Jonatan Schwenk

Jonatan Schwenk (*1987) is a German director, animator, producer, and sound designer. His animated short films have gained widespread acclaim at major international festivals. His graduation film, (...) "ZOON" (2022), premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to be featured in around 150 festivals, including AFI and Telluride. "ZOON" received numerous awards, notably in Ottawa, Hiroshima, and Stuttgart (Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award 2023). Schwenk's film "SOG" (2017) garnered approximately 40 prizes and mentions, including the coveted Cristal for a Graduation Film at Annecy. It qualified for the Academy Awards and was showcased at prestigious festivals such as SXSW, Palm Springs ShortFest, Ottawa, Zagreb, and Flickerfest. As an animator and sound designer, Schwenk competed twice at the Berlinale (2013 with "ECHO" and 2015 with "THE OLD MAN AND THE BIRD"). The film "COPS AND ROBBERS," (directed by Florian Maubach) with Schwenk's sound design, won the German Short Film Award in 2018. Another success was Merlin Flügel's "RULES OF PLAY," featuring Schwenk's sound design, which won at Annecy in 2019. Schwenk is a graduate of the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach and was a guest student at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. In 2020, Schwenk was chosen for the Berlinale Talents program. In 2022, he participated in the International Residency for Animated Films of the NEF in the Abbey of Fontevraud, France. This was followed in 2023/24 by the European Animation Development Lab Animation Sans Frontières, where Schwenk developed the concept for ANT (working title). The pitch for this short film received four awards at the CEE Animation Forum, including the Ciclic Residency Award.