anniversary of the annual ELAC International Animation Day Festival, dedicated to Latvian Animation. This event was held at East Los Angeles CollegeThe goal of the ELAC International Animation Festival is to give an in-depth and entertaining introduction to contemporary international animation. Screenings of short, animated films from around the world, analyses, and Q&As with a panel of well-known animation experts, and a tribute to an international animation artist working in the U.S. animation industry are all part of the festival program.
After that, the guest of festival, Vladimir Leschiov, the Latvian animation film director, made an introduction to Golden Globe & Oscar winner feature animated film from Latvia, Flow, followed by screening of the film.
A tribute to the Late Roze Stiebra. Vladimir Leschiov, the Latvian animation film director paid a tribute to the Late Roze Stiebra, the Mother of Latvian Animatio by introducing her followed by screening of her short film Zakisu Pirtina (Hare’s Bathroom)
Roze STIEBRA (1942, Latvia) is an award-winning animator who studied in the Faculty of Puppetry at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy. She spent time working for Latvian television and the animation studio Dauka. Stiebra is also a member of the International Animated Film Association and received the Spīdolas Award, the highest award of the Latvian Culture Foundation, in 1995.
Afternoon Program: Latvian Short Animation Selection:
Ursus, Director Reinis Petersons, 2011, 10:30 min – Reinis Petersons is outstanding and award-winning Latvian children’s book illustrator and animator. Recently he published online his directing début, Ursus, who has been selected in 70+ festivals worldwide, including world premiere at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film festival. The charcoal on paper animation about the loneliness of a motorcycling circus bear who takes off to the forest
Kiosk Director Anete Melece, 2013 7 min – For years now, the kiosk has been Olga‘s little home simply because her sweet tooth and monotonous life has made her bigger than the exit. To distract herself, she reads travel magazines and dreams of being far away. An absurd incident starts the beginning of her journey.
Firefly, Director Dace Riduze, 2003, 12 min – Otis the Firefly is trying to find a girlfriend, but due to his inability to glow he is finding this difficult. All the small creatures are excited because this evening they will be going to the midsummer night’s ball. Otis must do something to find a girlfriend so that he can participate in the celebrations.
Minotaur, Director Karlis Vitols, 2016, 9minWhile his Dad is at work, the little Minotaur tries to find playmates. In the endless labyrinth, he only manages to meet mythological characters, busy with their own ambitions.
Tiny Shoes, Director Signe Baumane, 1993, 10:41min – A modern Freudian fairy tale about a girl, her father, a prince, and a dragon.1993: Zagreb International Animated Film Festival: Official Selection
Swalow A Toad, Director Jurgis Krasons, 2010, 10 min – Once some “round”intellectuals and also “square”pragmatic realists lived in a town. “Rounds”were smart and successful. The reason of their success-they could swallow toads. But no toads were swallowed by “square”. They lived in peace until one day “square” discovered that the “rounds
Panel Members:
John Garrett Andrews is a writer, producer and musician. He was most recently an executive producer on the hit animated feature Dick Figures:The Movie. In the 90’s he ran MTV Animation where he produced several series including Beavis & Butt-Head, Aeon Flux, Daria and MTV’s Oddities featuring The Maxx and The Head. He was also co-producer of the feature Beavis & Butt-Head Do America. He is currently an adjunct professor at USC’s John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts and the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. He is also the co-director of the annual Los Angeles Animation Festival. Prior to that he ran commercial production for five years at Six Point Harness and twelve years at Klasky Csupo. In the late 80’s he won three Emmy Awards for his comedic animations for the PBS series Adam Smith’s Money World. His feature script Straw Hat Detective was a prize winner in the Producer’s Guild of America’s 2011 ProShow Competition.
Pav Grochola is supervisor and Lead VFX artist for Sony Pictures Imageworks. He was recently part of the effects team for the Oscar® winning animation film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. After finishing the Fine Arts course in Australia in 1999, Grochola saw his future in digital content production. He began his career producing visual effects for commercials and soon moved to London to work with film. Grochola spent five years at Double Negative, specializing in animation and worked on several HARRY POTTER franchise films. His credits include over 29 feature films and numerous awards. In 2012, he won the Annie Award for his work in EDGE OF TOMORROW (At Tomorrow’s Boundary) and, in 2019, received the Visual Effects Society (Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature) award for the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Rosa Farre is a VFX Technical Director, animator and educator with many years of experience in both production and education. She has been at the forefront of the computer graphics industry since its inception. She holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
As a Technical Director, she has supervised a range of projects for such platforms as feature films, park rides, broadcast and games, and has developed technical pipelines, designed software solutions and supervised productions teams. As an educator, she has been a faculty member of several higher-end institutions and has developed well-rounded curriculum for emerging 3D artists preparing to enter the production field. Currently as one of the partners of ElektraShock, she is responsible for developing technical pipelines and supervising the production process.
Mike Libonati, a 2d/3d animation artist and professor, has been an animation and visual effects instructor for over 15 years. His students have had their work presented at Siggraph, CTN Animation Expo and various film festivals throughout the country. In addition to teaching, Mike works in 2D and 3D development in Los Angeles for various clients for both film and television including projects for Disney, Universal and Fox. Mike has also worked on renderings for architectural lighting design on projects such as the Coex Mall in Korea, Asia’s largest underground mall, and Tesla Motor Company in Los Angeles. Mike has a Master’s Degree from CalArts in Experimental Animation. He currently teaches animation at ELAC.
Vladimir Leschiov (Please check the Tribute section for information for Vladimir Leschiov, the special guest of the festival from Latvia and a panel member)
SpotLight 2025 : Signe Baumane
Signe Baumane is a Latvian born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. She has made 17 award-winning animated shorts. Her first animated feature Rocks In My Pockets premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014 where it received a FIPRESCI Prize. The film went on to over 130 international festivals. It opened theatrically in the U.S. through Zeitgeist Films.
Signe’s new animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage (2022) tells the story of a spirited young woman’s quest for perfect love and lasting marriage. It premiered in June 2022 at Tribeca Festival and has screened at over 90 festivals winning twenty awards. It was nominated by European Film Academy as Best Animated Feature. The film is released in the United States on October 6th, 2023.
Signe is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow in Film for New York Foundation for the Arts. She has a degree in Philosophy from Moscow State University.
A Tribute to an Animaton Filmmaker: Vladimir LeschiovIn this section we paid a tribute to Vladimir Leschiov , animation film director from Latvia. John Garrett Andrews, Director of Los Angeles Animation Film Festival and producer of “Beavis and Butthead” introduced Vladimir, then after the screening of Wings and Oars his short film, Bijan Tehrani, director of the International Animation Day offered CWB’s Bridging The Borders Award trophy to Vladimir for his achievements in the field of animationVladimir Leschiov born in 1970, in Daugavpils, Latvia. In 1989 he graduated from the J.Rozental Art School in Riga. In 2002 he graduated from the Department of Animation of the Konstfack University of Arts,
Crafts, and Design in Sweden. In 2023 Vladimir graduated from the Faculty in Humanities of the University of Latvia. Artist, animator, film director, producer, and teacher. Founder of the LUNOHOD (since 2024 LESCHIOV) animation studio in Riga, in 2007. His animated short films were awarded on festivals in France, Poland, Czechia, Japan, Germany, Canada, Portugal, Argentina, USA, Croatia, and other.
Filmography
The Letter, animated short film, 2002, Sweden
Grandad’s honey, animated short film, 2002, Sweden
Insomnia, animated short film, 2004, Latvia
Lost in Snow, animated short film, 2007, Latvia, Sweden
Wings and Oars, animated short film, 2009, Latvia
Villa Antropoff, animated short film, 2012, Latvia, Estonia
Rainy Days, animated short film, 2014, Latvia, Canada
Waiting For the New Year, animated short film, 2016, Latvia
Electrician’s Day, animated short film, 2018, Latvia
Comeback, animated short film, 2021, Latvia, Lithuania
Steinort, animated short film, in production
CWB’s Bridging the Borders Award for Achievements in the field of Animation
Bridging the Borders Award is sponsored by 360 MEDIA Consulting, a woman-owned, full-circle digital marketing agency for storytellers, changemakers and brands working on the front lines of social impact and innovation. 360 MEDIA provide wraparound digital marketing and creative strategy services to clients across the globe, ranging from full-stack brand development to high-impact partnership-building, public relations, marketing and design.
Organizers:
East Los Angeles College – East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). ELAC is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) The College was established in 1945 and is situated in a secure, comfortable environment in the suburban community of Monterey Park, conveniently located 8 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Our multicultural student body of over 30,000 students complements the communities that ELAC serves. ELAC grants Associate in Arts/Science (A.A./A.S.) degrees as well as Certificate Programs.
Cinema Without Borders Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting independent and international cinema and filmmakers. Cinema Without Border Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promote and introduce independent and international cinema. Cinema Without Borders (www.cinemawithoutborders.com) a CWB Foundation publication, is an international cinema webzine dedicated to covering and discovering the news, reviews, trends and new artistic milestones in independent film and filmmaking worldwide.
ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America) is a Santa Monica based nonprofit organization dedicated to showcasing European movies. ELMA’s mission is to create new avenues for better cultural understanding between the people of Europe and the USA by celebrating alternative cinema.
Supporting Organizations: Animation Magazine, Southeast European Film Festival LA, Polish Film Festival LA, Hungarian Film Festival LA, Scandinavian Film Festival LA, and Czech That Film,
Bijan Tehrani is the Founder and Co Director of ELAC International Animation Day Festival. Bijan Tehrani is also founder and director of “I, Immigrant” Film Festival. Bijan Tehrani is a film director, writer and a film critic, his first article appeared in a weekly film publication in Iran 45 years ago. Bijan founded Cinema Without Borders, an online publication dedicated to promotion of international cinema in the US and around the globe, eighteen years ago and still works as its editor in chief. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children’s books as well as for his services to the international cinema Bijan is a voter for the 82nd Golden Globe AwardsBijan is a 82nd Golden Globe Awards voter
Linda Kallan, Co-Director of ELAC International Animation Day Festival
Linda joined the ELAC faculty in 2001. A dedicated professor and artist, she works in charcoal, graphite, and pastel, and lives in Los Angeles. She is married with one son. Linda Kallen has been a major organizing force behind ELAC International Animation Day.
Special Thanks to Proffesor Mile Libonati, Proffesor Steve Monaci Professor Rosa Farre and Ming-huei Lam and Technical Director of ELAC International Animation Day: Juan Chacon
We also appreciate the help of our students volenteers
