Localization company BTI Studios took to Comic World Hong Kong in February to uncover the next generation of Asian voiceover artists, as BTI Asia (formerly Medi-Lan) held the first in a series of dubbing competitions in a bid to meet client demand for fresh talent across the continent.
Over 100 male and female entrants aged 15 to 50 applied for the chance to be named a future voice star. A total of 15 finalists were shown a clip from Japanese animated series Concrete Revolutio (produced by Bones, available through Anime Consortium Japan) and given one hour to prepare a performance of one of the voices in Cantonese.
The contestants were judged on their ability to lip-sync the new dialog into the clip as well as their performance quality by a panel including established voice artists used by BTI Asia as well as dubbing manager Meeling Wong and director KC Sek. The winner was given a spot in BTI Asia’s dubbing training program. The runner up received a 50% discount on the course, which starts this month at BTI’s Hong Kong studio.
Pixar Animation Studios have revealed a first look at its upcoming CG-animated theatrical short, Piper, which will run in theaters ahead of the long awaited sequel Finding Dory (out June 17). The six minute, non-dialog piece is about a hungry sandpiper chick confronting his trepidations about going into the water with the help of his mother and a tiny hermit crab.
“It’s the kid at the playground feeling,” said director Alan Barillaro. “You fall down and you feel so small, but you look and see someone even smaller than you brush themselves off and tackle something, and learn from that in your own way. It was important to me to stay in the kid world and see the world from Piper’s eyes, and not be from the human perspective.”
Barillaro (animator on A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo and WALL-E), said at the studio’s Finding Dory press junket that the short began as an experiment in pushing Pixar’s photoreal animation capability, previously explored in The Blue Umbrella. Barillaro was mentored on his directorial debut by Andrew Stanton.
The filmmaker was inspired by watching shorebirds as they scurried back and forth on the sand, avoiding waves and plucking up bits of food. He wanted to imbue his characters with movement that was “poetic but caricatured, with an emotional quality.” Working with a little bird as the key character meant finding interesting ways to portray emotion, like having his “hair style” of head feathers ruffle up when he’s scared.
Feathers were one of the big tech challenges of the short. “How to animate between 4 and 7 million feathers? We had to come up with region controls. And what we realized was it influenced our acting,” said Barillaro. The team also experimented with hand-animating some of these millions of feathers.
R&D was also devoted to creating believable bubbles. “This is the first — as far as I know — an animator shaping the bubbles as 12 separate sculpts that he filmed and referencing that … It’s back to Pixar’s tradition of tech innovation for shorts.”
D23: The Official Disney Fan Club has announced that this year, members are invited to join in a celebration of all things adventurous at Destination D: Amazing Adventures, taking place November 19 and 20 at Walt Disney World. The event will highlight Walt Disney films and attractions from True-Life Adventures, to the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean, to the soon-to-be-unveiled planet of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Presenters and panelists on board include Disney Legends Marty Sklar and Tony Baxter, Imagineers Joe Rohde, Chris Merritt, Jason Grandt and Wyatt Winter; producer Don Hahn (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast); and Archives director Becky Cline.
Highlights of the program will include “New Walt Disney World Adventures: From Soarin’ Around the World to Rivers of Light” with Imagineers, “Disney’s Animal Kingdom: Evolving a New Species of Theme Park,” “Magic Journeys: 45 Years of Walt Disney World Adventures,” “A Look Back at Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures” and “The Art and Adventures of Marc Davis” with Imagineering senior production designer Chris Merritt, who is writing a book on Davis.
South African animation company Pixcomm announces that not only has its unique series project Jabu’s Jungle sold to 22 countries throughout Africa, but the show is currently in production for a second season. Season two is being produced with the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry, with Dublin-based Monster Entertainment on board to handle international distribution. The new season will launch at MIPJunior this fall.
Jabu’s Jungle is a 2D animated series aimed at kids ages 3-7. The show centers on young Jabu, who lives in a township on the edge of an African jungle. After discovering his granny’s magic, talking drum, he sets off on new adventures every day. In each episode, Jabu meets a new animal, learns about his surroundings and faces a particular challenge that must be overcome.
The series is produced using an innovative township-based job creation and training program. Hoping to address its community’s 40% unemployment rate, Pixcomm brought in professional animators to work alongside talented young artists to give hands-on, apprentice style training as they work and earn money. The production, facilitated by a partnership with local non-profit The Movement Trust, was able to create 12 new jobs in 2015. The new season production will created 15 jobs.
A broadcast deal with SABC in South Africa is under negotiation, with a TV debut anticipated in the next few months.
The next phase of Disney’s aggressive plan for Lucasfilm’s iconic franchise is imminent, with a new teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuting on Good Morning America on Thursday morning.
Rogue One is set before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and centers on the daring bid by a group of unlikely heroes to outfox the Empire and steal the plans to its horrific super weapon, the Death Star. The teaser gives us a glimpse of new characters played by Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso — a young criminal recruited by the Rebellion), Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn (an Imperial officer in a white uniform and “Hello, I’m the Villain” cape), Forest Whitaker (who provides many of the teaser’s voiceover lines), Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen.
We also get to see Mon Mothma return to the screen — played by Genevieve O’Reilly, who was cast years ago for a scene in Episode III that ended up on the cutting room floor. And there’s a glimpse at black armored baddies who are likely the Imperial “Death Troopers.”
The key cast also includes Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk and Riz Ahmed. Rogue One is directed by Gareth Edwards, produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel, executive produced by John Knoll and Jason McGatlin, and co-produced by John Swartz and Kiri Hart.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story arrives in theaters December 16, 2016, and hopefully will finally reveal what a Bothan is and just how many died recovering the Death Star plans.
Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryRogue One: A Star Wars Story
Anima Kitchent and Famosa’s animated comedy PINY, PinyPon Institute of New York (52 x 11) has been picked up for broadcast in Mexico and Russia. The transmedia property set in an exclusive NYC creative institute has been snapped up by Mexico’s Televisa for a September launch on its Canal 5 network, while in Russia the show will play on free-to-air kids’ channel Carousel and pay TV network ANI at the start of the school year.
Ankama Animations has secured new broadcast agreements for Toonbox Animation Studio’s 2D preschool series Kit & Kate (32 x 5). The show about two cute kittens who embark on imaginative adventures in their playroom has been picked up by Jim Jam (Pan-Europe, Poland, Benelux, Middle East & Africa) and YLE (Finland). The series is part of a transmedia project including apps, physical and digital books, and online videos.
Silvergate Media has agreed to a new three year, multi-territory deal with Netflix for seasons one, two and three of its undersea preschool adventure series Octonauts. The deal builds on the companies’ existing relationship, as Netflix is currently the exclusive SVOD partner for the show in the U.S. The first three seasons will now be available to subscribers in France, Latin America (in Spanish) and Canada (English and French). Octonauts now broadcasts in over 100 countries.
Studio 100 Media has inked a multi-series deal with LRT in Lithuania, which has secured exclusive FTA rights for over 100 half-hours of programming including classic titles and new CG-animated series Heidi (39 x 22), Tashi (52 x 11) and the revived Aussie icon The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill (52 x 11).
Cogswell College has been named one of the top schools in North America to study game design in 2016, according to new rankings from The Princeton Review. The San Jose college ranked No. 19 out of the top 50 game design programs published in PC Gamer magazine through its partnership with Princeton Review. Cogswell’s game program ranked No. 1 in Northern California and No. 2 statewide.
Cogswell students and alumni have developed and shipped games such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix; Halo 4 from Sledgehammer Games and Activision; the recent Google Project Tango “Best in Show” winner We R Cubed from students Christian Sasso & Steven Ulrich; and the upcoming student-designed game Vampire Teeth, shipping this summer.
The 2016 Princeton Review list includes the Top 50 undergraduate and Top 25 graduate schools for game design. The top five undergrad programs on the list are University of Utah (Salt Lake City), Univ. of Southern California (Los Angeles), Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY), DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA) and Becker College (Worcester, MA). The top five graduate programs are Univ. of Central Florida (Orlando), Southern Methodist University (Plano, TX), Univ. of Utah and DigiPen. See more here.
Mattel Creations — the new centralized theatrical, TV and digital content creation company from Mattel, Inc. — gave MIPTV attendees a first look at the newly announced CG-animated Thomas & Friends: The Great Race movie. Featuring a distinctly international lineup of new characters, the company showcased a trailer for the title, which will arrive on TV, in theaters and on DVD this summer.
The Great Race is the 11th feature film for the globally beloved blue train, and will feature a roll call of 13 new engine characters representing a dozen countries. Inspired by actual engines from each country in order to build a rich storyline and exciting characters, the shiny newcomers include Ashima of India, Racing Vinnie, Axel of Belgium, Raul of Brazil, Etienne of France, Gina of Italy, Frieda of Germany, Yong Bao of China, Ivan of Russia, Carlos of Mexico, Rajiv of India, Shane of Australia and Britain’s “The Flying Scotsman,” who is brother to regular franchise character Gordon.
In The Great Race, Thomas longs to represent Sodor at the Great Railway Show on the mainland — but the bigger engines just laugh at him and say he’s not big, strong or fast enough to compete with the best engines from around the world. The movie is produced by HIT Entertainment (a subsidiary of Mattel) and animated by ARC studios. The voice cast includes Bollywood star Tina Desai (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Ashima — this marks another milestone for the series, as this is the first time in the show’s 70 years that Thomas will appear with a strong, female lead character.
“I am delighted to be part of this exciting new film. With new characters from around the world, it has a wonderfully diverse and multi-cultural feel that I hope every child should be able to relate to and be inspired by in some way,” said Desai. “My character Ashima really shines through as being strong and adventurous and I am particularly pleased that she will be such a positive role model for so many girls across the globe.”
Broadcasters on board for the movie include PBS (US), DHX (Canada), Super RTL (Germany), Gulli (France), MiniMini (Poland), Minimax (Eastern Europe), Medialaan (Belgium), RTL Telekids (Benelux) and many more are anticipated to be announced shortly. TX will start later this year. The UK has also secured a theatrical release for the film starting May 22 in cinemas nationwide with distributor National Amusements, and other countries looking to follow such as Australia, Italy and China who recently debuted Thomas & Friends as a theatrical that was screened in 5,000 cinemas throughout the country.
Supporting The Great Race will be special merchandise including a new Fisher-Price toy line featuring 11 new engines and playsets, including the new TrackMaster Thomas Sky-High Bridge Jump Set, in addition to CP and licensing deals across key categories including clothing, books and puzzles coming to select markets in late summer.
Academy Award and Emmy-nominated animation, VFX and design house Blur Studio has hired on Dan Akers as Visual Effects Supervisor. With nearly 15 years of experience in VFX, Akers has lately been recognized for his photoreal work on online game Destiny and for Kia Motors with nominations at the 2015 VES Awards. His work on Destiny also earned a Best Visual Effects award at AICP 2015.
Akers joins Blur from Digital Domain, where he most recently served as VFX and compositing supervisor for mostly commercial projects, handling spots for clients including Nike, UFC, Lexus, Cadillac, Nissan, Kia, Assasin’s Creed and Destiny. His recent feature film VFX work includes Gone Girl and the upcoming Eye in the Sky. Aker’s career has also seen him working on hit franchises Star Trek, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean as well as Tron: Legacy and Oblivion. He has also been part of Oscar winning or nominated VFX teams for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Real Steel.
In addition to hiring Akers, Blur has brought director of photography Ken Seng onboard as a visual consultant. Seng’s feature credits include Deadpool and Project X as well as award-winning commercials for clients including American Express, Coke, Samsung, Gatorade, Audi and more.
Organizers of the 26th edition of the World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb (taking place June 6-11, 2016) has revealed this year’s official festival lineup, featuring over 300 films culled from 1,700 submissions from 70-plus countries, representing a variety of genres and techniques. Screenings will take place at Zagreb’s Europa and Tuskanac cinemas as well as Zagreb Dance Centre. Ahead of the fest will be the Animation Goes MSU program starting May 24, and two subsequent weekends of free, open-air screenings in Zrinjevac park.
Ticketing opens April 6 for this year’s Animafest, which will include 300-plus films in 15 different program sections, as well as 150 special guests. Highlighted themes for the 26th edition include “Oscars” and “Animanarchy” and the rise of Croatian animation. The schedule was announced a media conference held Wednesday by artistic director Daniel Suljic, producers Paola Orlic and Matea Milic, and selection committee members Nikica Gilic and Vesna Mestric. It was also announced that this year’s Animafest Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Belgian animator Raoul Servais, whose works will be shown in the Masters of Animation section. Croatian filmmaker Tea Strazicic produced this year’s festival trailer.
The short film competition includes 46 projects, including the latest from international masters like Georges Schwizgebel, Phil Mulloy, Igor Kovalyov and Theodore Ushev; indie Chinese animators Lei Lei, Jie Shen, Haiyang Wang and Xi Chen & Xu An; and up-and-coming stars Peter Millard, Paul Wenninger, Celine Devaux and Laura Harrison. Croatia will be well represented by Marko Tadic’s Moving Elements, Veljko Popovic’s Planemo, Martina Mestrovic’s Peter’s Forest and Vladimir Kanic’s Only Lovers Leave to Die.
The feature film competition boasts nine diverse and acclaimed entries: Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s Oscar-nominated Anomalisa, Spanish environmental statement Psiconautas, the Forgotten Children by Pedro Rivero and Alberto Vazquez; Sundance fest winning documentary Nuts! by Penny Lane; Juan Jose Lozano and Sergío Mejía Forero’s Colombian human rights drama Sabogal; Anca Damian’s true story of anti-communism fighter Jean-Marc Barr, The Magic Mountain; Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci’s graphic novel adaptation April and the Extraordinary World; Raul Garcia’s Edgar Allan Poe anthology collection Extraordinary Tales; sci-fi anime Harmony by Michael Arias and Takashi Nakamura; and the Sherlock-meets-Cyberpunk tale The Empire of Corpses by Ryoutarou Makihara.
Animafest will also present a children’s film competition, student film competition, a retrospective on experimental animated short Oscar winners through the years (as well as a curated selection and presentation of Croatian nominees), a historical overview of “raw” animation titles curated by Alexis Hunot, and more.
Find out more about Animafest Zagreb at animafest.hr.
The 2016 Annecy festival and market will welcome a very special guest to the charming French burg this summer, with organizers announcing that award-winning filmmaker and master storyteller Guillermo del Toro will present an exclusive Masterclass. This will include a reflection on his prolific career as well as the world’s first look at his latest project, DreamWorks Animation TV’s Trollhunters, due out on Netflix later this year.
Guillermo del Toro’s work has seen him wearing many hats as a director, screenwriter, filmmaker, producer and author across a variety of mediums — from novels and comics to TV and feature films. He has received many nominations and awards for his inventive, vibrant films including Cronos, Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim and won the hearts of comics and animation fans with the Hellboy theatrical features and animated movies, and by producing DWA’s Puss in Boots, Rise of the Guardians and Kung Fu Panda 3 as well as Jorge Gutierrez’s The Book of Life for Reel FX.
Premiering as a Netflix Original Series this year, DreamWorks’ Trollhunters will reveal del Toro’s latest fantastical storytelling world and introduce viewers to the residents of the fictional suburb of Arcadia, who discover a vast, mind-blowing other world hidden beneath their own.
The Masterclass with del Toro will take place Wednesday, June 15 at 4 p.m. and is open to Meetings and MIFA badgeholders (by reservation). The 2016 Annecy Festival runs June 13-18, and the MIFA market runs June 15-17. Visit annecy.org for more information.
Disney has released the latest trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The BFG — arriving in theaters July 1. The new feature adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic is produced by Disney Studios and Amblin Entertainment in association with Walden Media. The trailer finally reveals the Big Friendly Giant himself as well as some of the fantastical scenery of Giant Country.
The BFG centers on a 10-year-old human girl named Sophie (played by Ruby Barnhill in her feature film debut), who is plucked up from her London children’s home by the Big Friendly Giant (voiced by Mark Rylance) — who with his gentle nature, enormous ears and keen sense of smell is unlike the other inhabitants of Giant Country. Initially frightened to have been taken to the BFG’s cave, Sophie soon realizes her captor is really a good-hearted companion who teaches her about the magic and mystery of dreams. But conflict arises when Sophie’s presence in Giant Country stirs up the other, bigger and more violent Giants like Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) and Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement). Sophie and the BFG head back to London to warn the Queen (Penelope Wilton) about the danger — and convince her that Giants are real.
The film also stars Rebecca Hall and Rafe Spall. Spielberg directs from a screenplay by Melissa Mathison, and produces with Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer.
Media strategy and brand management company INK Global together with award-winning South African production company Diprente announce the launch of a brand-new kids’ animated series, Anansi. Aimed at boys ages 6-9, the thrilling original series blends African myths and legends with the challenges and triumphs of modern day streetwise kids.
Anansi (26 x 24) is an “urban epic fantasy” that follows Anthony Harris, an orphan living by his wits who one day discovers he is a “medium” for the ancient African spider god, Anansi. The god is powerful, scary and — like Anthony — is a trickster. Anansi allows Anthony to share his incredible powers as they both face down the evil god Tiger, whose powers threaten mankind. The show will tackle themes of identity, origins, power and coming of age.
“The combination of ancient African myth and modern urban, streetwise kids in Anansi is unique, exciting and visually very effective,” says INK Global managing partner Claus Tomming. “Add some stunning action, engaging storylines, superb graphics and, of course, just a touch of wacky humour, and you have, we believe, a thrillingly original boys’ adventure story.”
Diprente is a multi-award-winning company handling development through production for feature films, TV, live shows and branded entertainment. Anansi is one of Diprente’s biggest ever projects, aimed at a global audience. INK is worldwide distributor for all media and consumer products rights related to the series.
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented the fourth annual International Emmy Kids Awards in Cannes during a special ceremony held in conjunction with the MIPTV content market for the first time. Attended by approximately 200 industry guests, the event was held at the Carlton Hotel and was presented by TV Kids, Shaw Rocket Fund, Jeemtv, WDR mediagroup, Majid Ent., Ernst & Young and Kids@MIPTV.
“Producers of children’s programming have a great responsibility towards their viewers and the broader audience and we are honored to be recognizing and showcasing the world’s best at MIPTV,” said International Academy President Bruce L. Paisner. “We congratulate all the winners for their outstanding achievements and for setting the high-quality standard we all expect for kids.”
The Best Animation award went to the Goro Miyazaki-directed Japanese series Ronia, The Robber’s Daughter — based on the book by Astrid Lindgren and produced by NHK, NHK Enterprises, Dwango and Polygon Pictures. Acamar Films and Brown Bag’s animated bunny tale Bing took the Preschool category prize.
The Best Series award went to live-action teen drama Nowhere Boys series 2, from Australia’s Matchbox Pictures. Dutch live-action family drama Rabarber (Rhubarb), from NL Film & TV and KRO-NCRV, was awarded Best TV Movie/Miniseries. My Life: I Am Leo (Nine Lives Media, UK) won the Factual award and Best i Mest (NRK, Norway) was named best Non-Scripted Entertainment.
The International Emmy Kids Awards were presented on stage by international TV and online personalities as well as character mascots. These included YouTube star Cyrina Fiallo, Quebec comedian Cathleen Rouleau, Miss SupraNational Stephania Stegman (co-presenting with Majid Ent.’s character Amoona), German preschool character The Mouse (WDR’s The Program with The Mouse), actor Gil Ofarim (WDR’s Arman’s Secret) and Jeemtv soccer mascot Saham.
+ Imira Entertainment in Spain is teaming up with Italian studio Just for Kids Factory to co-produce Dummysaurs (104 x 2), a non-dialogue slapstick comedy series. The first 13 chapters are in production, with Imira presenting the first two at the show this week, along with toons Alisa (24 x 26, produced by Bazelevs), season 3 of Larva in New York (104 x 2, Tuba), Bat Pat (Atlantyca, Imira, Mondo TV with RAI and TVE), Mika’s Diary (52 x 7, Super Toons) and Cleo (39 x 6). Booth #R7.H14
+ Studio 100 Media and Hungarian pubcaster MTVA are building on the success of their Maya the Bee deal with the channel picking up CG animated series Tashi (52 x 11) as well as exclusive FTA rights for over 230 half-hours of Studio 100’s library programming. Booth #R7.C1
+ Rainbow and Brazil’s TV Cultura are amping up their broadcast partnership with a pair of new deals signed on the heels of the success of Winx Club in the region. The indie free-to-air network has picked up new animated series Regal Academy and live-action Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends – both will launch on TV Cultura in December 2016. Booth #R7.H2
+ Silvergate Media announces it has commenced production on season two of Sunny Day, a new animated preschool series (20 x 22) launching on Nickelodeon in the U.S. in early 2017 that follows “the best hairstylist in town” who solves problems with determination and a touch of creativity.
+ ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures have been commissioned to produced a third 26 x half-hour season of Thunderbirds Are Go for Canada’s CITV. The series has also been picked up by Canada’s DHX Media through a deal with ITV Studios Global Entertainment, and will premiere on its Family CHRGD and Family Channels later this month.
+ Mattel‘s new content-creation arm has secured numerous international broadcast deals for the new Bob the Builder series, which has been snapped up by Channel 11 (Australia), Dreamia-Panda (Portugal), NRK-Super (Norway), Karusel (Russia) and ATV-Minika (Turkey). Mattel Creations just announced a special for the show, Bob the Builder: Mega Machines – The Movie, coming to TV and DVD next year, produced by Mattel’s HIT Ent. and distributed by DHX Media.
Mattel Creations has also announced a new feature-length special for its CG-animated Fireman Sam. Launching next year, Fireman Sam: Alien Alert features David Tennant as the voice of villain Buck Douglas. The special is being produced by HIT and animated by Beijing-based Xing Xing Digital Corporation. DHX Media will distribute Alien Alert.
As of Thursday, April 7, Amazon Prime Video customers in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan will have unlimited streaming access to new series Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress — the VOD service’s first global anime acquisition. Kabaneri, available with subtitles, is the first series from Fuji TV’s popular “noitaminA” anime programming block coming to Prime Video thanks to a recently announced content deal between the Japanese network and Amazon.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is the latest series from director Tetsuro Araki (Attack on Titan, Highschool of the Dead) and WIT STUDIO. Episodes of noitaminA series will be available each week exclusively to Prime customers the day after each episode premiere in Japan — Prime customers in Japan can also stream the first episode of each series prior to the linear broadcast.
Launched in April 2005, noitaminA is a late-night animation block on Fuji TV in Japan which has helped drive the success of series like Honey and Clover and Nodame Cantabile.
Toronto’s Cuppa Coffee Studios has launched CuppaStories.com — a new online home for the company’s hyper-realistic stop-motion animation projects. The site debuts with a feature gallery of development stills for Cuppa Coffee’s upcoming World War I film, which takes full advantage of the realism techniques honed by the studio over the last 20 years.
The kind of craftsmanship highlighted on CuppaStories.com can be seen in two spots Cuppa Coffee created with Idea Studio for Powerline Safety Awareness Week, “Respect the Power.” Among the studio’s credits are TV series Glenn Martin DDS, Life’s A Zoo, Ugly Americans, Rick and Steve and Celebrity Deathmatch as well as shorts and commercial work.
Marvel Unveils Black Panther Products
Hasbro, LEGO, Funko and more plan goodies for superhero’s 50th anniversary, in line with theatrical feature and new comic from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The Bay Area Section of the Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced that Karen Dufilho of Google will be the Keynote Speaker for the organization’s inaugural industry summit, “Film & Beyond: The Changing Landscape of Entertainment.” The interactive forum will be held Saturday, May 21 at Pixar Animation Studios and will bring together local and global experts in animation, broadcast & film, VFX, videogames and new technology to explore and discuss their evolving industries and the contributions of the Bay Area’s digital arts community.
Dufilho, Executive Producer at Google ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects), has been developing and producing animation for more than 18 years. She is the producer of Academy Award and Annie Award-winning short films for Pixar, where she helmed the Shorts Division overseeing and producing franchise work for A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. With a global network of animation talent, Dufilho launched house of k, a niche consulting business focused on garnering best of industry voices for studios and emerging platforms — clients include Google, Paramount, Dneg, ON Entertainment, Disney, Rovio, Marza and Lucasfilm.
Reuniting with Ratatouille co-creator Jan Pinkava, Doug Sweetland and Caldecott Award recipient Jon Klassen, Dufilho produced a first-of-its-kind, immersive VR short for Google, Windy Day, which launched Google Spotlight Stories. As Executive Producer, Dufilho oversaw Justin Lin’s Help, Glen Keane’s Duet, Aardman Animations Special Delivery and is in production on Patrick Osborne’s VR and theatrical short Pearl.
The VES Bay Area Summit will include a slate of featured speakers and business roundtable discussions moderated by innovators and senior executives, including: Mariana Acuna (The Foundry), Tim Alexander (ILM), Thad Beier (Dolby), Kevin Bruner (Telltale, Inc.), Sharon Calahan, ASC (Pixar), Miles Perkins (Jaunt), Jules Roman (Tippett Studio), Apurva Shah (Whamix) and others to be announced.
