Animation and entertainment industry luminaries will gather virtually to share their wisdom, advice and insights at the 2020 Animation Masters Summit, hosted by Indian animation powerhouse Toonz Media Group. The 21st edition is being held digitally over Zoom from Monday, July 20 to Friday, July 24. Full schedule and free registration at www.animationsummit.in.
The five-day event will include six highly engaging master sessions and two panel discussions. Groundbreaking animation feature director Arnab Chaudhuri, who passed away in December 2019, will be posthumously conferred the Legend of Indian Animation Award at the inaugural session of the Summit (at 9 A.M. IST on Monday, July 20). Anuradha Aggarwal, Head of Infotainment and Kids cluster at Disney-Star India, will deliver the keynote address at the session, while Biren Ghose, Country Head of Technicolor, India, will offer felicitation. Toonz Media Group CEO P. Jayakumar will welcome guests at the inaugural session.
Master sessions will be conducted by:
- Cinzia Angelini: Writer, story artist and animation director whose work include titles like Despicable Me 3, The Grinch, Abominable, Spider-Man 2 and The Prince of Egypt.
- Fabienne Rawley: ACE Eddie Award-winning animation editor whose credits include Academy Award winning animation feature Zootopia (2017) and Oscar and Golden Globes nominated Monster House (2006).
- Quentin Staes-Polet: Gaming expert and General Manager (India & Southeast Asia) of Epic Games.
- Ravi K Chandran ISC: Renowned Indian cinematographer behind several smash hit Indian movies including Virasat (1997), Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Black (2005) in Hindi; Kannathil Muthamittal (2002) in Tamil; and Ekalavyan (1993) and Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu (1999) in Malayalam.
- Shantanu Moitra: National Award-winning music composer best known for his scores in Bollywood films like Parineeta (2005), Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005), Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) and 3 Idiots (2009).
- Sajan Skaria: Academy Award winning character animator whose credits include Inside Out, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Cars and Ratatouille.
The first panel, organized in association with Animation Magazine, will feature animator, screenwriter, producer & voice actor Carl Harvey “C.H.” Greenblatt; Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer Jinko Gotoh; director, writer, character designer and voice actor Jorge R. Gutiérrez; and Emmy-nominated executive producer Sascha Paladino, who will join moderator Ramin Zahed (Editor-in-Chief of Animation Magazine) in conversation about adapting during a pandemic, their upcoming projects and how aspiring animators can work toward their big break. Tues., July 21, 9 A.M. IST. (Read more about the panelists below.)
The second panel will explore how the kids’ entertainment industry should innovate and sustain in a post-pandemic scenario. It will be moderated by Ashish Kulkarni, Chairman of FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Forum. The panellists include Anu Sikka, Head of Content – Kids Entertainment Cluster, Viacom 18; Don Anderson – Head of Family and Learning Partnership, YouTube APAC region; Leena Lele Dutta – Business Head at Sony Yay!; and Uttam Pal Singh – Head of Discovery Kids, Discovery Communications India.
Toonz-Animation Magazine Panel:
Jinko Gotoh is an Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer and consultant for the animation industry. She has 25-plus years experience spanning a wide range of media, with particular emphasis on the evolution of animation and CGI. She produced last year’s Oscar-nominated feature Klaus and is currently producing the feature Escape from Hat for Neflix Her screen credits include The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, The Little Prince, The Illusionist, 9 and Finding Nemo. Since leaving Pixar in 2003 Gotoh’s assignments have taken her across the globe. Prior to that, she worked at Disney Feature Animation as director of digital production. Gotoh is the Vice President of Women in Animation. She is also a published poet.
Carl Harvey “C.H.” Greenblatt has been making board-driven comedy animated shows for over 20 years. He’s boarded, written, and directed on SpongeBob SquarePants, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Fish Hooks. He created and executive produced Chowder at Cartoon Networks, Harvey Beaks at Nickelodeon, and is currently overseeing the return of the Hanna-Barbera universe in Jellystone! at Warner Bros Animation, for HBO Max.
Jorge R. Gutiérrez is a director, writer, character designer and voice actor, known for the Annie Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated animated feature film The Book of Life, produced by Guillermo del Toro; his Annie-nominated VR short film Son of Jaguar for Google; creating (with his wife, Sandra Equihua) the Annie- and Emmy-winning series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera for Nickelodeon and his current project, the Netflix limited series Maya and the Three. Gutiérrez has also received an Annie Award for character design and Annie nominations for writing and directing The Book of Life; an Emmy Award for character design and an Annie Award for best series for El Tigre. Gutiérrezis currently developing multiple unannounced projects for Netflix Animation.
Sascha Paladino is the Emmy-nominated exec producer of Disney Junior’s acclaimed new mystery-adventures series Mira, Royal Detective. He is also the creator and exec producer of Disney Junior’s intergalactic space adventure series Miles from Tomorrowland and Mission Force One. An accomplished children’s TV writer, Paladino was story editor and consulting producer on Disney Junior’s Henry Hugglemonster. He also developed and served as head writer and producer for Nickelodeon’s Ni Hao, Kai-lan. His additional writing credits include Doc McStuffins, Team Umizoomi, Wonder Pets, Winx Club, Tickety Toc, Blue’s Clues, Oobi and Sid the Science Kid.
Moderator:
Ramin Zahed, Editor-in-Chief, Animation Magazine
Description
This virtual panel will catch up with these four talented animation veterans and find out how they’ve adjusted to the challenges and restrictions of the COVID era. We learn more about their exciting new feature and series projects in production, get their take on the brave, new world of animation, find out their sources of inspiration, and take in some expert advice on how to break into the industry by showcasing your skills and talents.
The panel will be live on the Toonz Animation Masters Summit website (animationsummit.in) on Monday July 20 at 8:30 PM (PST) / 5:30 PM (EST) / Tuesday July 21 at 9 AM (India Time) .
