The Centre for Audiovisual Arts of the Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, invites students, faculty members and all interested participants to a guest lecture / masterclass by Josh Staub, entitled An Animated Life: My Career at Disney and Beyond.
Josh Staub is a film director, production designer and visual effects supervisor with experience working at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Netflix Animation. He has contributed to more than twenty film projects, including Academy Award-winning films such as Frozen, Big Hero 6, Paperman and Feast. Since 2018, he has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that presents the Academy Awards.
In addition to his work in film, Staub teaches cinematic arts at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and is one of the founders of Rise Up Animation, an organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the animation industry. As he himself points out, collaborating with literally hundreds of exceptionally talented artists and technicians on large-scale projects is exciting and fulfilling, but it is precisely because of this that he feels the need to paint and draw smaller works at home as a personal creative outlet, especially in an age in which AI is increasingly being used in creative work.
Read more about Josh Staub and his work at the following links: LINK 1, LINK 2, LINK 3.
He is coming to Croatia as an ambassador of VAFI & RAFI, an international festival of animated films by children and young people, which is being held in Varaždin for the seventeenth time this year.
On this occasion, we would like to thank the Festival organizers, especially Hrvoje Selec, director of the VAFI & RAFI Festival, as well as Dubravka Kalinić Lebinec and Srećko Lebinec, for their openness to collaboration and their assistance in organizing this guest lecture.
Photos: courtesy of Hrvoje Selec, Director of the VAFI & RAFI Festival.
The guest lecture at the Faculty of Teacher Education will take place on two dates:
Zagreb
26 May 2026 at 1:00 p.m., Room II P-18
Čakovec
27 May 2026 at 2:00 p.m., Small Hall
We invite students, faculty members and all interested participants to join us for this encounter with a distinguished film artist and to hear first-hand about his creative journey, his work in major animation studios, visual effects and contemporary challenges in the animation industry.