Festival Juries | Manchester Animation Festival

Juries

Short Film Jury

Annegret Richter

Annegret Richter is the artistic and managing director of the International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart and the managing director of the Animation Association Germany. She has been working at many festivals and is a member of several film funding selection committees in Germany. She is an expert in animated documentaries but loves to watch all kinds of animation.

Ida Melum

Ida Melum is an EE BAFTA and BIFA-nominated, Annie and RTS award-winning animation director based in Sweden. Her NFTS graduation film Night of the Living Dread was BAFTA nominated and won over 25 awards. Her most recent short, Ovary-Acting, has so far screened at over 100 festivals, and won the Audience Award at MAF 2025.

Kévin Giraud

Kévin Giraud is a film journalist, writer and critic who has been gravitating around cinema and animated medium for more than a decade. Based in Brussels where he co-founded two Belgian cinema magazines, Surimpressions and FilmFix, Kévin Giraud works with national and international media on a daily basis, showcasing Belgian and European live-action and/or animated productions globally. He's also the proud father of four animation fans.

Feature Film Jury

Angélica Lares

Producer and Current Head of Taller del Chucho since 2021, an animation studio founded by Guillermo del Toro, where part of his stop motion film Pinocchio was produced. Lares was the Second Unit Production Supervisor. Executive Producer for Humo (2023), Rita Basulto’s latest short film, which was shortlisted to the Oscars and won Best Short Film at Arieles Awards. Producer of Dolores (2024), Cecilia Andalón's first short film that has been selected for Sitges, among other international festivals. Producer for Teatro Secreto (2025), which was selected at Annecy’s Graduation Films Section. Producer for Little Nightmares: Broken Promises (2025), premiered at Annecy.
She is currently working on the animated feature film The Origin of Experience.

Rico Johnson-Sinclair

Rico Johnson-Sinclair is a Film and HETV professional working across inclusion, talent development, and curation, with experience working internationally and nationally with organisations such as Berlinale, Marché du Film in Cannes, the BFI and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ruth Fielding

Ruth Fielding is Producer and Joint Managing Director at Lupus Films (Kensuke’s Kingdom, Ethel & Ernest and The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland).