SLASH is part of the Méliès International Festivals Federation, an association currently consisting of 30 film festivals, whose mission it is to promote European fantastic cinema around the globe. The Méliès d’argent is awarded to short films for cinematic quality and creativity. The winning short film at SLASH will be chosen by a jury and qualifies for the competition for the Méliès d’or.

Jury

Michael Granberry

is a 3-time Emmy award-winning director and stop-motion animator whose work can be seen in such films as the Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild, Charlie Kaufman’s Oscar-nominated Anomalisa and numerous other feature films, documentaries, TV shows, web series and music videos.

His independent work, which he describes as “queer, garage-punk stop-motion slam poetry” uses recycled and repurposed materials to create strikingly unique visual stories. In addition to filmmaking, Michael enjoys giving stop-motion and puppetry-related lectures and workshops, and being an advocate for women, minorities and fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community within the animation industry.

Waltraud Grausgruber

is Co-Festival Directress and Co-Founder of the Tricky Women/Tricky Realities festival in Vienna, Austria, which focuses on animated films made by women and/or gender-queer artists and therefore fills a unique position within the international festival landscape. Waltraud wrote her Master‘s Thesis about African Cinema, was a visiting researcher in France, Senegal and Burkina Faso, conceptualized film festivals, curates inter/national (animation-)film programs and has co-published books like Killing Women in Film and Tricky Women_Animations Film Kunst von Frauen / Women in Animation. In 2010, she received the Outstanding Artist Award of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.