Animation Magazine’s World Animation and VFX Summit has unveiled the initial list of industry panelists and guests for this year’s event.
The World Animation & VFX Summit takes place Nov. 2-4 at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, Calif.
This event will feature a gala awards ceremony honoring top animation and VFX professionals, two days of industry panels, master classes for the masters, networking breakfasts, lunches and cocktail parties. Attendees will be treated to engaging discussions and showcases, which focus on new industry standards, global co-productions and the role of groundbreaking technologies in the rapidly changing world of animation and visual effects.
Animation feature projects set to be highlighted with filmmaker appearances include: Blue Sky Studio’s The Peanuts Movie and the key players from The Prophet.
Some of this year’s distinguished panelists include:
- Greg Agostinelli, VP and managing director, Epica USA
- Roger Allers, director, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet
- Ricardo Arnaiz, writer, producer and director, Animex
- Delna Bhesania, CEO and co-founder, Bardel
- Michael Carrington, CEO, Zodiak Studios
- Sarita Christensen, owner and CEO, Copenhagen Bombay Productions
- Frederick Faubert, founder, president and CEO, Hibernum
- Peter Gal, head of tv development, DreamWorks Animation
- Eric Homan, VP of development, Frederator
- Joel Kuwahara, co-founder and principal, Bento Box
- Wang Lei, senior VP of Uyoung Media Group and CEO of Mr. Cartoon
- A.K. Madhavan, founder and CEO, Assemblage Entertainment
- Ale McHaddo, founder and partner, 44 Toons
- Chuck Peil, VP of business development, Reel FX
- Jose San Román, CEO of Ilion Animation Studios
- Pierre Sissmann, CEO, Cyber Group
- David Tenzer, partner, Law Office of David Tenzer
- Chuck Williams, director of creative development and president of Marza USA
- Mike Young, co-CEO at Splash Entertainment
Companies set to participate as sponsors include: Atomic Cartoons, CelAction, DreamWorks Animation Television, Blue Sky Studios, Ilion Animation Studios, Oasis Animation, Wizart Animation, The Gotham Group, Shark 3D, California Offset Printers and Natural Talent with more sponsors signing up daily that will be announced soon.
The first night of the summit is capped by a star-studded gala event that will honor the achievements of the best and brightest innovators in animation and visual effects. This year’s award recipients and honorees, additional keynote speakers and panelists will be announced soon.
The third day of the summit will feature master classes, with Jose San Román of Ilion Animation Studios in Spain as the first to be announced. Román’s class will examine animation as a new asset class in the financial community and focus on issues that most investors and studio executives are unaware of.
The class will benefit from San Román’s experience speaking to the global financial community and turning Ilion into a successful worldwide animation studio that produced the 2009 feature Planet 51. Currently partnered with Paramount, Ilion has evolved into a multi-production studio, aiming to produce various feature films concurrently to meet the growing global demand for top-quality digital content.
The World Animation and VFX Summit’s goal is to promote international co-productions and global ventures and offer networking opportunities in the intimate setting of the California Yacht Club. Tickets are available for purchase at: animag.eventbrite.com.
A limited number of tickets are available at $150 off to current members of WIA, VES, ASIFA, Animation Guild, WGF and the WGA. Due to the limited capacity of the venue, this three-day event usually sells out quickly, so it’s highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance.
For more information on the summit, visit www.animationmagazine.net/summit or contact Kim Derevlany at kim@www.animationmagazine.net. To become a sponsor contact co-director Nancy Bates at nancy@www.animationmagazine.net.
See you at the summit!
