Signe Baumane is a Latvian born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. She has made 17 award-winning animated shorts. Her first animated feature Rocks In My Pockets (2014) premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2014 where it received a FIPRESCI Prize. Rocks In My Pockets is based on true events involving five women of Signe’s family, including herself, and their battles with suicide and depression. It played internationally at 150 film festivals, was distributed in the U.S. by Zeitgeist Films, and has been screened by many colleges and mental health organizations.

Signe’s new animated feature My Love Affair With Marriage (2022) tells the story of a spirited young woman’s quest for perfect love and lasting marriage. It premiered in June 2022 at Tribeca Festival and has screened at over 90 festivals winning twenty awards. It was nominated by European Film Academy as Best Animated Feature. The film is released in the United States on October 6th, 2023.

Signe is a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fellow in Film for New York Foundation for the Arts. She has a degree in Philosophy from Moscow State University.


Signe will first cover her career experience for the main time of IGNITE (12:30 PM - 1:50 PM), followed by a ‘Making-Of’ presentation on how she makes her animated films beginning at 2 PM.