DIRECTOR

Zach Tolchinsky is a Los Angeles-based writer/director/model maker who recently earned a Master of Fine Arts in Animation from CalArts. Zach earned his Bachelor of Arts from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he studied puppetry and acting. He is the recipient of the top prize in animation for the My Rode Reel short film competition in 2020. He has over a decade of professional experience in stop-motion animation as a model maker, puppet fabricator, animator and art director. Notable credits include: The Academy Award nominated Anomalisa, Emmy winning Robot Chicken, Buddy Thunderstruck, and Super Mansion. Most recently he led the design and fabrication of the puppets for Katy Perry’s music video “Cozy Little Christmas.”

PRODUCER

Candace Hammer is a producer and actress, who holds a Masters degree from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized study as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She produced the festival bound short Make Me The Tennessee with writer/ director Sasha Pasternak. Make Me The Tennessee was also a finalist for the 2019 ScreenCraft Finishing Fund Award. She has produced, written, and acted in ten episodes of the web-series ‘Accountability Partners.’ In addition to producing projects for the screen she has also produced the critically acclaimed play Blackbird at the Grove Theater Center in Burbank. Some select acting work in TV and film work includes This is Us, Criminal Minds, House of Cards, LOST, Rocket Science (Sundance), and From Within (Tribeca).

VFX SUPERVISOR & PRODUCTION DESIGN

Tristan Kilmer is a visualization artist in the film industry having worked at companies such as Digital Domain, Halon, MPC, Warner Bros Interactive, and One Roof Entertainment. He's worked on a variety of projects such as Detective Pikachu, Aquaman, Star Trek: Picard, Borderlands 3, and many more. He received a BFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Experimental Animation.

SOUND SUPERVISOR & RE-RECORDING MIXER

Brittany Ellis is a New Jersey-born Sound Supervisor who has a full-time residence as a Re-recording mixer with Warner Bros. in Burbank, CA.

Her biggest inspirations are the films that transport the audience to another world through the use of sound design such as: "Pan's Labyrinth", "No Country for Old Men", "Joker", and "Sound of Metal". With an outstanding love of music and storytelling, she has an intrinsic curiosity for examining a mix and using her musicality to find clever and creative solutions through sound. Since 2015, she's been working on projects ranging from premium television to animation, documentary, and feature films. Through the art of mixing, Brittany creates immersive soundscapes, finely calibrated for maximum emotional impact.

COMPOSER

Paul Michael Cardon is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer living in Southern California. He has done many works for animated productions, and his diverse set of skills has continually satisfied the incredibly gamut of styles, sounds, and aesthetics found in the world of animation, from quirky and fun to classical to EDM and to acoustic. He's also found success in commercial work (DisneyXD, BlueZoo), video games (Milo Games), and pop production, as well as mixing and mastering on the side (Dorian Electra, Bonavega, ABSRDST).

Paul spends the rest of his time walking his dog, hiking, running live audio and video productions on weekends, and preparing strange coffee concoctions.

You can get in touch with him at paul.michael.cardon@gmail.com or at @ninjaottermusic on most major social media platforms. He won't bite, I promise!

LEAD ANIMATOR

Lindsay Berkebile is a stop-motion animator and director who’s work spans across features, television, and commercial work for the last 10 years. Some credits to her name include Henry Selick’s Wendell&Wild, Robot Chicken, Crossing Swords, Super Mansion, Buddy Thunderstruck, BlackPink, LOL Doll, Adobe, Crayola, and Psycho Psalms.

VFX, ANIMATION, COMPOSITING

Tahnee Gehm is an ARtist and animagician in LA. With a degree in character animation, she's wandered into the world of motion graphics for advertising and sometimes makes AR filters for fancy brands. She thinks AR is the medium of the future, and hopes to bring wonder and happiness to people with her animated “ARt"!

LEAD ANIMATOR

A professional stop motion animator that is currently animating on Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming film Pinocchio. Steiner has animated on the emmy winning children's show Tumble Leaf, Netflix projects like Chef Show and Alien Xmas, HULU's Crossing Swords, Katy Perry music videos and many more.

LEAD ANIMATOR

Joe Heinen is a stop motion animator living and working out of Portland, OR. Born to a ghosthunter mother and rocket scientist father, Joe became interested in stop motion animation at a young age, eventually deciding to pursue that interest professionally. He studied film and animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Joe has spent the last eight years working on such stop motion projects as Anomalisa, Tumble Leaf, and Cosmos. He is currently animating on Wendell & Wild. When not animating, Joe can be found making artisan ice cream and goofy drawings.

ANIMATOR

Daniela Montaño is a Mexican artist, stop-motion animator and fabricator, and film director. She has worked professionally in Mexico and LA in commercial projects like Ken and The Monster, the feature film The Angel in the Clock, Katy Perry's music video Daysies, The Tonight Show with Lil Tjay as a fabricator, and most recently, the animated show Big Mouth with Acho Studios. Some more personal films include Zach Tolchinsky's The Forbidden Zone with animation and Quique Rivera's personal Film Coqui. She is interested in creating fantastical and colorful worlds to tell compelling and honest stories in the beautiful technique of stop-motion.

CHARACTER DESIGN & 3D MODELING

I've been forming stylized characters from clay since my early days in grade school. Nothing brings me more joy than getting lost in the worlds of the characters

I make--either designed through collaboration or my imagination. Even though I now sculpt digitally, I love when my work gets to be part of tactile projects.

It's a thrill to see these sculptures come to life through stop motion!