, he worked in several fields of art including self-taught filmmaking, music, painting, installation, and performance. Since 1980, he has created numerous experimental, animated, and documentary films, as well as a few commercials. Since 1992, he has conducted animation workshops and seminars for children, young people, and adults, and led the Animation Lab at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna from 2004 to 2025.

He has also worked as a producer, film historian, and curator. Since 2000, he has worked as a producer of animated films for befriended artists, including Linda Wolfsgruber, Federica Pagnucco, Nicolas Mahler, Sabine Groschup, and Heimo Wallner.

He is the founder and co-curator of Animation Avantgarde, the international competition section of Vienna Shorts Film Festival, and the founder and director of the Best Austrian Animation Festival in Vienna.

Born in Busan, in 1986, Miyoung Baek is an animation director who paints stories inspired by nature, animals, and emotions through hand-drawn animation. Following her first short film <On Edge>, she enrolled in EMCA(Ecole des Métiers du Cinéma d’Animation) in Angoulême in 2008. Her second film <The Whale> won the Prix Jeune Talent Numérique 2009 from SCAM (Société civile des auteurs multimédia) in Paris.
From 2010 to 2013, she created <You Were So Precious > a poetic film about lost objects at the artist’s residence, La Maison des Auteurs in Angoulême. She continued her artistic journey with several acclaimed short films: <Ba-Lam>, <Dancing in the Rain>, <Where Is My Moon?>, and <Le Mot>.
Her ninth film, <Piropiro>, which tells the story of two birds meeting, received the Best Animation for Children Award at ANIMAFEST Zagreb in 2022. Her tenth and latest work, <Ondo>, sensitively explores the inner world of a swan.

Sinem Vardarli is an award-winning director and animator, born in Istanbul and based in London. She holds a B.A. in Media Design (Animation Filmmaking) from the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (2003). She has directed and animated numerous commercial films over a career spanning more than 20 years, collaborating with internationally renowned production companies, and has contributed to acclaimed animated series, including the BAFTA-winning Floogals for NBC/Universal.

Her short films Fingers Tale (2013), A Pistol Against My Head (2016), and The Brave Heart (2018) have screened and received awards at major international festivals worldwide, including Oscar-qualifying Anima Mundi, Atlanta Film Festival, and the British Animation Awards.
Her latest science-fiction short film, DreamWalker, has received multiple international honours, including the Best Animated Film award at FilmQuest, and continues its successful run on the international festival circuit.