Details have been announced for the second annual Irish VFX & Animation Summit, where award-winning international visual effects practitioners from the US, the UK and Ireland will take part in workshops and talks. Following on from last year’s massively successful inaugural summit, this year’s event will span three days and will celebrate the amazing world of Visual Effects and animation, with film screenings, talks, workshops, master-classes, discussion panels and Q&As with award-winning VFX and animation professionals including cutting edge talent from both Ireland and around the world. Advance ticket sales for the two day event are now open, with demand expected to be significant.
Highlights from the event include two film screenings, Interstellar on Friday 28th November which will be attended by the visual effects crew that worked on the acclaimed film, and Paddington on Saturday 29th November, which will also be have the visual effects crew present. Confirmed speakers at this year’s summit include high profile industry figures such as Eugenie Von Tunzelmann, CG Supervisor, Interstellar; Darren O’Kelly, Managing Director, The Mill; Kyle McCulloch, VFX Supervisor, Framestore and Eamonn Butler, Animation Director, Cinesite.
Ireland has a strong history of producing world-class talent in the arts and film in particular, with 2014 seeing one of the busiest production years for indigenous films in many years. This history, coupled with ongoing success in producing talented and successful engineers, software developers and computer game professionals, creates a pool of talent that can contribute so much to our homegrown VFX and the wider film industry. Despite this however, at this present time there are still comparatively low numbers of Irish professionals practicing within this industry. The aim of the VFX & Animation Summit is to change this.
The annual VFX & Animation summit will promote the VFX and animation trades within Ireland, to create a wider dialogue between existing and aspiring VFX and animation professionals and to offer training and support to those who wish to join the industry. The event’s success depends upon the support and participation of the key players in the industry: the established Irish VFX and Animation studios and their artists, the film and culture supporting bodies and the aspiring, young students who want to be tomorrow’s professionals. With this support both existing and new talent in Ireland will benefit enormously from this annual conference. The summit is also teaming with Shotgun for a Showreel Clinic and they invite industry professionals and students to send in their showreels. There will also be a special panel discussion on Women in Animation. The event takes place with the support of Screen Training Ireland, Animation Skillnet and Enterprise Ireland.
Speaking about the partnership, Teresa McGrane, Deputy Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/The Irish Film Board, said “Screen Training Ireland part of Bord Scannán na hÉireann is delighted to support the second VFX + Animation Summit. We have worked closely with the Summit organisers to bring together the highly flexible and convergent VFX, Animation and Games community to encourage skillset growth, industry awareness and act as a catalyst for the development of a sustainable Visual Effects and Animation industry in Ireland.”
Event Founders Laura Livingstone and Eoghan Cunneen, drawing on their experiences at both large and small VFX facilities across the UK, US and Canada, are convinced there is now a realistic opportunity to develop and sustain a world-leading VFX industry in Ireland.
Livingstone commented “It’s incredibly exciting to be able to expand this year’s summit to include more elements which will ensure a very thorough, interesting and entertaining two day event for anyone interested in visual effects or animation. We had such positive feedback last year from all delegates and participants that we were determined to expand the event this year, and every year from now on. It’s an amazing opportunity for those who have an interest in visual effects to discover how they can get training and education to join the industry. It’s also an important event for those already established in the industry, providing a very lively opportunity to network with other industry professionals.”
Eoghan Cunneen continued “It’s our aim to attract more VFX work to Ireland, to enhance and strengthen this vital part of the industry here, with the aim to create more jobs and position Ireland as a creative hub for VFX and animation. This high-profile summit is a terrific opportunity to present our credentials to international filmmakers and to raise awareness of the level of talent available in the Irish VFX field.”
Tickets can be purchased here, with special discounts for large groups and students: http://vfxsummit.com/#/tickets/
The full schedule will be announced shortly.