I’m particularly delighted to share with you our 2020 animation jury. Each of these members has some history with the festival, with one going back to the very beginning! We’re so thankful to have their participation this year.
Kirsten Lepore
Kirsten Lepore is an LA-based director and animator, and alumna of CalArts. Her viral hit Hi Stranger garnered upwards of 200 million views online, and her stop-motion episode of Adventure Time won a 2016 Emmy & Annie award. Her other films have taken top prizes at SXSW, Slamdance, and many other international festivals. She has worked with clients such as Google, MTV, Mini Cooper, Silk, Skippy, Nestle, and many more. Kirsten has given talks everywhere from Pixar to Portugal and has also been featured in Juxtapoz, Shots, and was named one of the 50 most creative people by Creativity Magazine. We showed her short film Bottle (2010) as part of our January 2016 quarterly screening lineup.
John Martz
John Martz is a cartoonist, illustrator, and designer. His work has been seen in MAD Magazine and The Nib, and his books for children include A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories, Burt’s Way Home, and Evie and the Truth About Witches from Koyama Press. He was the founding editor of the illustration blog Drawn.ca, which he relaunched in 2020 with a focus on animated shorts. John lives in Toronto, where he works as the art director for Tundra Books and Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers. Way back in 2011, John designed the Shorts That Are Not Pants logo, which we are still using today.
Nata Metlukh
Nata Metlukh is a Ukrainian-born animation artist based in San Francisco. She creates visually bold, character driven works featuring urban lifestyle. Her animated films have been recognized by major film festivals and received several awards. Her film Pura Vida won the Best Animated Short award at the 2019 edition of the Shorts That Are Not Pants Film Festival.