Špela Čadež

Špela Čadež was born 1977 in Slovenia. After graduating in graphic design in 2002 from the Academy for Fine Art Ljubljana, she continued her studies at the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany. During her studies, she created two puppet animations that gained international recognition: “Mate to Measure” (2004) and “Lovesick” (2007). Since 2008, she has been active as an independent animation director and producer. Her animated films have received more than 100 awards worldwide and were screened at festivals such as Sundance, Clermont Ferrand and Annecy. Among others, she is the author of “Boles” (2013, Grand Prix at DOK Leipzig, Cartoon d’Or nominee), a short puppet animation, and “Nighthawk” (2016, Grand Prix at, e.g., HAFF Festival Holland, Animafest Zagreb), a multifaceted cut-out animation. In 2018, Špela was invited to become a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and serves on the Executive Committee for Short Film and Animation.  

Red Dot: Do you live by a certain philosophy?
Špela Čadež: I believe the best thing in life is to find work that you love doing. Then you don’t really go to work. I’m lucky to have a job like that.

What do you consider to be the main challenges but also the appeal of working as an animation director?
The biggest challenge is to have patience, to motivate the whole team and believe in the film through the long process of production.

How did you experience this year’s jury session for the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design?
Meeting with the other judges and having discussions in person cannot be replaced with online work. But we did our job as best as we could, so let’s all hope that our old reality comes back soon.