MASTER SERIES 2026
January 1 - December 31, 2026
Vancouver Film School
Theatre 106
151 West Cordova St
Vancouver, BC
Kilobyte Sponsors
Byte Sponsor
Partners
Alliance Partner
MASTER SERIES 2026
FROM SPARK CG SOCIETY & VANCOUVER ACM SIGGRAPH
January 1 - December 31, 2026
TOP LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES WITH INDUSTRY NINJAS
Presented by Spark CG, the series brings audiences face to face with leading creators from animation, visual effects, games, and digital storytelling for focused sessions on craft, story, design, direction, and creative process.
Through artist talks, demonstrations, conversations, and all-day learning events, SPARK MASTER SERIES explores how screen work is actually made: how characters are designed, stories are shaped, performances are animated, worlds are built, visual styles are developed, and ideas make their way from sketchbook to screen.
Past sessions have featured acclaimed creators including Borja Montoro, James Baxter, Brenda Chapman, Georgina Hayns, Brian Leif Hansen, Shiyoon Kim & Jihyun Park, Sandro Cleuzo, Ron Clements, John Musker, Jorge R. Gutiérrez, Tonko House, Tony Bancroft, Aaron Blaise, Sergio Pablos, Lauren Airriess, Ron Husband, and many others.
For students, emerging creators, working professionals, and passionate audiences, SPARK MASTER SERIES offers rare access to the creative process — not as theory, but as lived experience from the people who do the work.
Saturday - August 15, 10:00 AM
TBA
Trevor Jimenez & Keith Blackmore
Regular: $125
Coming soon.
BIOGRAPHIES
Vancouver-born and raised, Keith Blackmore is a passionate supporter for all things animated in the Vancouver area. A producer for the SPARK ANIMATION Festival, Keith has presented, interviewed and moderated at many festivals and studios. Most recently, he was on the Film Jury for the 2022 Taiwan International Student Design Competition, the largest student design competition around the world. Keith is also the host of the monthly Vancouver Civic Theatres’ film series, Silent Movie Mondays, at the opulent and historic Orpheum Theatre.
Besides his work with the Spark CG Society, Keith continues to educate and inspire students at the Vancouver Film School, in his weekly History of Animation classes.
Trevor Jimenez is a director at Pixar Animation Studios, where he is currently directing an upcoming feature film slated for 2028. He also directed “Mixed Signals,” episode six of Pixar’s Win or Lose.
Trevor previously spent more than 10 years in Pixar’s story department, contributing to Finding Dory, Coco, Luca, and Soul, the latter as Story Supervisor. His short film Weekends was nominated for an Academy Award, won the 2019 Annie Award for Best Animated Short, and received both the Jury Award and Audience Award at Annecy in 2018.
Before joining Pixar, Trevor worked as a story artist at several studios, including Blue Sky, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Illumination, and Henry Selick’s Cinderbiter Studios. Originally from Hamilton, Canada, he now lives in Berkeley, California, USA.
© 2026 · Spark CG Society