Presence Welcomes Three New Animation Directors

Presence has welcomed Toby Auberg, Paulina Ziółkowska and Dimitris Armenakis: three highly gifted directors of animation. Each director brings a fresh and arresting approach to animation and each demonstrates their talents through three very different styles of the same form of film craft.

Toby Auberg’s 3D CGI creations are bizarre and credible as are the situations which evolve and revolve in his films. 

Toby tells Presence he “is a London (Hamburg) based 3D visual artist and animator person. I'm really into sensory overload, abstract characters and virtual worlds, sometimes dabbling in political themes. Originally I started out working in film in Los Angeles, I moved to Sweden to study Motion Graphics at Hyper Island, and studied Experimental Animation at the Royal College of Art in London. I’m super excited and grateful to be joining Presence! I can't wait to begin this next stage of my directing career, exploring new contexts for fringe 3D/CGI together with the Presence team.”

His RCA grad film Pile scooped the prestigious Best Graduation Film award at Annecy in 2019 and he has just been chosen for staff picks on Vimeo! Hooray, welcome and well done Toby!

Pile – Toby Auberg

Ingenious animator, Paulina Ziółkowska has pedigree as an 2D artist and storyteller using elegant form to drive forward narratives in animation with acute self awareness and well observed commentary on the human condition. Paulina was educated in Poland and Berlin and has had a prestigious residency in TAIS Toronto Artist in Residence Program. We love the drawing and animation in her film O Matko. EP Danny Fleet says: “Her drawings are exquisite and the stories brilliant and irreverent.” Her 2D animations show humour, existentialism and are bizarrely prophetic - Well, only one seems prophetic - but have a look at ‘Bless You’ which won at the 2018 Berlinale Festival! Ziółkowska is a force to be reckoned with and Presence is very excited that she is joining the growing animation team.

Bless You – Paulina Ziółkowska

Athens born Dimitris Armenakis studied Film in Corfu, Greece and then graduated in 2019 with an MA Animation from the Royal College of Art in London. And it seems Vimeo are also fans of Dimitris - All You Can Eat was chosen for staff picks in 2019. 

All at Presence are really delighted to have Dimitris on board.

Dimitris: “As an animation director, I'm really excited to be part of this brilliant team, consisting of some fantastic directors. Looking forward to working with Presence on great projects for the world to see!”

As an animation director, Dimitris brings to Presence dynamic 2D animations - luminous, big-eyed cartoon characters in dystopian environments. He uses a unique and very ‘current’ look to poke fun at social norms. Clever ideas and zeitgeist visuals!

All You Can Eat – Dimitris Armenakis