Ana Despot

Ana Despot was born in Zagreb, where she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in Animated Film, and earned a master’s degree in English Studies and French Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She has translated several novels and film scripts, designed visual identities for various art projects, and illustrated numerous children’s magazines, textbooks, books, and picture books. She is the illustrator of eight picture books, one of which she also wrote, and the author of two animated films. She made her first animated film, „Jaje“, in 2021, which had its world premiere at the Pula Film Festival. In 2024, as her graduate thesis, she made the animated film „Šuma Striborova“, based on the story by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, and also wrote and illustrated a picture book of the same title, in collaboration with Mozaik knjiga. The film had its world premiere at Animafest in Zagreb, won the award for Best Animated Film at the Star Film Fest in Sisak, and received a special mention at the Tabor Film Festival. She is the coordinator and animation film selector at the Vukovar Film Festival and teaches animation as an external associate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.