Bach is a Slovenian curator who has worked at the Animateka International Animation Film Festival for twelve years and, since 2023, has been selecting films for the main competition. She studied cultural theory in Ljubljana but is currently dedicating her professional career to animated film. In 2016, she was appointed president of The Elephant – Association for Film Education, an organisation dedicated to promoting animated film and educating young audiences. In 2017, Bach became a board member of the Slovene Animated Film Association (DSAF) and, a year later, joined CEE Animation – the Central and Eastern European animation association. Since 2022, she has been the managing director of the CEE Animation Workshop and, as of last year, a member of the association’s board of directors.

Artistic Director of the Concorto Film Festival in Italy. He graduated in Film Studies and Film Criticism. Since 2012, he has been working as a film curator. He also teaches at the Faculty of Cinema Studies, collaborates with MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo in Rome, and works with Lights On, a world sales company for cinema. In addition, he is a book and film critic for Film TV magazine.

Boyce is a cultural journalist, film critic and curator, born in the United Kingdom and since 2010 based in Estonia, where he is the head of the short film section PÖFF Shorts at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. At the same time he regularly covers Baltic Sea region cinema for Screen International, Talking Shorts, Sight and Sound and Cineuropa. Boyce is a member of FIPRESCI – International Federation of Film Critics – as well as the London Film Critics’ Circle, the European Film Academy and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). A regular at RIGA IFF, he is a key figure in strengthening the visibility of Baltic film and is always at the heart of the action.

Having studied literature, philosophy and cultural management, Thibaut Bracq is a French curator, workshop leader and industry programme organiser at festivals including Marrakech, Cannes, Locarno and others. Since 2022 he has worked with La Fabrique Cinéma, a programme of the Institut Français dedicated to presenting the first and second feature films of emerging directors at the Marché du Film in Cannes. In parallel, Bracq is the curator of CinéBaltique festival, launched this year and focusing on films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He also works as a script and project development consultant across a range of masterclasses, commissions and film projects, among them Cinéforom in Switzerland, Oxbelly residency in Greece, and the Agora industry event in Thessaloniki. 

Born in Samora Correia, Portugal, Fernando Galrito is the founder in 2000 and Artistic Director of MONSTRA | Lisbon Animated Film Festival. He has taught Animation and Interdisciplinary Art Projects at ESAD.CR since 2000 and has lectured and led workshops at universities across Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. His animated films, documentaries, and transdisciplinary projects combining animation, theatre, dance, and fine arts have been screened and awarded internationally. Galrito also is frequently a jury member at international festivals and actively contributes to the development of Animation Arts worldwide.

Laima Grazdanovica divides her work between theory and practice. Since 2019 she is programme director at Riga International Short Film festival 2ANNAS and has been a curator of short films since 2015. She has graduated from theater and film theory studies in Latvian Academy of Culture, and has an MA in Visual Communication at Latvian Academy of Arts. Lately she is working as a guest lecturer teaching about short film history and video art. Her own work focus is researching personal and collective histories through interconnectivity.

Olga Gusiatynska is a curator and interpreter from Ukraine, temporarily based in Riga. She has worked for multiple film festivals in Ukraine, including Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist and Odesa IFF. Since 2021, she has been a programmer and Head of Translations at Kyiv International Short Film Festival.

Karppanen is a Finnish visual artist and the artistic director of Oulu Music Video Festival. Alongside this role – and without limiting himself to the video medium alone – he is an experienced filmmaker, photographer and writer. In his photo work, Karppanen documents blue-collar workers, Wolt couriers and Finnish pastoral scenes. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Finland, KunstHausWien in Vienna, PhotoEspaña in Madrid, and others. He is currently working on his first feature-length documentary film, while in his curatorial practice he merges the music video format with avant-garde film, seeking new dimensions at the intersection of different media. It’s an approach that captivates all – including RIGA IFF – who know Karppanen and his work.

Justė Michailinaitė is a Lithuanian producer passionate about bringing fresh stories to the screen. With experience across different areas of the film industry, she has focused on producing and co-producing feature films, documentaries, and animations. Justė collaborates with a wide range of talents, driven by curiosity and a constant search for compelling narratives that connect with audiences.

Léo Ortuno is a French journalist and film critic. He writes reviews and conducts interviews for the magazines Bande à Part and SoFilm. He also contributes to various television programs, including Court-Circuit on Arte (dedicated to short films) and Forever Cinéma on Ciné+ Classic (focused on classic cinema). In addition, Léo serves as the short film coordinator for La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes and curates programs for several French film festivals.

Schlüssel is an experienced cultural worker, film curator and programmer from Germany, focussing on short films and talent development. She is a member of the Berlinale Shorts and Berlinale Talents Lab selection committees, as well as a pre-selector for The New York Times Op-Docs, and co-founder of the discussion and short film screening series “shorts/salon”. Alongside this, Schlüssel works as a pitching mentor, consultant and moderator, and has served on the juries of several international festivals and film funds. She previously headed the film project development lab Short Form Station of Berlinale Talents and was the artist manager at Pictoplasma. She currently lives in Berlin.