THE JURY
Meet the CAF jury, who will decide which of the 99 films in competition will receive CAF 2018's Best Film & Best Student awards.
RHIANNON EVANS
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Rhiannon Evans is a stop motion animator and director from Wales. She studied animation at the University of Wales Newport and the National Film & Television School. Her films have played at festivals worldwide winning multiple awards, earning a Vimeo Staff Pick and a premiere on Short Of The Week.
Rhiannon has worked for studios such as Beryl Productions, Passion Pictures and Mackinnon & Saunders and has been an animation director at Partizan.
BEN MITCHELL​
Ben Mitchell is a Bristol-based animation/post-production freelancer, independent director, composer and writer.
As an independent director he has made five short animated films that have been showcased at over 100 international film and animation festivals. As a journalist and researcher on the animation industry Ben also co-owns and manages the UK-based magazine site Skwigly and recently wrote his first book on contemporary animation production "Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films" published by Taylor & Francis/CRC Press in 2016.
JEN HALL
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Jen Hall is the producer and one of the founders of Manchester Animation Festival, the UK’s largest animation festival.
Before setting up the festival she curated a touring programme of short animated films with director Q&As with Skwigly Online Animation Magazine, and was a short film programmer at Bradford Animation Festival where she worked for 7 years.
Outside of Manchester Animation Festival, Jen is Film Programme Producer for HOME, Manchester’s centre for art, theatre, film.
WILL BECHER
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Will Becher has worked as animator, director and creative at Aardman for over a decade on projects such as Creature Comforts, Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit.
He is Animation Director on Nick Park’s latest feature film Early Man and writer and director of three short films, Boxed In, Off Beat and The Weatherman.
HELEN BRUNSDON​
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Helen is Director of Animation UK and newly-appointed Director of the British Animation Awards. She has extensive experience in the animation industry, as a BAFTA winning producer of short films, television series, festivals and events. She has worked with some of the most creative talent in the UK including Aardman, Joanna Quinn, Arthur Cox, Brothers McLeod and as an executive producer has worked with CBBC, Disney UK and CITV.
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Helen has a passion for nurturing talent and since 2014 has been an associate for Creative Skillset working across the animation, VFX and games sectors.