Aaron Barr has been in the visual effects industry for 17 years. He started in animation, after completing a digital character animation course at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Barr worked as a character artist for animated feature films for 10 years at Rainmaker Animation, Animal Logic and Pixar Canada.

He transitioned out of animation in 2013 and moved into creature and environment work as a Generalist. In this new discipline he worked at Image Engine and Scanline before starting at Industrial Light & Magic in 2014, where he currently works as a Lead Generalist. Barr has worked on many notable projects, including but not limited to, Aquaman, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spectre, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Game of Thrones.

In 2019, Barr was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature for his work on Aquaman.

With 20 years of animation experience, Aaron Gilman is Head of Animation as well as an Animation Director at DNEG in Vancouver, having recently completed work on Togo for Walt Disney Pictures. Prior to this, Aaron served as Director of Animation on one of the biggest projects in DNEG's history — the earth-shaking Pacific Rim Uprising — and supervised animation on the prehistoric action drama Alpha.

Aaron's considerable career achievements include several nominations for his work on Hollywood blockbusters, culminating in an Annie Award nomination for his leadership of the animation of Azog, the fearsome King of the Orcs in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. He also received two award nominations for his expert supervisory work on Iron Man 3.

Before joining DNEG, Aaron was a long-time senior animator and supervisor at Weta Digital, where he was an integral part of major projects such as Iron Man 3, all three Hobbit films, Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip, Avatar and The Avengers (2012). Aaron studied animation at the Vancouver Film School. His rich and varied experience and contributions to highly significant shows mark him as a major talent, passionately dedicated to creative storytelling solutions, and a crucial member of the DNEG team.

Alex Wang joined ILM's Vancouver office in 2017 as a Visual Effects Supervisor. He began his career in visual effects in 2003 as a Generalist TD at The Orphanage, Inc. in San Francisco, California. He worked on films such as The Day After Tomorrow, Sin City, and Superman Returns. He quickly progressed as he became the Lighting Supervisor on Live Free or Die Hard.

In 2010, Wang moved to Vancouver to help launch Digital Domain's Vancouver office. In 2015, he was promoted to Visual Effects Supervisor on Deadpool, where he was an integral asset to the design of the character, Colossus, as his ideas were what brought the character to life. Just before joining ILM, Wang worked as the Visual Effects Supervisor at Double Negative for The Fate of the Furious.

Wang received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Computer Animation at Ringling College of Art & Design.

From childhood, Amy has always known she would work in film and following her degree in Cinematography, Photography and Television Studies, Amy has been supporting this industry through the recruitment of top class talent. Since 2011, Amy has recruited for The Third Floor Visualization, Mikros Animation on Sherlock Gnomes, as well numerous TV and advertising companies.

Amy's love of nature and all things North America brought her to Vancouver in 2017, where she joined DNEG, recruiting for both their VFX features and TV projects. In May 2019, Amy joined her dream company: Industrial Light & Magic, and has been hiring the finest talent for Terminator: Dark Fate, as well as unannounced projects...

A confessed fan of the industry, Amy has been supportive of our community as an organizer for Renderman User Group events, in attendance of VES seminars and meet-ups, and has joined Spark in August 2019 as a volunteer.

Coming soon.

Originally from Brazil, Aulo draws from a wide pool of experience in feature film, TV, games and advertising — fitting in perfectly with Framestore's diverse range of creative activity.

Aulo began his career in boutique animation studios before a successful freelance career, honing his character and creature skills for over a decade. He relocated to Montreal in 2014, where he brought a range of fantastic, realistic and gruesome characters to life for film and TV such as A Monster Calls, The Legend of Tarzan and most recently, His Dark Materials.

Aulo started his career at Framestore as a Senior Animator on the Academy Award-winning Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, and was promoted to Associate Animation Supervisor for the movie's sequel.

In his spare time, Aulo enjoys BBQing (no matter the weather) and is an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor.

As a versatile, dedicated animator, he has an expert grasp of his craft and has never turned away from a challenge. He is currently Animation Supervisor for Tom & Jerry.

Betsy Paterson has been a visual effects supervisor for the past 18 years, with over 25 years experience in the field. Her wealth of experience in CG character creation, combined with an expertise in integrating CG effects into live action settings, make her an ideal creative ally to directors of today's film and television projects. Betsy collaborates closely with filmmakers, throughout the creative process, from pre production to post production. She has overseen many large projects and international crews, working on sets around the world.

Betsy most recently served as the lead visual effects supervisor for Amazon's Carnival Row. Before that she was lead supervisor for Netflix' Marco Polo.

Betsy's visual effects supervisor credits include The Incredible Hulk, 300: Rise of an Empire, both of the Scooby-Doo movies, as well as The Ring Two. She has also provided expert set supervision on such projects as The Cabin in the Woods and Elf.

Betsy began her VFX career with her early positions at Manhattan Transfer, where she worked as a Flame artist, and later as an Inferno artist at the Computer Film Company. After joining Rhythm & Hues Studios in 1996, Betsy was actively involved in the development and expansion of the studio's 2D department before being elevated to VFX Supervisor on Scooby-Doo. She was one of the primary VFX Supervisors at R&H until 2013. Betsy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film from Vassar College.

Brett Ineson has close to 20 years' experience in visual effects, 15 of which has been spent in the field of performance capture. Brett sits on the board of the Motion Capture Society. He has worked in production with industry leaders such as Weta Digital and in technology development with Vicon, Lightstorm Entertainment and Autodesk. In 2004, he founded Animatrik Film Design to specialize in performance capture for film, games and television.

He is recognized as an expert in his field and continues to provide Virtual Production consulting services to industry leaders. He consistently pushes the boundaries for Virtual Production as a whole through the development and deployment of new solutions and innovations. Brett's film credits include District 9, Warcraft, Spiderman Homecoming, Deadpool 2, Ready Player One, Elysium, and Lord of the Rings: Return of the Kings.

Chris Downs is VFX Supervisor at DNEG Vancouver with over fifteen years of experience working in feature film VFX. He is currently working on Jungle Cruise for Disney after acting as a CG supervisor on Hobbs & Shaw. Before his time on Hobbs & Shaw he most recently supervised VFX on Ad Astra and The Dark Tower. Prior to this, Chris worked as a CG Supervisor on Independence Day: Resurgence, Monster Trucks, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1. Additionally, he has been involved in the VFX of many acclaimed films, including Maleficent and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and 2.

He studied Animation and Visual Effects at the Vancouver Film School, along with Computer Science and Fine Arts degrees from the University of Waterloo. He began his career in 2005 as a Character Finaler at a Feature Animation studio, and worked his way into various Lighting TD roles at different renowned VFX houses. In 2011, Chris took his Lighting TD experience to fill a Lead role for two years and from there moved into CG Supervision and then onto VFX Supervision.

From the start of his career to this point, he has has contributed to over 20 films, and shows no signs of slowing down; his enthusiasm and passion for the industry is unmatched as showcased through over 15 years of VFX experience.

CVD VFX founder, Chris van Dyck is a Vancouver-based VFX Artist and Supervisor in the commercial, film, and television industry. With over 16 years in the industry, he brings experience from some of the top studios around the world: WETA Digital, Industrial Light & Magic, Method, Rising Sun Pictures, Animal Logic, MPC, The Embassy and Prime Focus. Some of his most notable credits include: The Hobbit Trilogy, Warcraft, Thor 2, Life of Pi, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, TRON: Legacy, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, Iron Man and Frank Miller’s 300.

Chris has conducted lectures for the VES, SIGGRAPH, and the Art Institute, been published by Digital Fusion on the topic of Digital Compositing, published by SIGGRAPH on the film industry in Vancouver and has taught Digital Compositing for over 7 years at the following schools: VanArts, Think Tank and Lost Boys.

Currently, he is the creative director at CVD VFX and excited to continually grow a talented team on the north shore and sea-to-sky corridor.

Educated at Simon Fraser University with a BSc in Computing Science, specializing in Computer Graphics, Christos Obretenov started contributing to the animation and film industry at Mainframe Entertainment in conjuction with Simon Fraser University. He continued his career by designing and developing shading software for Walt Disney's The Wild feature film, followed by shading and lighting for Superman Returns, Spider-Man 3, Beowulf, Christmas Carol, Mars Needs Moms, and Life of Pi (which won the 2013 Oscar for Best Visual Effects) feature films. Recently co-founding LollipopShaders.com, Christos develops procedural solutions to shading and lighting, currently experimenting with Physically Plausible Shading. He resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Craig McPherson is an animation supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks. His credits include: Jumanji: The Next Level, Men in Black: International, The Meg, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Edge of Tomorrow, Oz the Great & Powerful, Men in Black 3, and The Smurfs.

Prior to joining Imageworks, McPherson served as a character supervisor on: Escape From Planet Earth and animator on District 9, Outlander, and Happy Feet. He has also worked in the fields of video games, television, and visual arts.

McPherson earned a bachelor's degree in Psychology/Anthropology from the University of Alberta, completed an internship in New Media at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and received a diploma in Multimedia Development.

Prior to a career in animation, McPherson worked as a personal trainer and is certified by the American Council of Exercise.

Dave is a highly regarded VFX Supervisor with a 25-year career and work on 40 features, most recently finishing work on 20th Century Fox' auto racing showdown Ford v Ferrari, which received a 2020 VES Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects. The Australian native got his start as a Flame artist, advancing as a compositor for a decade before co-founding Fuel VFX in Sydney. He spent more than 10 years at the studio building its reputation for excellence and leading teams as a VFX Supervisor on more than a dozen features including Australia, Captain America: The First Avenger, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and more.

After Fuel was acquired by Animal Logic, Dave went on to supervise the team on Unbroken and other features for that studio before joining Image Engine in 2015, where he was VFX Supervisor on Point Break, Power Rangers and Thor: Ragnarok. Dave worked production-side for Lionsgate's Kin as the show's overall VFX Supervisor, and on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom before joining Method in spring 2018. Dave currently is a visual effects supervisor on Netflix' superhero comedy, Thunder Force. He's a member of the VES and was formerly a Board Member of its Australian chapter.

David Morin is Executive Director of the Academy Software Foundation. He is also Head of the Epic Games Los Angeles Lab.

At the Academy Software Foundation, David works for the Governing Board to develop the use of open source software in the motion picture industry.

At Epic Games, David works with the Enterprise team to develop the use of the Unreal engine in the Film and Television industries.

Previously David was president of David Morin, LLC, a diversified consultancy specializing in immersive production with clients such as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Arri Inc., Autodesk, Epic Games, Shotgun Software and others.

David is also chairman of the Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Production, the Joint Technology Committee on Virtual Reality, and a past co-chair of the Joint Technology Subcommittee on Previsualization. David earned a B.Sc.A. in computer science from Laval University (Quebec City, Canada) and has participated in the development of motion capture and 3D software since Jurassic Park at companies such as Softimage, Microsoft, Avid Technology, Autodesk and Epic Games.

Dennis Hoffman, a veteran of the visual effects industry, has held numerous positions in the film industry and is currently providing services through The Hoffman Group, including business consulting, VFX production and bidding. Prior to his current position, Dennis has held positions as the President of Stargate Studios Vancouver, as well as the Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Framestore in Montreal. While at Framestore, Hoffman oversaw numerous projects including Paddington, a Studio Canal project, Mowgli, legend of the Jungle a Netflix Production and Pan, a Warner Bros/RatPac-Dune Production.

Hoffman has held executive positions at several other VFX companies including Digital Domain, Deluxe owned VFX facilities, Method and CIS, as well as Cinesite and Dream Quest Images. Over the years, Hoffman has been involved in numerous projects recognized for their visual effects including, Flags of Our Fathers and Changeling (VES- Best Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Film), as well as Oscar nominee Mighty Joe Young, VES nominee Invictus and Earth 2, an Emmy award winner for Best VFX.

Hoffman is a founding member of the Visual Effects Society, and currently serves on both its International Board, as well as the board of the Vancouver section. In addition, Hoffman is a board member of the Spark CG Society which holds Animation and VFX conferences and film festivals in Vancouver. Dennis holds an MFA in Film from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Political Science/International Affairs from the George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Emily Olin is the Director of Marketing Communications at The Linux Foundation and leads marketing communications for Academy Software Foundation and Automotive Grade Linux. Prior to joining The Linux Foundation, Emily led the technology account for Ford Motor Company at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. She has a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Miami.

François Lord is lead Pipeline Architect and CG Supervisor at Rodeo FX. He began his career as a CG generalist and subsequently had many supervision roles like VFX supervisor, on-set supervisor and technical director. He worked on unforgettable films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Arrival and Sicario, action classics like 300 and more recently, fan favourites Fantastic Beasts and Jumanji: Next Level. Over the span of his career, he developed advanced scripting skills and began writing automated tools. Today, his main role is to develop the pipeline and improve tools for artists. François is also a lecturer at Centre NAD where he teaches camera tracking, photorealism, and production architecture.

Fred has over 20 years of CG experience around the world. It was while studying Marine Biology and Dynamical Oceanography in the late 90’s that he first stumbled into working in Virtual Reality. He followed up his degree with a Masters in Computer Graphics and worked first as an Animator, then 3D Generalist, Rigger, Creature Supervisor, Business Owner, R&D Manager, and now as Head of Creature at DNEG Vancouver.

As an artist and supervisor, he received a VES award nomination in the “Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture” category for his work on The Thing (2011). Today he achieves far greater results though contributing to efficient pipeline design, supporting and mentoring the professional development of his team, and through leading effective communication and collaboration between departments.

Freddy was born in Puebla, Mexico, he attended school for Special Effects Makeup in LA and was mentored by the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist). After graduating, he moved to Canada and enrolled in a film and VFX school in Vancouver, BC. During his career at some of the top VFX studios in the industry, Freddy was able to work on projects directed by a number of top filmmakers from, Guillermo del Toro, Neill Blomkamp, Robert Rodriguez, Tim Burton to Christopher Nolan. When he isn't working his day job, currently Compositing Supervisor at Method Studios Vancouver, he is directing his own short films. His first short film entitled Shhh, won several international awards and was praised by director Guillermo del Toro. More recently, Freddy completed his next horror project Duérmete Niño, produced by Victoria Burkhart (Elysium, CHAPPiE) in collaboration with Creative BC and Bell Media in Canada.

Georg Kaltenbrunner joined Industrial Light & Magic in 2014 as an FX Lead, and is currently an FX Supervisor. Georg oversees the day to day work of the FX team, both creatively and technically. He is also very involved when it comes to hiring and casting crew for specific show needs.

After finishing Waldorf School in his hometown of Vienna, Austria, Georg went to SAE College to study digital film. His career started at various TV commercial houses, as well as game start-ups. In 2005, he moved to Chicago were he continued to work on high profile national TV commercials. After moving to London in 2007, Georg freelanced at various post production houses before traveling to Montreal to work on John Woo’s Red Cliff 2. Georg went on to work at Double Negative, Digital Domain, and Sony Picture Imageworks before coming to ILM.

Georg has won two Annie Awards for Doctor Strange and Avengers respectively. He’s been nominated for three VES Awards for Avengers (Simulation) and Only the Brave (Simulation and Supporting VFX).

Greg Mitchell has spent over a decade as Cinematics Director for the award-winning video game series, Gears of War. After previously working 15 years in television and film, Greg ventured into video game cinematics in 2005 and contributed to titles such as Mortal Kombat, Infinity Blade, Bulletstorm, and Shadow Complex. Greg has held positions at Midway and Epic Games, and now drives the cinematic vision for Gears of War at The Coalition Studio in Vancouver, BC.

Dr. Hank Driskill is the Chief Technology Officer at Blue Sky Studios, and is thrilled to be a part of Blue Sky's team. Hank has encouraged a philosophy that innovation in our field should always be in service of making movies that matter; sharing technology across our industry through mechanisms like the ASWF will only help every studio tell stories that mean something. Hank grew up in the small town of Gardner, Kansas. He received bachelor degrees in both Computer Science and Astronomy from the University of Kansas, going on to earn his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Utah. He embarked on his professional career at Digital Domain, where he helped bring films such as Apollo 13, Dante's Peak, The Fifth Element and Titanic to life. Hank then spent 20 years at Walt Disney Animation Studios as part of the studio's leadership, most recently serving as Technical Supervisor on Big Hero 6 and Moana.

As the Outreach and Recruiting Manager at WildBrain (formerly DHX) Heather is passionate about all things creative and technical. When matching candidates, roles, and business culture, she draws upon 20+ years in the creative-tech industry as a Recruiter, Trainer, Project Manager and Graphic Artist. Working in-house she has directed large scale recruiting for corporations and managed slow growth business development for boutique start-ups including: Electronic Arts, Capcom, Scanline VFX, and Digital Domain. Heather specializes in customized resource sourcing via a worldwide network.

Having worked in the UK and Germany, Jörn has supervised such titles as Independence Day: Resurgence on behalf of Mackevision, and Star Trek: Into Darkness, Oblivion, and Academy Award Winner for Best Achievement in Visual Effects Hugo, on behalf of Pixomondo.

Jörn won the VES Award in 2013 and Emmy Award in 2013 and 2014 for his work on Game of Thrones, a show he has contributed to for over six seasons as VFX supervisor. Jörn has recently wrapped work on Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home.

With a keen eye for detail, in-depth understanding of visual effects from development through to delivery, and experience in on-set supervision, Jörn offers expertise at every stage of production.

Ziva Co-founder & CEO, James Jacobs, is an Academy Award winning VFX artist with over 25 years of expertise as a Technical Director and Software Engineer. James has held leadership positions at the world’s top VFX and animation studios, including Weta Digital, Digital Domain, Dreamworks, Mr. X and Method Studios. He has received critical acclaim for his professional contributions to blockbusters such as Avatar, Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Prometheus, and King Kong.

In 2015, Jacobs co-founded Ziva Dynamics, a technology company dedicated to solving the most challenging and high-value character obstacles within the media & entertainment space. Ziva technology is considered the gold standard for creature work across Hollywood, and now, Ziva is tackling the real-time game industry.

Prior to becoming one of Digital Domain’s Visual Effects Supervisors, Jan Philip Cramer served as DD’s Head of Animation for many years and is one of the industry’s leading Animation Directors. He has been on set for numerous blockbuster films focusing on creature and facial animation. He has garnered an impressive list of credits and accolades in his 15-year career, including winning a VES award for his work on the digital character Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

As Head of Animation at Digital Domain, Phil oversaw a team of top animators in the Digital Domain animation department, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in visual effects and animation. Phil has supervised animation on multiple feature films including Morbius, Ender’s Game, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Homecoming and led animation on James Cameron’s Avatar. Phil was also Animation Director on the hugely successful Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame. He brings all that animation experience to what he is doing now as a visual effects supervisor. His methodology is to consistently refine the VFX process which streamlines the overall pipeline, ultimately creating a more effective workflow.

Phil recently served as DD’s VFX Supervisor on the Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series She-Hulk, which recently hit Disney+. Phil oversaw the Digital Domain visual effects work across several episodes comprising upwards of 975 very complex shots. The work involves creating a fully CG She-Hulk actress that is an integral character in this Marvel episodic.

Jason Greenblum is a VFX supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks most recently overseeing SPI's work on Jumanji: The Next Level. He previously served as DFX supervisor on The Meg, Smallfoot, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Hotel Transylvania 2 and Ghostbusters.

Additional Imageworks projects include: Oz the Great & Powerful, Green Lantern, Due Date, G-Force, Body of Lies, I Am Legend, Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, Superman Returns, and the Academy Award ®-winning Spider-Man 2.

Greenblum previously worked at Method Studios as a compositing supervisor on Let Me In and A Nightmare on Elm Street. He was at Weta Digital serving as a compositing sequence lead on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and senior compositor on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Earlier credits earned at Rhythm & Hues include Stuart Little 2, Men in Black 2, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone, Cats & Dogs, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bedazzled, Battlefield Earth, and Stuart Little. At Digital Domain he contributed to Supernova and The Fifth Element.

Greenblum was awarded a BFA from the University of Georgia.

Jessica has been collaborating with teams in the tech industry for over a decade, contributing to workflow, process and diverse projects in leading tech companies such as Rogers Communications, Digital Domain, MPC and the American Marketing Association. Throughout her career, she has always strived to reconcile technology and humanity and make tech more accessible and intuitive for its users.

She strives to make others around her develop their full potential and has been a pillar in the Tech community for many years. As Co-Founder of YVRFF (Vancouver Virtual Reality Film Festival), and Founder of CRAFTGRAPH (a networking series bringing together professionals from the computing, recording and art & film technologies fields) she has been a champion of change, creative collaboration and innovation.

Jessica is currently the Production Technology Department Manager at DNEG in Vancouver. As ProdTech Department Manager, she provides dedicated and consistent line management, ensuring appropriate crewing and career development for the R&D and Pipeline teams.

Kathryn Brillhart is a director, cinematographer, and innovator in experimental media.

Her unique experience producing volumetric capture, cinematic content, and visual effects set her apart.

Behind the camera as a cinematographer, Kathryn works consistently in several formats and styles: feature film, short film, music video, and documentary. Her experience in Visual Effects and immersive media have created several opportunities to collaborate globally on 3D Theme Park Media, VR, and Virtual Production projects. Her body of work explores deeper human issues by pushing the boundaries of visual poetry, movement, and mixed media.

She is also known for curating public screenings to give context for her films as well as provide exposure for other artists.

Kathryn's work has been screened in many festivals and local Los Angeles based curated shows including: The Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival, The Atlanta Film Festival, The Southern Shorts Awards, The Selflessness of Space Immersive Arts Exhibition, TTLF Fest 2014, The Art of Post 2016 as well as The Toronto Black Film Festival and The Hollywood Black Film Festival 2017.

In her spare time, Kathryn is an active volunteer and member of the Board of Directors for the Visual Effects Society. She also serves on the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council, Virtual Production Committee, Alliance of Women Directors, and Women in Media.

Kristin is a Lead Visualization Artist for Halon Entertainment in Santa Monica, California. After graduating from The Digital Animation and Visual Effects School she joined the studio as a Postvis artist on Alice Through the Looking Glass, before embarking as an integral member of the Previs teams for both Logan, and War for the Planet of the Apes. Kristin's talents have contributed to a variety of projects on the studio's slate including commercials, video game trailers, and theme park rides. Her most recent projects include Previs Lead on James Gray's Ad Astra, as well as The Call of the Wild Virtual Production team, and as Previs Lead on Academy Award Best Picture nominee Ford v. Ferrari.

Dr. Larry Gritz is the Software Engineering Architect for Sony Pictures Imageworks, developing rendering technology as well as managing SPI's open source efforts. Larry has a BS in computer science from Cornell University, MS and DSc from the George Washington University, and has held engineering management positions at Pixar, Exluna, and NVIDIA prior to joining Imageworks in 2008. Larry is the administrator and lead author of two open source projects widely used in VFX: OpenImageIO, and Open Shading Language, for which he won an Academy Sci-Tech award in 2017. Larry is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Elizabeth "Liz" Bernard is an Animation Supervisor at Digital Domain with more than 18 full-length feature film and several shorts and episodics work credits. She most recently supervised animation on Terminator: Dark Fate and on Captain Marvel. Currently, she and her team are hard at work creating hilarious visuals and performances on the upcoming feature comedy Free Guy, staring Ryan Reynolds and Taika Watiti.

Liz holds a B.A. in Drama from the University of Virginia, and has an extensive background in theatre arts both on- and back-stage, as well as photography, all of which combine to give her an exceptional eye for composition, scene building, and storytelling. She has a special passion for bringing animals, creatures, and monsters not just to life, but to an emotional connection with the audience. She has led animation on many blockbuster films including Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Power Rangers, and Disney's Beauty & the Beast, A Wrinkle in Time, and Maleficent, among many others.

Mario is a creative artist, technical director and colour technologist. Mario has years of experience in integrating the creative side of visual effects with unique artist perspective and pipeline software and tools. An in-depth understanding of color science concepts has allowed him to setup and develop colour pipelines in many facilities based on OCIO/Aces and custom requirements. Knowledge of underlying technology and artist perspective enable him to outline immediate and long term goals and work on them with pipeline developers. Mario also has strong UI and UX experience to create intuitive and responsive Pyside/PyQT interfaces for colour and pipeline tools.

Awards and Nominations: 14th VES awards for Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature on San Andreas (nominee); International Emmy Award for work on The Magic Tree TV series.

Marko Chulev has been working at Industrial Light & Magic for the past nine years. He started in Singapore in 2011, then moved to London in 2014 and has been in the Vancouver office since 2015. Since joining Industrial Light & Magic, Marko has contributed to many features including, Terminator: Dark Fate, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Kong: Skull Island, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Mummy, Warcraft, The Avengers and Star Trek: Into Darkness, among others.

As a Model Supervisor, Chulev specializes in the creation of creatures and digital humans as well as a focus on hair grooming and textures. Chulev oversees the day-to-day work of the DMS team both creatively and technically.

Marko began his career in 2005 in his home town of Skopje, Macedonia at Fx3x. His background covers all aspects of the pipeline, from modeling to compositing shots, with his current focus at ILM being asset development.

He is a self-taught artist, who is passionate about all aspects of visual effects. After finishing high school he was able to turn his hobby into a job and instead of going to school decided to pursue a career in visual effects. He is constantly learning new techniques and expanding his skillset using his free time to create realistic 3D art models and 3D prints.

Chulev was nominated for a Visual Effects Society Award in 2017 for Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project for his work on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Matthias Scharfenberg has been with ILM as a senior colour scientist for over 3 years. Prior to that, Matthias was at Double Negative for almost 12 years, also as a technical supervisor for Colour & Imaging Science. He has contributed to numerous feature films and software projects during that time and is now actively involved in both the OpenColorIO and ACES projects.

McCoy Smith is the Founding Attorney at Lex Pan Law, and the Founder of Opsequio. Previously, he spent 20 years in the legal department of a Fortune 50 multinational technology company, where he set up open source compliance policies. He is also a sought-after speaker on intellectual property and open source legal issues.

McCoy is an editor on the Journal of Open Law, Technology & Society (JOLTS). He also served as co-chair of the Open Source Committee of the Intellectual Property Owner's Association (IPO).

He is licensed to practice law in Oregon, California & New York and U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. He has degrees from Colorado State University (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, with honours), Johns Hopkins University (Masters of Liberal Arts) and the University of Virginia (J.D.). Although based in Portland, Oregon, McCoy and his wife are part-time British Columbians, owning a home on Denman Island, BC.

Sang Mah has enjoyed a multi-faceted career in digital media, encompassing content creation, research and development, and private public partnerships. She is currently Managing Director at Shocap Entertainment, an extended reality entertainment production company exploring new ways to tell stories that reach audiences in unique forms by combining the language, conventions, and mediums of live theatre, film, animation, and video games. Shocap is founded by Lifelike & Believable Animation Design and Animatrik Film Design with a debut project LiViCi for live and virtual circus. Prior to her current role, Sang spent eight years with a national non-profit organization supporting industry-academic collaborations and consortiums across all disciplines. Other former roles include Director of Interactive at Bardel Entertainment, and executive roles with local tech start-ups. Since 2019, Sang has also been a member of the Spark CG Leadership Committee.

Shawn brings extensive skill, knowledge and insight to Framestore, drawing from a rich pool of experiences that includes both film and TV. Shawn began his career working for boutique animation companies before being snapped up by ILM, where he worked on the Oscar-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the blockbuster Jurassic World, as well as being nominated for a VES Award for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Shawn has recently deployed his skills on high-profile TV projects such as Legion (FX), Prison Break (20th Century Fox Television), Gotham (Warner Bros. Television) and The Flash (Warner Bros. Television), working with some of the medium's biggest names and bringing to life distinctive, globally-renowned IP with his trademark flair and precision.

Shawn enjoys the careful balance of technical know-how and creativity demanded of a VFX Supervisor, and he remains fascinated by the creative process by which he and his team help drive a film's narrative.

When not putting his creative and technical abilities to the test with Framestore, Shawn enjoys testing his physical limits with Ironman triathlons and marathon swims. He is currently training for a 10km ocean swim and, having worked on Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim (2013), thankfully knows how to avoid any sea-dwelling kaiju.

Stuart Adcock is the Head of Weta Digital's Facial Motion Department. He joined Weta in 2018 to work on the cutting-edge digital characters that star in Alita: Battle Angel and Gemini Man.

The Facial Motion Department team is made up of two specialised teams, 'Facial Motion' and 'Facial Modelling' who work together to produce high-fidelity facial animation. As Head of Department, Stuart ensures his artists are equipped with the very best tools and techniques to deliver the world's best facial performances.

In his early career, Stuart worked at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Ninja Theory developing video games. He joined Industrial Light & Magic in 2015, where he spent several years supervising a research and development project focused on virtual production and the integration of real-time aspects into the VFX workflow.

In addition to Alita: Battle Angel and Gemini Man, Stuart has recently completed work on Avengers: Endgame, and Disney's remake of Lady & the Tramp. He is currently working across James Cameron's Avatar sequels.

Sue Rowe is a visual effects supervisor with over 25 years of experience in the film industry. As a child, Sue loved drawing, so it was no surprise that she went on to study for a BA in Animation at university. Following this, Sue went on to study for her MA in Computer Animation back in the day when it was all programming! This is where she experienced the creative buzz of Visual Effects, with her first job in the industry on Space Jam with Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny! Sue’s latest project was as Scanline’s co-VFX Supervisor for Meg 2: The Trench, where she brought three huge Megalodons and a T-Rex to life!

Taylor Lenton started his career as a visual effects' artist in Vancouver, after attending Vancouver Film School. He is currently a CG supervisor at Method Studios, recently lending his talents to VES Awards nominated Ford v Ferrari and X-Men horror spinoff, The New Mutants. Prior to joining Method, Taylor worked at MPC and Cinesite, serving as Lead Lighting TD on Suicide Squad, The Mummy, A Wrinkle In Time, and Justice League. He is currently working on ThunderForce from director Ben Falcone.

Wade Wilson started his visual effects career in 2008, as a runner at Rainmaker. After only two months he moved into Tech Animation where he was able to work on a wide range of projects from the racing game, Driver: San Francisco to the animated feature, Escape from Planet Earth.

Later, Wade moved to MPC where he worked as a Creature Lead on Guardians of the Galaxy, Game of Thrones and The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

In 2014, Wilson joined Industrial Light & Magic as a Creature Supervisor where he has contributed to numerous films including Terminator: Dark Fate, A Wrinkle in Time, Kong: Skull Island, Deepwater Horizon, Warcraft and Captain America: Civil War.

As Head of CG Canada, Zoe engages in shows from their very initial discussions until their final delivery, and beyond! Zoe is excited to adopt new technologies and resources, giving artists a new and exciting means to create VFX of the highest level.

Whilst being an active member of the VFX and Animation Community, Zoe is passionate about building and growing talented and diverse teams, whereby people can work at their very best in a thriving and enriching environment.

Zoe started her career in 2005 at Double Negative London, subsequently working in the Singapore and Vancouver studios. Her most recent roles were CG Supervisor, Head of Build and Head of CG.