In 2008 Laura Vandewynckel (1986, Belgium) graduated as a Philologist at Ghent University. After having studied three years of Dramatic Arts, she then trained as an animation filmmaker at the Ritcs School of Arts Brussels. In her work, animation techniques, documentary film, and theatre intertwine. In 2013 she completed her first stop-motion puppet film What’s On and graduated with Paradise in 2014. Paradise, a light-hearted yet critical reflection on the ethics of tourism, received several awards at international film festivals and got selected for the Cinéfondation Cannes and Toronto International Film Festival 2015. The hybrid documentary Pharmakos (2017) came into existence with the support of the Cinéfondation and the Greek Film Center and documents a participative reenactment of the ancient Greek Pharmakos ritual. Le Crépuscule, a 3D animated loop, deals with the effect of nightmare news on our collective mind and will be released in 2023. In 2018 and 2022, she worked as an artist in residence at Sacatar Foundation Brazil developing the hybrid documentary Let the sea take away all evil. Currently, she is conducting doctoral research at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ritcs, investigating the potential of automata (puppets, robots, and kinetic sculptures) as social game changers. In a series of videos and theatrical installations she retells ancient and actual scapegoat myths from the point of view of the scapegoat, publicly staged as an automaton. She teaches Concept & Scenario and Interdisciplinary Atelier at Ritcs School of Arts and works as a freelance director, writer, storyboarder, graphic designer, and puppet builder for film and TV series.

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