KHM zu Gast in Georgien

Unter dem Titel "Art Through Animation" stellt das 10. Internationale Animationsfilmfestival Nikozi (1. bis 6.09.) die Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln mit fünf aktuellen Diplomfilmen aus dem Bereich Animation in einem Sonderprogramm vor. Rosangela de Araujo, die aktuell als Vertretungsprofessorin an der KHM tätig ist, wird das Programm präsentieren. Das Festival widmet der in Berlin lebenden brasilianischen Animationskünstlerin eine eigenen Ausstellung im Rahmenprogramm des diesjährigen Festivals.
Jessica Poon, KHM-Absolventin und Regisseurin des Animationsfilms "Sunset Singers" kann dank Unterstützung von German Films und AG-Kurzfilm ebenfalls zum Festival reisen.

Die Filme:

„Armed Lullaby“ by Yana Ugrekhelidze, 2019, 8 min
Cut-out-animation

In order to escape the ethnical massacre four different children are leaving their home town each in different ways – with the last train, the last ship, the last plane and walking over the snow-covered mountains. The film is based on a real story which happened in 1993 during Sukhumi ethnical cleansing that Georgian civilians had to suffer through.

Yana Ugrekhelidze was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) in 1984. After graduating with a degree in translation and linguistics in Georgia, she studied communication design at the Peter Behrens School of Arts in Düsseldorf. From 2014 until 2018 she was a post graduate student at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Her first animated film „Summer Story“ premiered at the 2017 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and was a semi-finalist in the Student Academy Awards. Her graduation film „Armed Lullaby“ was premiered at Berlinal International Film Festival 2019. Her documentary „Instructions for survival“ was premiered at Berlinale 2021. Currently Yana works on her new animational project „Five Spikelets Law“, dedicated to Holodomor-Terror-Famine in the 1930s in Soviet Ukraine.

„Sunset Singers“ by Jessica Poon, 2022, 11 min
2D & 3D computer animation, documented live action found


Hong Kong 2019: Long and Sophie, a retired couple, are amateur singers. Despite the social unrest, their performance is set to take place as usual. While Sophie arrives at the venue early and can prepare, Long is held up by unexpected circumstances in the subway.

“Sunset Singers” brings together animation and documentary material, which was filmed during the protests against the extradition of prisoners in 2019.

Jessica Poon was born in Hongkong in 1990. She graduated from CalArts’ Character Animation in 2014 and has just finished her Postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM). Theres he created two student animations, „Moving Mountains“ (2022) and „Sunset Singers“ (2021). Her student works and commissions were selected by Zagreb Animafest, Int. Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Annie Award, LACMA9 Art+Film Lab and more. She lives and works as an animator, musician and mixed media artist in Cologne.

„Count Turnip“ by Elenor Kopka, 2020, 3:30 min
2d digital hand-drawn

"Count Turnip" is an animated short about a ghost that falls in love with a human. By taking human shape and transforming turnips into dazzling presents, he tries to impress the human, but soon the magic wears off and everything rots away. Distressed, the human can’t handle it and the ghost, left heartbroken, sinks into the ground. However, as time goes by, sprouting from rotting turnip flesh, life begins again. "Count Turnip" is a tale about the irritation between human and nature and deals with depressiveness and hopeful resilience.


Elenor Kopka was born in Cologne in 1991. Illustration and graphic design studies at the HGB Leipzig from 2010 until 2015 and postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne from 2018 until 2020 focusing on animation and film. Since 2015 she works as freelance animator and illustrator.

„Winter Colours“ by Adrianna Wieczorek, 2020, 9 min
Rotoscope, 2D & 3D animation

A poetic animation film in which a woman tells the story of her childhood. She lives with her father in the Polish industrial city of Katowice. Due to the heavy smog, the snow has been black for many years. Her mother went long ago and her father suppresses the fact. But the child tries to hang on to the memories of her using the creativity of her imagination.

Adrianna Wieczorek was born in Myslowitz (Poland) in 1995. Adrianna Wieczorek studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne with a focus on animation from 2014 to 2020. She has been a lecturer for animation at the Macromedia University in Cologne since 2020 and works freelance as a motion designer for television. She is currently developing her new animation film within the framework of the Cast & Cut scholarship in Hanover as an independent director and animator. Her artistic work is particular concerned with generational problems and family relationships.

„Them People“ by Nausheen Javed, 2020, 6 min
Paint on glass

A child raised to conform to the expectations of society is unable to differentiate between love and fear. Them people is a short animation film, inspired by a self-composed poem that speaks of the growing intolerance towards “the other”, and the obsession with defining one’s own identity.

Nausheen Javed was born in Raebareli (India) in 1989. She graduated in Fine Arts from New Delhi. She pursued her Masters in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. After her graduation she worked as a Broadcast Designer on the Star Network for a year, where she received media awards for the animated promos and TV channels she designed. She was a postgraduate student at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne from 2016 to 2019. „Them people“ is her graduation film.

​​​​​​​The programme will be presented by Rosangela de Araujo, visiting professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne 2022.