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This year’s films portray characters who confront societal pressures, whether it’s environmental destruction, discrimination, or personal identity struggles that tell stories about the urgency of sustainable living. Simultaneously, they explore the fight for equal rights, challenging systems of oppression, striving for a future of fairness and justice. Using a wide range of innovative, experimental animation techniques (and lots of wool), the films underscore existential crises and struggles marginalised groups face, whether due to migration, race, gender, or sexual orientation, while also capturing the beauty of resilience, love, and unity in the face of adversity. Together, these deeply personal yet universal narratives create space for empathy, awareness and reflection in the search for belonging and a meaningful life.
Disrupting The Narrative was co-curated with Osbert Parker – BAFTA and Emmy nominated Director.
Panellists
Chair: Osbert Parker
Three times BAFTA nominated and award winning filmmaker Osbert Parker is perhaps best known for creating stories that use experimental and innovative film techniques. They often combine photo cut-out animation with objects and live action to create one-of-a-kind imaginary landscapes in mixed media short films, commercials, TV entertainment and online content. Emmy nominated in 2022 for Outstanding Main Title Design on Lisey's Story, his independent short animated films continue to receive acclaim on the international film festival circuit. Film Noir was nominated for best short animated film by BAFTA and won a Palme d'Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. Yours Truly was the best short animated film winner at the British Animation Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 and selected for Sundance. With 35 years experience of working in the creative industries, Osbert balances his freelance work with delivering masterclasses, seminars and running international animation workshops. Committed to helping new generations of filmmakers, Osbert is a Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and a regular visiting animation lecturer at The National Film & Television School.
Simone Giampaolo
Simone is a London-based Swiss Director with an insatiable appetite for meaningful storytelling, emotional narratives and humorous characters. In 2013 he graduated from the National Centre for Computer Animation in Bournemouth. Simone has written and directed over ten multi-award-winning original short films, including the Oscar®-shortlisted and BAFTA-nominated "Only a Child". His recent work includes directing the hit Netflix animated series "Bad Dinosaurs". Currently, he is working as Series Director on the original TV series "Stan & Gran", commissioned by Milkshake! and Nickelodeon UK, while also working on an exciting unannounced feature film project with Timeless Films.
Baz Sells
Baz is a British, working-class director. His stop-motion films often explore socially conscious themes, captured with meticulous care to detail. Baz co-founded independent Animation Studio ‘One6th’ alongside producer Ben Jackson in 2018. Since then, their work has earned nominations at The SHOTS Young Director of The Year Awards 2022 and the British Animation Awards in addition to wins including a Kinsale Shark Award for best international animated short film. Their latest project, ‘Two Black Boys in Paradise', is a collaboration with poet Dean Atta, received early development support from actor Ian McKellen, and was funded by The British Film Institute.
Nathan Addai
Nathan is an award-winning 2D animator, BA Animation lecturer and youth mentor. He has worked with and been awarded by various institutions, including the BBC, BFI, Royal Society of Arts and Ridley Scott Association. Nathan is the founder of Mental Roots, a creative mental wellness movement based on his BBC animation with the same name. Through the brand, Nathan delivers workshops, creative courses and visual content to develop mental wellbeing and creativity in youth of diverse backgrounds.
Danielle Rhoda Addae-Boateng
Danielle is an established freelance animator and illustrator, originally from Poland but based in the UK. She is known for her varied mark-making and often analogue approach to image creation and has been commissioned by the Guardian, the New York Times, CNN and the BBC, amongst others. She takes pride in visualising complex and abstract feelings in a sensitive way. ‘Apple Gatherers’ is her introduction into mixing animation with live-action and theatre-like performance. She is currently working on her second film funded by BBC Film, due to be filmed early 2026.
Yasmine Djédjé-Fisher-Azoumé
Yasmine is a freelance animator based in London, currently working as a producer at an independent animation studio. Her animation work is a blend of digitally drawn 2D animation, traditional paper animation and analogue techniques, and draws thematic and aesthetic influences principally from her West African (Ivorian) heritage. In 2025, Yasmine won the Film London Lodestar Award in the animation category. She recently produced the short animated film Creekmouth in collaboration with Create London and the Creekmouth Preservation Society. Her previous work includes RAFTS, a collaboration with Turner Prize-shortlisted artist Rory Pilgrim. In 2021, she was commissioned by the V&A to create an original animation for the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition.
Recommended age 15
Deccani wool is a testament to tradition and the sacred bond between humans, animals and nature – neglected and nearly forgotten today in the shadow of industrialisation.
This year’s films portray characters who confront societal pressures, whether it’s environmental destruction, discrimination, or personal identity struggles that tell stories about the urgency of sustainable living. Simultaneously, they explore the fight for equal rights, challenging systems of oppression, striving for a future of fairness and justice. Using a wide range of innovative, experimental animation techniques (and lots of wool), the films underscore existential crises and struggles marginalised groups face, whether due to migration, race, gender, or sexual orientation, while also capturing the beauty of resilience, love, and unity in the face of adversity. Together, these deeply personal yet universal narratives create space for empathy, awareness and reflection in the search for belonging and a meaningful life.
Disrupting The Narrative was co-curated with Osbert Parker – BAFTA and Emmy nominated Director.
Panellists
Chair: Osbert Parker
Three times BAFTA nominated and award winning filmmaker Osbert Parker is perhaps best known for creating stories that use experimental and innovative film techniques. They often combine photo cut-out animation with objects and live action to create one-of-a-kind imaginary landscapes in mixed media short films, commercials, TV entertainment and online content. Emmy nominated in 2022 for Outstanding Main Title Design on Lisey's Story, his independent short animated films continue to receive acclaim on the international film festival circuit. Film Noir was nominated for best short animated film by BAFTA and won a Palme d'Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. Yours Truly was the best short animated film winner at the British Animation Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 and selected for Sundance. With 35 years experience of working in the creative industries, Osbert balances his freelance work with delivering masterclasses, seminars and running international animation workshops. Committed to helping new generations of filmmakers, Osbert is a Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and a regular visiting animation lecturer at The National Film & Television School.
Simone Giampaolo
Simone is a London-based Swiss Director with an insatiable appetite for meaningful storytelling, emotional narratives and humorous characters. In 2013 he graduated from the National Centre for Computer Animation in Bournemouth. Simone has written and directed over ten multi-award-winning original short films, including the Oscar®-shortlisted and BAFTA-nominated "Only a Child". His recent work includes directing the hit Netflix animated series "Bad Dinosaurs". Currently, he is working as Series Director on the original TV series "Stan & Gran", commissioned by Milkshake! and Nickelodeon UK, while also working on an exciting unannounced feature film project with Timeless Films.
Baz Sells
Baz is a British, working-class director. His stop-motion films often explore socially conscious themes, captured with meticulous care to detail. Baz co-founded independent Animation Studio ‘One6th’ alongside producer Ben Jackson in 2018. Since then, their work has earned nominations at The SHOTS Young Director of The Year Awards 2022 and the British Animation Awards in addition to wins including a Kinsale Shark Award for best international animated short film. Their latest project, ‘Two Black Boys in Paradise', is a collaboration with poet Dean Atta, received early development support from actor Ian McKellen, and was funded by The British Film Institute.
Nathan Addai
Nathan is an award-winning 2D animator, BA Animation lecturer and youth mentor. He has worked with and been awarded by various institutions, including the BBC, BFI, Royal Society of Arts and Ridley Scott Association. Nathan is the founder of Mental Roots, a creative mental wellness movement based on his BBC animation with the same name. Through the brand, Nathan delivers workshops, creative courses and visual content to develop mental wellbeing and creativity in youth of diverse backgrounds.
Danielle Rhoda Addae-Boateng
Danielle is an established freelance animator and illustrator, originally from Poland but based in the UK. She is known for her varied mark-making and often analogue approach to image creation and has been commissioned by the Guardian, the New York Times, CNN and the BBC, amongst others. She takes pride in visualising complex and abstract feelings in a sensitive way. ‘Apple Gatherers’ is her introduction into mixing animation with live-action and theatre-like performance. She is currently working on her second film funded by BBC Film, due to be filmed early 2026.
Yasmine Djédjé-Fisher-Azoumé
Yasmine is a freelance animator based in London, currently working as a producer at an independent animation studio. Her animation work is a blend of digitally drawn 2D animation, traditional paper animation and analogue techniques, and draws thematic and aesthetic influences principally from her West African (Ivorian) heritage. In 2025, Yasmine won the Film London Lodestar Award in the animation category. She recently produced the short animated film Creekmouth in collaboration with Create London and the Creekmouth Preservation Society. Her previous work includes RAFTS, a collaboration with Turner Prize-shortlisted artist Rory Pilgrim. In 2021, she was commissioned by the V&A to create an original animation for the Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition.
Recommended age 15
Deccani wool is a testament to tradition and the sacred bond between humans, animals and nature – neglected and nearly forgotten today in the shadow of industrialisation.