EDITION 3: 2026
2026 SPEAKERS
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Fede Alvarez (Director / Writer / Producer)
Uruguayan filmmaker Fede is known for visceral genre films. He broke out with Evil Dead (2013) and the hit Don’t Breathe. His work spans film and TV, including Calls and Alien: Romulus (2024), an acclaimed, award-nominated franchise installment with global box-office success and influence.
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Caleb Heymann (Director of Photography)
Known for precise visual storytelling and intuitive use of light, texture, and movement. Working across film, television, documentary, and commercials, his credits include Stranger Things. His work emphasises grounded realism, strong atmosphere, and emotionally resonant, immersive imagery.
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James Carson (CG Supervisor - KPOP Demon Hunters)
Sony Pictures Imageworks is an Academy Award®-winning visual effects and animation studio known for photoreal live-action visual effects, dynamic creature and character animation and full-CG features.
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Esteban Chacin (3D & Motion Supervisor)
Moment Factory is a global multidisciplinary entertainment studio redefining immersive experiences and human connections in the most innovative ways.
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Tobias Wiesner (Compositing Supervisor - Last of Us, Season 2)
Tobias is a VES Award-winning Compositing Supervisor at Wētā FX, where he oversees the integration of live-action, CG, and FX elements into cohesive, story-driven visual effects for film and TV productions.
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Jay Worth (VFX Supervisor - Fallout, Season 1 & 2)
Worth is an Emmy and Visual Effects Society award winner. He has collaborated with Jonathan Nolan and Kilter films as well as J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot throughout his career. He has worked on series such as Fallout, Westworld, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Person of Interest and The Magicians.
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Dylan Sisson (Artist & Designer)
Exclusive: 72-second Screening of Toy Story 5
Dylan Sisson is a seasoned digital artist with over 25 years of expertise in animation and visual effects. He's been a key figure at Pixar Animation Studios since 1999, significantly contributing to the evolution and promotion of RenderMan.
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Represented by Sacha Milroy (Exec Producer / CEO), Kath Duggan (Movement Specialist & Performer)
Punchdrunk pioneers immersive theatre, placing audiences at the centre of expansive worlds. Renowned for its mask shows and global successes including Sleep No More, Punchdrunk collaborates across music, fashion, film, and television, redefining performance through exploration, scale, and cross-cultural storytelling and landmark live experiences.
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Camille Balsamo-Gillis (Co- Founder)
Pro Machina builds and shoots miniatures for practical FX in blockbuster films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Alien: Romulus.
Presented by: Creative Skillnet
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Nic Cabana (Co-Founder & Animator).
Nic Cabana is an Annie-nominated animation veteran whose career includes work on acclaimed projects such as Game of Thrones, Jurassic World, Bumblebee, The Suicide Squad, Fantastic Beasts, and Paddington 2.
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Giovanna Ferrari (Director and Writer - Eíru)
Giovanna has worked on several feature films across Europe as both a storyboard artist and animator. She was head of story and animation director on My Father’s Dragon for which she was awarded an Irish Animation Award in 2023.
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Gavin Little (Owner)
Echolab is a creative audio studio dedicated to crafting distinctive soundtracks for both commercial and artistic projects with a unique perspective.
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Matthew Scott (Founder and CEO)
Matthew is a multi-award winning and renowned Digital Media Entertainment pioneer with world firsts in new content formats, mobile media platforms, hyperlocal news platforms, interactive media, live streaming, immersive experiences, digital twin technology, generative AI and Web3.
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Greg Maguire (CEO)
Greg Maguire’s film career spans iconic characters in Harry Potter, Terminator, Spiderman, Happy Feet, Avatar, and Star Wars. In 2017, he founded HUMAIN, a trusted partner to the biggest names in AAA video games including Microsoft Xbox Studio’s, Electronic Arts, and Zenimax Online Studios. The company’s credits include Halo, Call of Duty, Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2, Flight Simulator, Avowed, and Outer Worlds 2. As Professor of Animation at Ulster University, he founded the 3D computer animation program. He is a member of the Visual Effects Society and the CoSTAR Foresight Board.
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Helen Sloan | Production Stills Photographer
Helen is a production stills photographer, best known for her work on Wednesday Season 2, How To Train Your Dragon, and Game of Thrones.
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Germán Diez (Head of Studio & VFX Supervisor)
Germán Diez is Head of Studio and Creative Technologist at Nexus Studios, working across visual effects, animation, and emerging technologies. An Emmy Award–winning creative, he was recognised for his work on the immersive UFC experience at the Sphere in Las Vegas and has served as VFX Supervisor on projects ranging from large-scale immersive installations to feature films such as The House (2022).
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Jennifer Zheng (Associate Creative Director)
BUCK is a global creative company that brings, brands, stories, and experiences to life through art, design and technology.
Jennifer Zheng: As a Chinese babe in Northern Ireland Jen learned to draw by sketching the same boiled egg for a month because her dad told her “Leonardo Da Vinci did it”-he didn’t. Now she’s found a career where that behavior’s normal: Animation. She’s hatched into a Queer, BAFTA nominated, Sundance screened, Associate Creative Director at BUCK.
On the side she is an award-winning Standup Comedian, occasional drag performer and erotica zine publisher.
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Eranka Weerasuriya (Head of Virtual Production)
Eranka Weerasuriya is the Head of Virtual Production at Studio Ulster Ltd, a £72 million next-generation virtual production studio and creative technology firm based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With more than two decades of experience spanning Virtual Production, Visual Effects, Animation, and Live Action, Eranka has an unwavering passion and commitment to advancing immersive storytelling and driving technological innovation.
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Ben Kidd (Lead Solutions Architect)
Ben Kidd is a Solution Architect specialising in virtual production and performance capture, based at Epic’s Innovation London Lab. As manager of the lab’s Virtual Production stage, he oversees technical operations, workflow development, testing, and cutting-edge demonstrations that showcase the power of Unreal Engine in real-time filmmaking.
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Stage, Screen & Immersive Director
Robyn is a stage, screen and immersive director based as Founding Director of Liminal Stage Productions, Consultant Freelancer & Associate Learning Practitioner at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Evolve Mentor with COSTAR’s National Lab.
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Katherine Jones (CG Supervisor)
Recently supervising KPOP Demon Hunters and In Your Dreams. Her credits include the Oscar®-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse. Previously a VFX supervisor at Stereo D, she is a Women in Animation member.
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Ronan O’Boyle (Product Lead)
Ronan O’Boyle is the Product Lead for Lureo, a location-based AR storytelling platform that enables creators to build interactive, immersive experiences tied to real-world places.
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Noel O'Malley (CG & On-Set Supervisor),
Dean Koonjul (DFX Supervisor)Union VFX are an independent, BAFTA-winning, visual effects facility. Their work includes 28 Years Later, Black Mirror, Moon Knight, Stan & Ollie and The Sandman.
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Sam Taylor (Head of Innovation & Development)
Sam Taylor has over 14 years’ experience in the industry, beginning his career at REALTIME working on game trailers, cinematics and advertising projects.
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Marcin Gawin, Helena Hamilton, Josh McAvoy.
Showcasing some of the best projects by artists from Immersive Arts UK. A national network supporting immersive and experiential art, culture and technology. It connects artists, producers, researchers and venues, advocates for the sector, shares knowledge, and develops skills, funding opportunities and policy to grow immersive practices across the UK through collaboration, research, innovation and audience engagement nationwide.
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Oisín O'Brien (Founder)
Oisín is the founder of Visual Spectrum Studios, bringing over 15 years of experience in event production, art direction, animation, lighting design, and programming.
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Ed Tracy (Creative Director)
Ed Tracy is a BAFTA-winning, Emmy-nominated writer, director, and producer, and a BAFTA-nominated visual effects producer, bringing his vision to the AI-enabled creative platform Studio1.ai. He co-created, wrote, and directed Fonejacker and Facejacker, and has collaborated with Tom Hardy and Banksy. He is also the creator of the Monsters AI channel, with over 85 million views and 260,000 subscribers. Invited by Meta to join its Developer Program, he is an advocate for artist-led, AI-powered storytelling.
LAWRENCE SHER - DIRECTOR OF PHOTO (JOKER, PAUL, HANGOVER) | SALLYANN HOUGHTON - INDUSTRY MANAGER FASHION (EPIC GAMES) | SEAMUS MCGARVEY - DIRECTOR OF PHOTO (AVENGERS, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN) | DANIEL PEIXE - ANIMATOR (WALT DISNEY STUDIOS) | TORBIN BULLOCK - EDITOR (PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS) | LAURA LIVINGSTONE - VFX EXECUTIVE (NETFLIX) | JAKUB KNAPIK - GLOBAL ART DIRECTOR (CD PROJEKT RED) | PAWEL GROCHOLA - FX (SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS) | CHRIS BAUDER (WHITEVOID, KINETIC LIGHTS, DARK MATTER) | JANY TEMIME - COSTUME DESIGNER (HARRY POTTER) | EMIL PAGLIARULO - DESIGN DIRECTOR (BETHESDA) | SUZY FAGAN PARR - ANIMATOR (AARDMAN) | SIMON JUNG - VFX SUPERVISOR (WETA FX) | MIKE REISS - WRITER/ PRODUCER (THE SIMPSONS) | CHARMAINE CHAN - VFX (INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC) | EOGHAN CUNNEEN - VIRTUAL PRODUCTION (LUCASFILM) | SHADDY SAFADI - FOUNDER (ONE PIXEL BRUSH) | RAMSEY AVERY - DESIGNER (LORD OF THE RINGS) | DAVID JAMES - STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER (STAR WARS, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE)
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