
الـــــــدورة الرابعــــــة ٧-٩ سبتمــــــــــبر ٢٠٢٣
4TH EDITION 7-9 SEPTEMBER 2023


GUESTS & SPEAKERS
It's our honor and pleasure to have some of the best artists in the animation industry in Egypt as guests and speakers at the 1st edition of animatex, and we'd like to thank them deeply for their voluntary participation in the festival!
Dina A. Amin
dina A. Amin is a stop motion artist and a maker from Cairo, Egypt. Although trained as an Industrial Designer, dina loves to explore the intersections between various disciplines.
In 2016, dina started a side project called ‘Tinker Friday’ on Instagram, where she combined her passion for product design and stop motion with her views on consumerism. In this series, dina shows people what’s inside the countless things they throw away, in unusual ways. After discovering her love for stop motion, dina founded “Tinker Studio”, where she produces stop motion videos for diverse companies around the world.
Mazin Azmy
Mazin azmy is art director with over 17 years of experience.
He comes from the art side with a love of creating something unique and different.
In a 2014 he started octopus studio as Post-Production House.
His work spans from the motion graphics, opening sequence, ID brand, campaigns, infographic, advertising, and music videos.
Omar Naguib Farah
First of all I would like to begin my bio by the elder son of the great artist (Naguib Farah) , Animation Director graduated from the high cinema institute in the year 2007 worked in the animation field for years , book illustrator ,comic artist for nearly 20 years and i merged all this knowledge in the visual effect in 2007 my obsession there start to grow to build a good name in it and after years working in this industry in 2015 I started (Squids visual arts ) the first dedicated VFX company here in Egypt and i did number of stunning movies , drama series and tv ads
Ahmad Nady
A recognized character designer with 20+ years of experience in the Middle East, UK, France, USA and Germany’s animation industry. Designed numerous brand characters, across the Middle East media, for animated TV series and commercials. Worked for internationally recognized advertising agencies, production houses, and animation studios. Co-authored and illustrated two graphic novels published in English and Arabic in US, UK and Egypt. Chosen by Bayreuth University, Germany, to execute an art project while being on art residency. with experience as a storyboard artist, character designer, copy writer, and director. Winner of 2015 Mahmoud Kahil Award, in addition to many local, regional and international awards. Featured by major newspapers like The Guardian and The Financial Times.
CEO of Nady Studio
Ahmed Gharib Adam
A demonstrated history of working in the post production and animation industry since 2005.
Skilled in team leading and computer graphics such like 2D design, 2D animation and digital compositing.
Had an Academic experience learning and teaching for directors at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Egypt also at the British University in Egypt

Amer Eissa
Islam Mazhar
Experienced animation director with a demonstrated history of working in the animation industry. Skilled in Compositing, Computer Animation, Storyboarding, and Traditional Animation. Mazhar is a strong
art and design professional with a Bachelor's Degree focused in Animation from Academy of Arts, High Cinema Institute, where he
works currently as a teaching assistant. He founded the Egyptian
animation studio, Samaka Studio, in 2018, which aims to revive Egyptian visual heritage through producing high-quality animation films
and to position authentic Egyptian animation as a strong competitor
on both a regional and global scale.
Mahmoud Hemeda
Hemeda is an animation director who graduated from the High Institute of Cinema in 2013. Throughout his studies and afterwards, he was always working on a wide range of animated projects both individually and collaboratively, digging his way out to find a style he found authentic to our local visual culture.
Throughout his experience in the animation field, he felt the gap between the power of animation as a tool of storytelling and its value in the Egyptian market. He observed the lack of authentic representation of Egyptian culture in the animation market, and immediately his passion moved him to co-found Samaka Studio, an animation studio which produces global quality animation focusing on reviving local cultural heritage, and draws its inspiration from local visual culture, aiming to re-position authentic Egyptian animation as a strong contender on both a regional and global scale.
Sandra Moneer
Sandra is a multi disciplinary Egyptian character designer, animator and animation filmmaker, with 4 years of experience in the animation field.
Sandra is currently working as part of Samaka Studio's team, a side being a senior student in the faculty of fine arts graduating in 2021.
Sandra believes in the power of art and how important it is, as it’s a record of our history and culture. Through multiple events, Sandra has participated in variant events and panel discussions that were aiming to spread the local artistic awareness in the creative field as well as she started a virtual campaign to empower the Egyptoan women through art in 2020.
Ahmad Saqfalhait
Graphic designer and design educator with regional experience. His academic path took him from Jordan to Japan, where he got his MFA in Graphic Design, and then to Egypt where he worked at the German University in Cairo for 5 years. He also worked at the American University of Sharjah before he finally joined the American University in Cairo.
Ahmad seeks new ways to utilise academia in making a positive impact on the local and regional creative scenes.
Hend Esmat & Lamiaa Diab
Hend and Lamiaa are a design and animation directing duo, originally from Cairo and currently based in Bristol, UK. They both graduated from the Bristol School of Animation in 2018 and previously studied Film and Media Design back in Cairo.
They are driven by a big passion for sharing stories through colourful visuals and playful characters, with a strong focus on projects that have a social impact. They designed and animated short films, explainers, commercials, music videos, children’s books and series work.
They worked for clients & studios across the UK, US and Egypt including BBC, MG Motor, The School of Life, Merck for Mothers, & Gromit Unleashed Trail. Their recent work in collaboration with Rumpus Animation, was selected for a Public Choice Award in the 2020 British Animation Awards.
Their short film “Flipped” has been screened in over 30 festivals worldwide, and received Best Animation Film award in Overcome Festival (US) and special mention in Anima (Cordoba).

Kareem Bahaa
Assistant Lecturer at the Higher Film Institute, Script-writing Department, also works as a scriptwriter specializing in children's writing, and the last series he wrote is " Fateen " series produced by Abu Dhabi Media shown last year at Majed Channel.
He has written other animated series in the field of civil society development, such as " Fero, Timo " short series and " Wiza's World ".
He has written many children's books, the last of which is "Beautiful Walls " , published by " Dar Shagra " .
He participated in many scientific conferences with research related to screenwriting in different platforms such as Comics and Video games, his MA on The art of Scriptwriting for Animation.
Mahytab Khaled
Animation director graduated from the High Cinema Institute 2011 animation department, 10 years experience in animation field, worked on many animation projects also worked with Follk creative solutions and as an assistant director with drag studio, and from 3 years ago till now heading the animation department in digital republic linked by isobar.
Mostafa Mahdy Fayez
i’m an Egyptian Filmmaker & 2D illustrator , Graduated from ” High Cinema Institute – Animation Department 2017 ” .
- Worked on A variety of commercials , series opening , animated shows and Some Children’s Books .
- Directed 2 animated short movies and some animated ads .
I’ve been working in the animation industry since 2014 with alot of animation studios and publishers in the Middle East .
Asem kamal
2D And stop motion freelancer motion designer, a Fine arts graduate, class of 2017 (Scenography department), my passion for animation and stop motion started In 2013, by making short stop motion videos for fun using phone, this passion turned into a career with a clients like ( Pepsi - Cinnabon - 7up)
Ibrahim Saad
Producer, film distributor, Visual Arts Coordinator/ Curator and visual artist
Founder and Director of Animation School project in Cairo since 2012
A member of (NAAS) a network of alternative Arab screens.
Now working in El Nahda Association for Scientific and Cultural renaissance –Jesuit Cairo
Born in Cairo 1977 and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts - Cairo 2000, he worked at “Town House Gallery “and established workshop "Sawa" and "Sawa Generation" and "Workshop on Friday" – Teaching art for children in art gallery "Artellewa"
He founded the “Artist Archive project”, which is a seminar and discussion to present the experiences of contemporary and independent artists who have achievements locally and internationally
He has worked in art projects in Egypt, Europe, Asia and Africa, and has received artistic residences in Egypt, China, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland & UK.
Has organized exhibitions such as "shift delete 30" at Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center &"Supermarket" in the Geziera art center .
Participated in many international and local festivals of cinema and animation
He has directed several experimental films and is now working on a long animation film based on Rotoscope
Tariq ali
An animation director, a graduate of the Egyptian academy of art ( class 2001 ), majored in animation. Worked for four years with sesame workshop producing ( Alam simsim ) * an Egyptian franchise of the famous American educational show sesame street developed by Jim Hanson, then founded zanad in the year 2007 that handled most of the animation work from graphic bumpers and end frames till they managed to create mascots and produce a whole new commercial content purely CGI and animated in all mediums. During the past decade, he’s been a speaker, a teacher, and an adjunct faculty member for most of the prestigious art schools in Cairo.