Otto Alder
An accomplished filmmaker and international specialist with decades of experience in the art of animation, Otto Alder regularly serves on international juries and selection committees. He also curates animation programmes for festivals all over the world. His first roles were co-director of the animation programmes at the Stuttgart International Animation Festival (1987 – 1992) and director of the animation programs at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (1992 – 2005).
Alder was co-founder and co-director of Switzerland’s Fantoche International Animation Festival (1994 – 2004), and also directed the animation programmes at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia (1999- 2002) and the Tough Eye International Turku Animated Film Festival in Finland (2001-2003). In 2009 he was selected Honorary President of the Ottawa International Animation Festival in Canada.
In addition to creating his own films, photographs and installations, he became a professor in the animation department of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2005, and was the department’s codirector from 2004 to 2010.
Since 1988 he has been a member of the UNESCO-affiliated ASIFA (International Animated Film Association), an international association whose goal is to promote cultural understanding through the art of animation. He is also a member of the Society of Animation Studies, the Swiss Film Academy, and the Asia Pacific Screen Academy. Alder is the founder and artistic director of the Lucerne International Animation Academy
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.