For a second time around, we will be back on British soil, with a mesmerising showcase of trailblazing artists in animation, motion design and liquid cutting-edge creativity. We are bringing our finest line-up yet right at the heart of European animation and media production – London, and we will be setting camp in the none other than the Barbican Centre.
If you’re in need of a quick recap of all the amazing things we have prepared for you, get yourself comfy and read on!
We’re teasing awesomeness but we are also delivering it. None other than legendary animator James Baxter, responsible for landing a hand in creating of many much loved Disney classics such as Beauty and the Beast, Spirit, Shrek 2, How To Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, among others.
American storyboard artist, writer, producer, and voice actor, as well as creator of the Disney Channel series Gravity Falls, Alex Hirsch is also joining us. Alongside collaborating for a series of projects including Phineas and Ferb and Rick and Morty, Hirsch was also the voice for King, Hooty, and additional characters in the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House.
We are are also bringing BAFTA winning duo Becky & Joe, creators of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared masterpiece indie series right on our Barbican stage! Get ready to pick their brains and see what other quirky mindblowingly creative things they have prepared for us!
If you’re into cutting-edge videos, commercials and promos then you should definitely check out Megaforce‘s presentation. They gained critical acclaim for a number of their videos including Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Sacrilege, Brodinski’s Can’t Helpt Myself and Rihanna’s monster hit Bitch Better Have My Money. While at it, do add Dougal Wilson in your program mix. Known for his John Lewis Christmas commercials, Wilson has a singular knack for capturing the fantasies constructed by the young, and setting them in joyous odds against the “real world”. He also recently wrapped up work for Paddington in Peru.
If you thought motion can’t be achieved also by incredibly talented illustrators, the showcase of Margherita Premuroso will make you think again! Margherita is an acclaimed art director, character designer, animator, and illustrator, that has collaborated with Elastic.TV, Studio AKA, Hornet, Le Cube, Panic.TV, Prologue, Saatchi&Saatchi, RAI and Bluezoo among others.
For the fans of mixed media, we are bringing Jenkin van Zyl – an artist and filmmaker based in London that has a multidisciplinary practice comprising film, performance, writing and sculpture. Van Zyl’s work combines these disciplines in hallucinatory, immersive installations, typically centred around film, which give birth to fantastical communities inhabiting transient spaces. Also trailblazers in this regard and pioneers within the moving image, creative studio Optical Arts, is joining us on stage at the beautiful Barbican. They combine experience and expertise across film production, direction, photography, animation and design, having worked for clients like Apple, Channel 4, Nike and Louis Vuitton.
We are pleased to confirm the presence of ManvsMachine – design and motion studio, with head-quarters in London and Los Angeles. The agency has made its name working in the space where motion design meets graphic design and branding. Their goal is to infiltrate the mainstream and they are doing it with some stunning projects for major clients like Apple, Renault, Adidas, BBC, ITV, Channel4, Nike, Honda, Volvo and Audi.
From Industrial Light and Magic we have invited Hayden Jones to join us. Primetime Emmy Award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor, he has over 30 years of experience in the industry. He was VFX Supervisor on Netflix’s Lost Ollie, for which he also won an Emmy for outstanding VFX. Hayden was most recently serving as VFX supervisor on the Netflix animated feature, Ultraman: Rising.
Bringing his filmmaking expertise along, we’ll also have Dutch director Robert-Jonathan Koeyers. Throughout the years, Robert-Jonathan has been using film, photography, animation, music and other mediums to help turn his stories into deeply personal projects. His work aims to unpack how his Blackness has shaped him into the person he is, as well as exploring how the lived experience of Black people can be told in an authentic and vulnerable way.
Alongside the artist talks, we are also setting up a series of incredibly inspiring panel discussions. From the North Pole to the Silver Screen: The Creative Journey of Netflix’s That Christmas will give us all a chance to preview this spectacular production set to premiere in December, in the presence of the director Simon Otto, production designer Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn and DNEG animation director Kapil Sharma.
Technology is Not a Concept will pick the brains of Forever Studios, Builders Club and FutureDeluxe discussing if and why in an era of immediacy, excitement and content ephemerality, technology too is a trend, a PR-able commodity.
For Coloring outside the Lines: The Power of a Side Hustle in Animation we’ve gathered a group of animators who are also professional bakers, stand-up comedians and shoe designers to find out if a second career could be a creative catalyst in an industry that loves to specialise. We’ll welcome Jen Zheng and her guests Sofia Negri, Jocie Juritz and Chris Cray to share with us their thoughts and expertise on the matter.
Sketching sessions were an audience darling last year, so we simply had to ask Animade and She Drew That for a second round this year.
Four different film programs will dazzle you and exhibiting the cool, the new and the now in short animated form.
A cherry on top of a fantastic line-up is the return of David Wilson. Billed as a ‘Lecture that’s Extra!’, his presentation anchors itself around ‘Queer Joy’ and how it’s infused his life and work as a creative and a human. Including special guest performances from Harry Clayton-Wright, Ms Sharon LeGrand, Titty Kaka and Wet Mess.
With still some puzzle pieces to arrange in our final program, we can already say we are beyond excited about the fantastic edition 2024 seems to have in store for us! So what say you? Joining us in London?