Star-Filled Animation World Summit Returns In Person with Keynotes, Panels, Parties and Networking Opportunities
Skwigly
The 2022 World Animation & VFX Summit, the leading West Coast event for staying current with the latest trends and technologies in animation and VFX, is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Hall of Fame awards and panelist lineup. The Summit, which takes place in person November 6 – 10, on the grounds of the historic Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, will kick off with the opening night gala on November 6th where the honorees will receive their awards. The gala will be followed by the three-day Summit, beginning on November 7th, featuring special keynotes, panels, and networking breakfasts, lunches and parties with top tier executive and creative talent representing various aspects of the industry.
This year’s 2022 Animation Summit honorees are:
- Kristine Belson. President of Sony Pictures Animation, who has led the studio through its brightest years (which have seen the release of Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, Mitchells vs the Machines, Vivo and Hair Love).
- Jorge R. Gutierrez. Writer-director of Netflix’s Annie Award-winning limited series Maya and the Three, director of the feature The Book of Life, and co-creator of Nickelodeon’s Emmy-winning show El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.
- Ramsey Naito. President of Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures, who has been a driving force behind movies such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and PAW Patrol: The Movie and hit shows such as Star Trek: Prodigy, Big Nate, Santiago of the Seas and Kamp Koral.
- Peter Ramsey. Academy Award©-winning director of Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians, producer of 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and director of Netflix’s limited series Finding Ollie.
- Henry Selick. Academy Award©-nominated director of stop-motion classics Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline and James and the Giant Peach and Netflix’s acclaimed new feature Wendell &Wild.
- Mark Swift. Long-time DreamWorks Animation producer whose many credits include Penguins of Madagascar, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, The Croods: A New Age and this year’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
- Genndy Tartakvosky. Creator of beloved, and award-winning animated shows such as Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Samurai Jack and Primal and director of Hotel Transylvania and its two sequels.
- TeamTO. Pioneering indie French animation studio behind such favorites such as Angelo Rules, Mighty Mike, YellowBird, Rabbids Invasion, City of Ghosts and the upcoming show, Jade Armor.
“It has been so rewarding to see our Animation Summit grow and flourish with each passing year. Despite all the challenges our industry has faced over the past year, 2022 has been quite an amazing year in terms of the range and high caliber of all the new animated movies, series and shorts available to fans of the medium. Once again, we are thrilled to be able to celebrate and spotlight the vitality of our business and community and to spotlight the achievements of the creative forces in the animation industry,” says Summit founder and president and publisher of Animation Magazine Jean Thoren. “We can’t wait to catch up with all our friends in the worldwide animation community and learn about the their latest innovations and thrilling new projects at the Summit this year.”
Must-See Panels
The eclectic lineup of this year’s Summit will explore many different facets of the animation and VFX industries. Panels will focus on advances in new animation technologies, co-production opportunities, how to pitch animated project to the top execs, a special focus on the latest adult animation boom, the 2023 business survival guide, how to produce your animation project, as well as sessions on what animation execs are looking for in the near future and what leading studio recruiters look for in job candidates.
This year’s event will also feature special keynotes by iconic Disney director John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, Moana), show creator Karissa Valencia (Spirit Rangers) and exec producer/supervising director Mike Hollingsworth (Inside Job, BoJack Horseman, Cat Burglar), as well as a fireside chat with Sony Picture Animation’s president Kristine Belson and a festive 20th Anniversary Party for Sony Pictures Animation.
The Summit agenda also features informative talks with the directors, producers and key creatives on this year’s animated films that are contenders for Academy Awards®. Sessions
showcasing the making of top animated features include The Bad Guys, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Lightyear, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Wendell & Wild, Luck, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, My Father’s Dragon, The Sea Beast, Strange World and Turning Red. A spotlight on some of the award-winning animated shorts of the year will feature Black Slide, Christopher at Sea, The Ice Merchants, Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, My Year of Dicks; The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Sierra and The Flying Sailor.
Featured Speakers & Panelists:
The Animation Summit presents featured speaker sessions with distinguished creative forces to discuss prominent topics in animation and VFX. (Note: A complete list of Summit speakers is available here.)
- Saraswathi Balgam, Founder, Dancing Atoms
- Zoe Bamsey, Head of Animation Development, BBC Kids & Family
- Simon Barrionuevo, Founder, Pudoctopus
- Ben Bayouth, Exec Producer, The Paloni Show! Halloween Special
- Peter Baynton, Director; The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
- Kristine Belson, President, Sony Pictures Animation
- Kim Berglund, VP of Development, Disney Junior
- Carlos Biern, Director of Content & Distribution, Kids & Family, Deaplaneta Ent.
- Tricia Biggio, CEO, Invisible Universe
- Matt Bilfield, Artist and Director, Blockchain Creative Labs
- Davis Brimer, Founder and CEO, Gamisodes
- Mark Caballero, Founder, Screen Novelties
- Sadaf Cohen Muncy, SVP, HappyNest Entertainment
- Joel Crawford, Director, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Croods: A New Age
- Mo Davoudian, Exec Creative Director/CEO, Brainzoo
- John Derevlany, Writer/Producer, Squish, LEGO Chima, Akedo
- Karen Dufilho, Exec Producer, Epic Games
- Frank Falcone, President, Creative Director, Guru Studio
- Dean Fleischer Camp, Director, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Debbie Flores, Associate, Fox Rothschild
- Amanda Forbis, Director, The Flying Sailor, When the Day Breaks
- Jake Friedman, Author, The Disney Revolt, The Art of Blue Sky Studios
- João Gonzalez, Director, Ice Merchants
- Mark Gustafson, Director, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
- Don Hall, Director, Strange World
- Chris Hamilton, President/Creative Director, Oddbot Studio
- Guillaume Helloin, Founder, TeamTO
- Richard Hickey, CCO, Moonbug Entertainment
- Bob Higgins, President, Trustbridge Global Media
- Mike Hollingsworth, Exec Producer/Supervising Director (BoJack Horseman, Inside Job)
- Peggy Holmes, Director, Luck
- Ron Holsey, Exec Producer, Interrupting Chicken
- Shane Houghton, Co-Creator, Big City Greens
- Elizabeth Ito, Director/Exec Producer, City of Ghosts, Yuki 7
- Jasmine Johnson, Senior Director Production, Moonbug Entertainment
- Sander Joon, Director, Sierra
- William Joyce, Writer-Director, Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
- Andrew Kavanaugh, CEO/Founder, Kavaleer Productions
- Brooke Keesling, Head of Animation Talent Development, Bento Box Ent.
- Heather Kenyon, Executive Producer/Partner, Citizen Skull Productions
- Scott Kreamer, Executive Producer, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous
- Joel Kuwahara, Co-Founder, Principal, Bento Box Entertainment
- Cort Lane, Exec Producer, My Little Pony: Make Your Mark
- Curtis Lelash, Producer/Creative Executive
- Uri Lotan, Director, Black Slide
- Loris Lunsford, Exec Producer, Interrupting Chicken
- Angus MacLane, Director, Lightyear, Finding Dory
- Karen K. Miller, President, Cyber Group Studios USA
- Fletcher Moules, Director, Entergalactic
- John Musker, Director, Moana, The Princess and the Frog, Aladdin
- Alissa Nutting, Creator/Exec Producer, Teenage Euthanasia
- Patrick Osborne, Director, Love, Death + Robots, Happier Than Ever
- Latifa Ouoau, Exec VP of Movies, Global Franchises, Nickelodeon/Paramount
- Pierre Perifel, Director, The Bad Guys
- Dan Povenmire, Creator, Hamster & Gretel, Phineas & Ferb
- Pamela Ribon, Writer/director, My Year of Dicks
- Sam Riegal, Executive Producer, The Legend of Vox Machina
- Henry Selick, Director,Wendell & Wild, Coraline
- Domee Shi, Director, Turning Red, Bao
- Matt Shichtman, Director, The Gotham Group
- Craig Silverstein, Creator/Exec Producer, Pantheon, Turn: Washington’s Spies
- Claudia Spinelli, Senior VP, Nickelodeon
- Jane Startz, Exec Producer, Duck & Goose
- Wendy Tilby, Director, The Flying Sailor, When the Day Breaks
- Nora Twomey, Director, My Father’s Dragon, The Breadwinner
- Karissa Valencia, Creator, Spirit Rangers
- Annette Van Duren, Founder, The Van Duren Agency
- Dave Wasson, Exec Producer, The Cuphead Show!
- Daniel Weidenfeld, Senior VP, Animation, FOX Entertainment
- Chris Williams, Director, The Sea Beast, Moana
- Kris Wimberly, Co-Founder/Head of Creative, Studio Smokescreen
2022 Animation Summit Registration:
To learn more about the 2022 Animation Summit and how to purchase tickets, visit the official website here.