JP Sans, is currently a Co-Director. He most recently served as Head of Character Animation on DreamWorks Animation’s latest hit film, The Bad Guys. He made his co-directing debut at DreamWorks Animation on the animated short film Bilby, which received numerous industry accolades and awards.

Other notable projects and credits include Trolls World Tour, Rio, Rise of the Guardians and the Ice Age Franchise. Born in Venezuela and raised in Florida his love of art and acting started from a young age. This led him to pursue a career in animation achieving his degree in Computer Animation from Miami International University of Art & Design. To this day, his favorite part of animation is the unique ability to connect with audiences through acting and performance.

Pierre Perifel is a french film director, head of animation, character designer and storyboarder who’s spent most of his career working for DreamWorks animation. An alumnus of Gobelins, l’Ecole de l’image, he’s best known for directing the feature film The Bad Guys and the award winning short films Bilby and Le Building. Nominated for three Annie Awards and winning one, he’s started as an animator both for traditional and CG projects, before leading animation teams and taking bigger roles within DreamWorks. The Bad Guys is his feature directorial debut and is slated to release in April 2022. His work is heavily influenced by the iconography of French of graphic novels and european films, and blends the simplification of illustrative animation with the sophistication of live action staging.

Alan Chen is a Look Dev. Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks with two decades of experience working on live-action and animated features. He most recently completed work on the visually innovative Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Previously, Chen served as Lead Look Dev. TD on features including: the Academy Award®-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Over the Moon.

Chen joined Imageworks in 2004 and his additional credits include: Hotel Transylvania 2, Captain America, both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films, and Surf’s Up.

Chen received a bachelor of arts degree in computer science from William &  Mary and a masters degree in computer animation from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Kelsey Wagner is a Supervising Animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks currently completing work on the highly anticipated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Previously, Wagner served as Supervising Animator on numerous features including: the Academy Award®-nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Hotel Transylvania 3, The Meg and The Angry Birds Movie and The Angry Birds Movie 2.

With over two decades of industry experience, Wagner’s additional animation credits include: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank, Escape from Planet Earth, Arthur Christmas and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Wagner attended Trinity Western University and the University of Victoria.

Alan Chen is a Look Dev. Supervisor at Sony Pictures Imageworks with two decades of experience working on live-action and animated features. He most recently completed work on the visually innovative Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Previously, Chen served as Lead Look Dev. TD on features including: the Academy Award®-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Over the Moon.

Chen joined Imageworks in 2004 and his additional credits include: Hotel Transylvania 2, Captain America, both Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films, and Surf’s Up.

Chen received a bachelor of arts degree in computer science from William &  Mary and a masters degree in computer animation from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Kelsey Wagner is a Supervising Animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks currently completing work on the highly anticipated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Previously, Wagner served as Supervising Animator on numerous features including: the Academy Award®-nominated The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, Hotel Transylvania 3, The Meg and The Angry Birds Movie and The Angry Birds Movie 2.

With over two decades of industry experience, Wagner’s additional animation credits include: The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank, Escape from Planet Earth, Arthur Christmas and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Wagner attended Trinity Western University and the University of Victoria.

Pierre Perifel is a french film director, head of animation, character designer and storyboarder who’s spent most of his career working for DreamWorks animation. An alumnus of Gobelins, l’Ecole de l’image, he’s best known for directing the feature film The Bad Guys and the award winning short films Bilby and Le Building. Nominated for three Annie Awards and winning one, he’s started as an animator both for traditional and CG projects, before leading animation teams and taking bigger roles within DreamWorks. The Bad Guys is his feature directorial debut and is slated to release in April 2022. His work is heavily influenced by the iconography of French of graphic novels and european films, and blends the simplification of illustrative animation with the sophistication of live action staging.

JP Sans, is currently a Co-Director. He most recently served as Head of Character Animation on DreamWorks Animation’s latest hit film, The Bad Guys. He made his co-directing debut at DreamWorks Animation on the animated short film Bilby, which received numerous industry accolades and awards.

Other notable projects and credits include Trolls World Tour, Rio, Rise of the Guardians and the Ice Age Franchise. Born in Venezuela and raised in Florida his love of art and acting started from a young age. This led him to pursue a career in animation achieving his degree in Computer Animation from Miami International University of Art & Design. To this day, his favorite part of animation is the unique ability to connect with audiences through acting and performance.

As Founder and CEO of Gasolina Studios, Joe has collaborated in animated shows like Rick & Morty, Little Angel, and Carl’s Car Wash with companies like Bardel, Moonbug Entertainment, and Skyship Entertainment.

He is also the Executive Producer of My Brother the Monster and other shows on Gasolina Studios’ development slate. In addition, he has helped many creators worldwide bring their ideas to life.

Before founding Gasolina Studios in 2012, Joe developed video games and participated in live-action and theatre projects.

Graduated from UQAT with a Major in Visual Effects and a personalized Minor, as well as from the NAD Centre, Pierre has been working in the field of visual effects since 2009 and is also a lecturer at UQAT. As a passionate speaker about his profession, he knows how to captivate and convey his knowledge to his audience and students. Pierre has worked on several major productions in recent years and was nominated for a VES award in 2017 for Black Sails 3.

Étienne is a team manager and senior developer with established skills, rooted in a strong history of working in the VFX and animation industries. His particular focus is on innovation, providing quality code and development processes to strengthen the film, 3D and Animation pipelines.

Robert Rioux, known as Blender Bob in the VFX industry, boasts over 25 years of experience in the field of visual effects. He has lent his skills to renowned companies such as Rhythm & Hues, Atomic Fiction, and Method Studios, garnering a wealth of knowledge and expertise. With over 30,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, he has become a go-to source for VFX artists. Currently, he holds the position of Director of Innovation and Technology and CG Supervisor at Real by FAKE.

Dylan Sisson is a digital artist with over two decades of experience in VFX and animation. He began his career animating commercials, creating game cinematics, and honing his skills with award-winning independent shorts. In 1999, Dylan joined Pixar and has been instrumental in the development of Pixar’s core rendering technology, RenderMan. Dylan is also the creator of the RenderMan Walking Teapot.

Aside from his work at Pixar, Dylan is constantly pushing the boundaries of digital art by exploring new frontiers in VR, AI, and 3D printing, and has made a name for himself as a creative innovator in the industry.

Philipp Wolf is the Executive-In-Charge, Corporate Strategy at DNEG based in Montreal. He has worked on projects such as Dune and Glass Onion: A Knife’s Out Mystery. As a VFX Producer, Philipp has collaborated with directors such as Guy Ritchie, David Yates, and Shane Black. He is a Member of the VES Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the VES Health & Wellbeing committee, and Co-Chair of the Animation and VFX committee at the Producers Guild of America. Philipp started his career producing shorts, gained recognition with a VES Award nomination, and worked on notable projects such as Game of Thrones, The Mummy, and Godzilla.

David has over 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. He contributed to the Visual Effects Society community as an active board member for the past 10 years.

He started as a technical help and support at a software reseller and has since co-founded three companies related to the industry. During this period, he worked on a few movie productions .He also taught Maya in few schools and university in Montreal.

David helped found and grow the biggest Autodesk M&E partner in Canada, 3vis, and played a pivotal role in growing their M&E portfolio offering at Scalar after the 3vis acquisition. He is currently building a worldwide M&E strategic business for Hypertec.

Damien Fagnou is vice president, of software at NVIDIA, working on NVIDIA Omniverse, where he brings together his expertise in software and VFX production to help build Omniverse Kit and Omniverse Code. Previously, Damien was the senior vice president of technology for Technicolor, where he oversaw technology and software strategy for the VFX group, as well as CTO for MPC Film, working on Oscar-winning films The Jungle Book and 1917. During that time, MPC also created the VFX for the groundbreaking Lion King remake. With almost 20 years of experience in VFX, Damien looks forward to contributing to the future of graphics software at NVIDIA.

Frederic Servant is a Director of Engineering at Autodesk and is based in London, where he looks after the Arnold, Bifrost, look development and color management development teams scattered around the globe. Previously in charge of the Arnold team, he once was the main developer of the Arnold integration in Houdini. Prior to working on Arnold, Frederic worked as an R&D Engineer at The Mill in London and La Maison in Paris.

Robert Rioux, known as Blender Bob in the VFX industry, boasts over 25 years of experience in the field of visual effects. He has lent his skills to renowned companies such as Rhythm & Hues, Atomic Fiction, and Method Studios, garnering a wealth of knowledge and expertise. With over 30,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, he has become a go-to source for VFX artists. Currently, he holds the position of Director of Innovation and Technology and CG Supervisor at Real by FAKE.

Frederic Servant is a Director of Engineering at Autodesk and is based in London, where he looks after the Arnold, Bifrost, look development and color management development teams scattered around the globe. Previously in charge of the Arnold team, he once was the main developer of the Arnold integration in Houdini. Prior to working on Arnold, Frederic worked as an R&D Engineer at The Mill in London and La Maison in Paris.

Damien Fagnou is vice president, of software at NVIDIA, working on NVIDIA Omniverse, where he brings together his expertise in software and VFX production to help build Omniverse Kit and Omniverse Code. Previously, Damien was the senior vice president of technology for Technicolor, where he oversaw technology and software strategy for the VFX group, as well as CTO for MPC Film, working on Oscar-winning films The Jungle Book and 1917. During that time, MPC also created the VFX for the groundbreaking Lion King remake. With almost 20 years of experience in VFX, Damien looks forward to contributing to the future of graphics software at NVIDIA.

Dylan Sisson is a digital artist with over two decades of experience in VFX and animation. He began his career animating commercials, creating game cinematics, and honing his skills with award-winning independent shorts. In 1999, Dylan joined Pixar and has been instrumental in the development of Pixar’s core rendering technology, RenderMan. Dylan is also the creator of the RenderMan Walking Teapot.

Aside from his work at Pixar, Dylan is constantly pushing the boundaries of digital art by exploring new frontiers in VR, AI, and 3D printing, and has made a name for himself as a creative innovator in the industry.

David has over 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. He contributed to the Visual Effects Society community as an active board member for the past 10 years.

He started as a technical help and support at a software reseller and has since co-founded three companies related to the industry. During this period, he worked on a few movie productions .He also taught Maya in few schools and university in Montreal.

David helped found and grow the biggest Autodesk M&E partner in Canada, 3vis, and played a pivotal role in growing their M&E portfolio offering at Scalar after the 3vis acquisition. He is currently building a worldwide M&E strategic business for Hypertec.

Philipp Wolf is the Executive-In-Charge, Corporate Strategy at DNEG based in Montreal. He has worked on projects such as Dune and Glass Onion: A Knife’s Out Mystery. As a VFX Producer, Philipp has collaborated with directors such as Guy Ritchie, David Yates, and Shane Black. He is a Member of the VES Board of Directors, Co-Chair of the VES Health & Wellbeing committee, and Co-Chair of the Animation and VFX committee at the Producers Guild of America. Philipp started his career producing shorts, gained recognition with a VES Award nomination, and worked on notable projects such as Game of Thrones, The Mummy, and Godzilla.

As Founder and CEO of Gasolina Studios, Joe has collaborated in animated shows like Rick & Morty, Little Angel, and Carl’s Car Wash with companies like Bardel, Moonbug Entertainment, and Skyship Entertainment.

He is also the Executive Producer of My Brother the Monster and other shows on Gasolina Studios’ development slate. In addition, he has helped many creators worldwide bring their ideas to life.

Before founding Gasolina Studios in 2012, Joe developed video games and participated in live-action and theatre projects.

Graduated from UQAT with a Major in Visual Effects and a personalized Minor, as well as from the NAD Centre, Pierre has been working in the field of visual effects since 2009 and is also a lecturer at UQAT. As a passionate speaker about his profession, he knows how to captivate and convey his knowledge to his audience and students. Pierre has worked on several major productions in recent years and was nominated for a VES award in 2017 for Black Sails 3.

Étienne is a team manager and senior developer with established skills, rooted in a strong history of working in the VFX and animation industries. His particular focus is on innovation, providing quality code and development processes to strengthen the film, 3D and Animation pipelines.

JP Sans, is currently a Co-Director. He most recently served as Head of Character Animation on DreamWorks Animation’s latest hit film, The Bad Guys. He made his co-directing debut at DreamWorks Animation on the animated short film Bilby, which received numerous industry accolades and awards.

Other notable projects and credits include Trolls World Tour, Rio, Rise of the Guardians and the Ice Age Franchise. Born in Venezuela and raised in Florida his love of art and acting started from a young age. This led him to pursue a career in animation achieving his degree in Computer Animation from Miami International University of Art & Design. To this day, his favorite part of animation is the unique ability to connect with audiences through acting and performance.

Pierre Perifel is a french film director, head of animation, character designer and storyboarder who’s spent most of his career working for DreamWorks animation. An alumnus of Gobelins, l’Ecole de l’image, he’s best known for directing the feature film The Bad Guys and the award winning short films Bilby and Le Building. Nominated for three Annie Awards and winning one, he’s started as an animator both for traditional and CG projects, before leading animation teams and taking bigger roles within DreamWorks. The Bad Guys is his feature directorial debut and is slated to release in April 2022. His work is heavily influenced by the iconography of French of graphic novels and european films, and blends the simplification of illustrative animation with the sophistication of live action staging.

Adam Lauwers is an Artist Manager and People Experience Business Partner at Scanline VFX in Montreal, Canada. He began his career in San Diego, California in 2010 as an artist before moving up to Toronto and making the transition into the people side of the industry. He has worked at multiple studios across Canada, including Method, Zoic and DNEG. Adam is passionate about the lives and experiences of those working within the industry and partners with team members on community outreach projects, mental health initiatives, and shaping/implementing policies that impact employees.

Katherine Pursey is the Operations Manager for DNEG Montreal having moved there from the London office. She has been in the industry since 2007, spending half her career on the artist side as an FX TD and Lead. She transitioned into an Artist Manager role in DNEG London as she took a keen interest in people’s career development and job satisfaction. She had the opportunity to move to Montreal to help establish the new office in 2018.

Scott Carroll began his feature film career 20 years ago as an Animator at Industrial Light and Magic. In 2005, he moved to Blue Sky Studios, where he animated on the Ice Age films, Horton Hears a Who, Epic and many others. After eight films, Scott became a Supervising Animator, spearheading the animation for The Peanuts Movie (2015), Ferdinand (2017) and Nimona (unreleased). In 2021, he became the Global Head of Animation at Mikros Animation where he oversees all aspects of character performance at their studios in Montreal, Paris, and Bangalore.

Jeremy Robert has 15 years of experience in visual effects and recently oversaw the work on NOPE, delivering 675 VFX shots. This included the alien, cloudscapes, and a new approach to converting plates shot during the day into night. ​

Prior to this, Jeremy was MPC’s VFX Supervisor on Steven Spielberg’s re-imagination of West Side Story.

Before joining MPC in 2019, Jeremy spent 12 years at BUF, where he worked on Blade Runner 2049, Shane Black’s The Predator, X-Men Apocalypse and the acclaimed TV Series American Gods. ​

His career began in 2006, working as a CG Generalist, before becoming an On-Set Supervisor.

Jonathan Bouchard is currently serving as CTO of Reel FX, a studio specializing in animation, visual effects, and immersive experiences. Prior to joining Reel FX, he held leadership positions at several companies, including Mokko Studio and Digital District.

As CTO of Reel FX, Jonathan oversees the company’s technology strategy and drives innovation across its portfolio of projects.

Jonathan is an active member of the technology community, serving as a mentor to young engineers. He is also a member of several professional organizations, including the SIGGRAPH and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Martine Bertrand obtained her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Ottawa in 2012. As an industrial research scientist, she then went on to tackle challenges in a number of areas including computational chemistry, natural language processing, medical imaging, and computer vision. In the last six years, she has developed an expertise in computational approaches falling under the large umbrella of Artificial Intelligence (AI). She also has a passion for science popularization which led her to teach the fundamentals of physics to future visual effects (VFX) artists and life scientists on multiple occasions. She joined DNEG as Senior AI Researcher in 2022 where she’s now exploring novel approaches to keep dazzling audiences around the world.

In addition to a Ph.D. in Film Studies (Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris), JP Flayeux also holds a minor in Anthropology from Indiana University. He then worked for over twenty years in the video game industry and film visual effects industry before becoming a professor at UQAT in Montréal. In addition to his technical and artistic expertise, he wishes to engage in academic research and theory. Developing caring team and leadership during students’ project is also one of his goal.

Francois has worked in the visual effects industry for 25 years during which he worked as a generalist 3D artist, technical director, set supervisor and CG supervisor. He also participated in the development of the USD pipeline as pipeline architect and then head of pipeline at RodeoFX. He is now a professor at the NAD school of digital arts and a consultant in USD pipeline and color management.

Dylan Sisson is a digital artist with over two decades of experience in VFX and animation. He began his career animating commercials, creating game cinematics, and honing his skills with award-winning independent shorts. In 1999, Dylan joined Pixar and has been instrumental in the development of Pixar’s core rendering technology, RenderMan. Dylan is also the creator of the RenderMan Walking Teapot.

Aside from his work at Pixar, Dylan is constantly pushing the boundaries of digital art by exploring new frontiers in VR, AI, and 3D printing, and has made a name for himself as a creative innovator in the industry.

Marc is the founder and VFX supervisor of A.A. Studios, a Montreal-based visual effects studio specializing in large-scale local productions. Marc has been working in the visual effects field since 1999 and has been actively involved in over 1000 productions as an artist and then as a VFX supervisor. Today, Marc is proud to accompany local talent throughout their creative process and deliver international quality visual effects for their ever exciting projects.

Vincent is a multidisciplinary artist. Having worked in the past as a director, editor, and writer, he now focuses on visual effects work. A member of the AA Studios team since 2018, Vincent played a key role in the production of Megantic as he was the one who designed the look of the fire and the digital explosions.

Josée Chapdelaine started in the VFX industry a bit later than most. Though she began her academic career in French Literature, she went back to get a Bachelor in Interior Design and discovered a passion for 3D software in creating interior renderings. After graduation, she went right back to school to get a Bachelor in 3D Animation then promptly got hired by Oblique FX in Montreal where she was mainly doing FX and rigging. With the studio being small, she ended up touching a bit of everything and after 5 years there, she got a job at Rodeo FX, first as a CFX artist, then as a CFX lead, then as a CG Supervisor. Since the beginning of 2021, she’s been back on the CFX side as Head of the Creature FX Department and loving every minute of it.
Josée has worked on well-known productions in the past few years such as Lovecraft Country (nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award), The Aeronauts, Paddington 2, Resident Evil, and the upcoming The Little Mermaid.

With a rich experience as an international TV & event presenter and producer, Eric is passionate about the creative industries, in which he evolves between Paris, Abidjan and Montreal.
Holder of a “VFX and Animation Project Manager” certificate acquired at the prestigious NAD school in Montreal, Eric co-founded Afro VFX in 2022, an initiative aiming to develop a VFX and Animation ecosystem in French-speaking Africa, capable of meeting local and international demand, by relying on the expertise of the Montreal industry.

Joseph has spent most of his career at Hybride. Shortly after his training at NAD, Joseph began his career at Hybride in 1997 as a 3D generalist on the film Mimic by director Guillermo del Toro. Twenty-six years and over 70 films later, Joseph has left his mark on numerous renowned Hollywood productions, including Avatar, Arrival, Jurassic World: Dominion, the last six installments of the Star Wars franchise and the high-end TV series Jack Ryan, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Andor broadcast by Disney+.
A skilled communicator, Joseph is one of Hybride’s primary spokespersons at conventions, conferences as well as for other corporate events.

Armed with a degree from the NAD Center, Mathieu joined Hybride team 2002 as Lighting TD, Texture Painter, and Matte Painter. After moving to California, he joined the Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) team in 2006, where he collaborated on Hollywood franchises such as Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Terminator and Transformers.

Mathieu’s feature animation experience from his work on Rango and Happy feet, two Academy Awards winners in the Best Animated Feature category, makes him an asset to his team and his extended industry know-how is valued by his peers. Mathieu came back to Hybride in 2017 and has now taken on the role of Vice President of Operations.

Sylvain Theroux has been with Raynault since its inception in 2011. He has been responsible for pipeline development as well as technical supervision on numerous features and episodics and is particularly proud of the balance the company maintains between boutique environment and cutting edge technology.

A childhood passion for Legos and drawing architecture – especially space stations — clearly foreshadowed his work on such films as Arrival, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Thor: Love and Thunder and Free Guy.

Inspired by characters, musicians and artists noted for their appreciation of beauty, devotion, and inspiration, Sylvain thrives when the vfx serves the story purpose.

For over 25 years, Yanick has worked on high-profile projects at ILM, Lucasfilm, and Weta Digital. Yanick has an elite reputation as an Art Director that can effectively realize a director’s vision. In 2012, he was handpicked by JJ Abrams to be part of the dedicated, ongoing Star Wars Art Direction Team, and he has continued in that role since Episode VII: The Force Awakens. He is the recipient of numerous accolades and awards including the VES award for “Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature” on Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 and “Outstanding Matte Painting in a Motion Picture” in 2004 for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean. He was also part of the Oscar winning VFX team for What Dreams May Come in 1999.

Motivated to bring his passion for vfx to a team he could help inspire and take pride in knowing that his input has direct influence on its success, Yanick joined Raynault in early 2018.

Stefanie Bitton joined the studio in 2005 and has overseen development and international work ever since. Over the years, her passion for animation and production has influenced the studio’s growth and evolution through the discovery of talented directors and innovative styles and techniques of animation.
In 2015,  Stefanie Bitton became a partner and ran the company , serving as an Executive Producer. Her achievements include expanding the studio’s presence in various markets, such as Latin America, USA, Canada and Europe, as well as producing a number of prestigious local and international campaigns.

Bernard Lajoie co-founded Tonic DNA in 1983, in Montreal. His passion for animation and strong stories lead him to associate with one of-a kind artists like Alexander Petrov, who won the Oscar for best animated movie in 2000. In 1996, he collaborated with Sylvain Chomet on La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons, winning a BAFTA and an award at Annecy Festival for best animated short movie.

Howard Huxham joined the team in 1991, taking the well-known studio outside of the boundaries of Quebec. He introduced the studio’s high quality 2D animation services to Toronto, New York and Chicago. The studio quickly became a leading player in these markets and won a New York Festival Award and a Mobius Award in Chicago the first years. Howard became a partner in 2003.

Jay Mark Caplan is a Creative Strategist at Tonic DNA. He comes to animation from a career in advertising in the Asia Pacific region, where he was planning director for clients such as Coca-Cola, LEGO, WildAID, H&M, and L’Oreal. He worked on large scale and award-winning campaigns for the China market, including Faces of the City for Coca-Cola (one of the first from China to be adapted globally) and helped develop a global communications planning framework for McCann New York. He is also an experienced market researcher, copywriter, and designer.

Jonathan Bouchard is currently serving as CTO of Reel FX, a studio specializing in animation, visual effects, and immersive experiences. Prior to joining Reel FX, he held leadership positions at several companies, including Mokko Studio and Digital District.

As CTO of Reel FX, Jonathan oversees the company’s technology strategy and drives innovation across its portfolio of projects.

Jonathan is an active member of the technology community, serving as a mentor to young engineers. He is also a member of several professional organizations, including the SIGGRAPH and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

In addition to a Ph.D. in Film Studies (Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris), JP Flayeux also holds a minor in Anthropology from Indiana University. He then worked for over twenty years in the video game industry and film visual effects industry before becoming a professor at UQAT in Montréal. In addition to his technical and artistic expertise, he wishes to engage in academic research and theory. Developing caring team and leadership during students’ project is also one of his goal.

Francois has worked in the visual effects industry for 25 years during which he worked as a generalist 3D artist, technical director, set supervisor and CG supervisor. He also participated in the development of the USD pipeline as pipeline architect and then head of pipeline at RodeoFX. He is now a professor at the NAD school of digital arts and a consultant in USD pipeline and color management.

Martine Bertrand obtained her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Ottawa in 2012. As an industrial research scientist, she then went on to tackle challenges in a number of areas including computational chemistry, natural language processing, medical imaging, and computer vision. In the last six years, she has developed an expertise in computational approaches falling under the large umbrella of Artificial Intelligence (AI). She also has a passion for science popularization which led her to teach the fundamentals of physics to future visual effects (VFX) artists and life scientists on multiple occasions. She joined DNEG as Senior AI Researcher in 2022 where she’s now exploring novel approaches to keep dazzling audiences around the world.

Dylan Sisson is a digital artist with over two decades of experience in VFX and animation. He began his career animating commercials, creating game cinematics, and honing his skills with award-winning independent shorts. In 1999, Dylan joined Pixar and has been instrumental in the development of Pixar’s core rendering technology, RenderMan. Dylan is also the creator of the RenderMan Walking Teapot.

Aside from his work at Pixar, Dylan is constantly pushing the boundaries of digital art by exploring new frontiers in VR, AI, and 3D printing, and has made a name for himself as a creative innovator in the industry.

Pierre Perifel is a french film director, head of animation, character designer and storyboarder who’s spent most of his career working for DreamWorks animation. An alumnus of Gobelins, l’Ecole de l’image, he’s best known for directing the feature film The Bad Guys and the award winning short films Bilby and Le Building. Nominated for three Annie Awards and winning one, he’s started as an animator both for traditional and CG projects, before leading animation teams and taking bigger roles within DreamWorks. The Bad Guys is his feature directorial debut and is slated to release in April 2022. His work is heavily influenced by the iconography of French of graphic novels and european films, and blends the simplification of illustrative animation with the sophistication of live action staging.

Adam Lauwers is an Artist Manager and People Experience Business Partner at Scanline VFX in Montreal, Canada. He began his career in San Diego, California in 2010 as an artist before moving up to Toronto and making the transition into the people side of the industry. He has worked at multiple studios across Canada, including Method, Zoic and DNEG. Adam is passionate about the lives and experiences of those working within the industry and partners with team members on community outreach projects, mental health initiatives, and shaping/implementing policies that impact employees.

Scott Carroll began his feature film career 20 years ago as an Animator at Industrial Light and Magic. In 2005, he moved to Blue Sky Studios, where he animated on the Ice Age films, Horton Hears a Who, Epic and many others. After eight films, Scott became a Supervising Animator, spearheading the animation for The Peanuts Movie (2015), Ferdinand (2017) and Nimona (unreleased). In 2021, he became the Global Head of Animation at Mikros Animation where he oversees all aspects of character performance at their studios in Montreal, Paris, and Bangalore.

Katherine Pursey is the Operations Manager for DNEG Montreal having moved there from the London office. She has been in the industry since 2007, spending half her career on the artist side as an FX TD and Lead. She transitioned into an Artist Manager role in DNEG London as she took a keen interest in people’s career development and job satisfaction. She had the opportunity to move to Montreal to help establish the new office in 2018.

JP Sans, is currently a Co-Director. He most recently served as Head of Character Animation on DreamWorks Animation’s latest hit film, The Bad Guys. He made his co-directing debut at DreamWorks Animation on the animated short film Bilby, which received numerous industry accolades and awards.

Other notable projects and credits include Trolls World Tour, Rio, Rise of the Guardians and the Ice Age Franchise. Born in Venezuela and raised in Florida his love of art and acting started from a young age. This led him to pursue a career in animation achieving his degree in Computer Animation from Miami International University of Art & Design. To this day, his favorite part of animation is the unique ability to connect with audiences through acting and performance.

Jeremy Robert has 15 years of experience in visual effects and recently oversaw the work on NOPE, delivering 675 VFX shots. This included the alien, cloudscapes, and a new approach to converting plates shot during the day into night. ​

Prior to this, Jeremy was MPC’s VFX Supervisor on Steven Spielberg’s re-imagination of West Side Story.

Before joining MPC in 2019, Jeremy spent 12 years at BUF, where he worked on Blade Runner 2049, Shane Black’s The Predator, X-Men Apocalypse and the acclaimed TV Series American Gods. ​

His career began in 2006, working as a CG Generalist, before becoming an On-Set Supervisor.

Marc is the founder and VFX supervisor of A.A. Studios, a Montreal-based visual effects studio specializing in large-scale local productions. Marc has been working in the visual effects field since 1999 and has been actively involved in over 1000 productions as an artist and then as a VFX supervisor. Today, Marc is proud to accompany local talent throughout their creative process and deliver international quality visual effects for their ever exciting projects.

Vincent is a multidisciplinary artist. Having worked in the past as a director, editor, and writer, he now focuses on visual effects work. A member of the AA Studios team since 2018, Vincent played a key role in the production of Megantic as he was the one who designed the look of the fire and the digital explosions.

With a rich experience as an international TV & event presenter and producer, Eric is passionate about the creative industries, in which he evolves between Paris, Abidjan and Montreal.
Holder of a “VFX and Animation Project Manager” certificate acquired at the prestigious NAD school in Montreal, Eric co-founded Afro VFX in 2022, an initiative aiming to develop a VFX and Animation ecosystem in French-speaking Africa, capable of meeting local and international demand, by relying on the expertise of the Montreal industry.

Josée Chapdelaine started in the VFX industry a bit later than most. Though she began her academic career in French Literature, she went back to get a Bachelor in Interior Design and discovered a passion for 3D software in creating interior renderings. After graduation, she went right back to school to get a Bachelor in 3D Animation then promptly got hired by Oblique FX in Montreal where she was mainly doing FX and rigging. With the studio being small, she ended up touching a bit of everything and after 5 years there, she got a job at Rodeo FX, first as a CFX artist, then as a CFX lead, then as a CG Supervisor. Since the beginning of 2021, she’s been back on the CFX side as Head of the Creature FX Department and loving every minute of it.
Josée has worked on well-known productions in the past few years such as Lovecraft Country (nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award), The Aeronauts, Paddington 2, Resident Evil, and the upcoming The Little Mermaid.

Armed with a degree from the NAD Center, Mathieu joined Hybride team 2002 as Lighting TD, Texture Painter, and Matte Painter. After moving to California, he joined the Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) team in 2006, where he collaborated on Hollywood franchises such as Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Terminator and Transformers.

Mathieu’s feature animation experience from his work on Rango and Happy feet, two Academy Awards winners in the Best Animated Feature category, makes him an asset to his team and his extended industry know-how is valued by his peers. Mathieu came back to Hybride in 2017 and has now taken on the role of Vice President of Operations.

Joseph has spent most of his career at Hybride. Shortly after his training at NAD, Joseph began his career at Hybride in 1997 as a 3D generalist on the film Mimic by director Guillermo del Toro. Twenty-six years and over 70 films later, Joseph has left his mark on numerous renowned Hollywood productions, including Avatar, Arrival, Jurassic World: Dominion, the last six installments of the Star Wars franchise and the high-end TV series Jack Ryan, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Andor broadcast by Disney+.
A skilled communicator, Joseph is one of Hybride’s primary spokespersons at conventions, conferences as well as for other corporate events.

Sylvain Theroux has been with Raynault since its inception in 2011. He has been responsible for pipeline development as well as technical supervision on numerous features and episodics and is particularly proud of the balance the company maintains between boutique environment and cutting edge technology.

A childhood passion for Legos and drawing architecture – especially space stations — clearly foreshadowed his work on such films as Arrival, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Thor: Love and Thunder and Free Guy.

Inspired by characters, musicians and artists noted for their appreciation of beauty, devotion, and inspiration, Sylvain thrives when the vfx serves the story purpose.

For over 25 years, Yanick has worked on high-profile projects at ILM, Lucasfilm, and Weta Digital. Yanick has an elite reputation as an Art Director that can effectively realize a director’s vision. In 2012, he was handpicked by JJ Abrams to be part of the dedicated, ongoing Star Wars Art Direction Team, and he has continued in that role since Episode VII: The Force Awakens. He is the recipient of numerous accolades and awards including the VES award for “Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature” on Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 and “Outstanding Matte Painting in a Motion Picture” in 2004 for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean. He was also part of the Oscar winning VFX team for What Dreams May Come in 1999.

Motivated to bring his passion for vfx to a team he could help inspire and take pride in knowing that his input has direct influence on its success, Yanick joined Raynault in early 2018.

Bernard Lajoie co-founded Tonic DNA in 1983, in Montreal. His passion for animation and strong stories lead him to associate with one of-a kind artists like Alexander Petrov, who won the Oscar for best animated movie in 2000. In 1996, he collaborated with Sylvain Chomet on La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons, winning a BAFTA and an award at Annecy Festival for best animated short movie.

Howard Huxham joined the team in 1991, taking the well-known studio outside of the boundaries of Quebec. He introduced the studio’s high quality 2D animation services to Toronto, New York and Chicago. The studio quickly became a leading player in these markets and won a New York Festival Award and a Mobius Award in Chicago the first years. Howard became a partner in 2003.

Stefanie Bitton joined the studio in 2005 and has overseen development and international work ever since. Over the years, her passion for animation and production has influenced the studio’s growth and evolution through the discovery of talented directors and innovative styles and techniques of animation.
In 2015,  Stefanie Bitton became a partner and ran the company , serving as an Executive Producer. Her achievements include expanding the studio’s presence in various markets, such as Latin America, USA, Canada and Europe, as well as producing a number of prestigious local and international campaigns.

Jay Mark Caplan is a Creative Strategist at Tonic DNA. He comes to animation from a career in advertising in the Asia Pacific region, where he was planning director for clients such as Coca-Cola, LEGO, WildAID, H&M, and L’Oreal. He worked on large scale and award-winning campaigns for the China market, including Faces of the City for Coca-Cola (one of the first from China to be adapted globally) and helped develop a global communications planning framework for McCann New York. He is also an experienced market researcher, copywriter, and designer.

Nathaniel Larouche is the son of steampunk magicians. (No, really.) This Canadian VFX Supervisor was born and raised near Montreal, where he enjoyed being the weird kid, filming everything in sight, and experimenting with editing and stop motion animation. He studied computer graphics in Toronto and realized that VFX was a medium that combined everything he enjoyed: artistry, creativity, and technical wizardry. Most recently, Nathaniel has supervised In-camera VFX for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Discovery, Becon 23…and a couple other productions he’s not allowed to talk about. (Sorry!)

As Epic Games’ Senior Director, Product and Engineering, Sébastien Miglio has over 25 years of experience in the computer graphics, real-time simulation, and digital video industries. He has a diverse background as Product Manager, UX designer & developer and entrepreneur.

Christian is graduated from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University with a Masters of Fine Arts in 3D Animation and Visual Effects, and joined Framestore in 2007. Since then, he has worked on a huge range of titles, including Quantum of Solace, Where The Wild Things Are, Avatar and the Oscar-winning Gravity. Christian moved to Montreal in 2013 and supervised titles such as Paddington, Alien: Covenant, Mary Poppins Returns, Captain Marvel, The Aeronauts and the BAFTA-winning His Dark Materials. His  most recent project is 1899 where he led a team spanning concept art, visualisation, virtual production and VFX.

Proud of three years as a solutions architect / Technical Account Manager at Epic Games Montreal and now Mocap Supervisor at Squeeze Studios, David Hurtubise had the chance to present two Tech Talk to Siggraph with Epic Games. He has helped many companies such as Netflix, DNEG, Rodeo FX and Moment Factory. He worked as HOD in Virtual Production for Rodeo FX and Director of Technology in virtual production at MELS Studios. And on films such as Transformer 7 and Beau Is Afraid. He completed is master’s degree at NAD / UQAC. And is now starting is Doctorate in Computer Science.

As COO of Cinesite’s Montreal division, Graham heads up one of the largest independent entertainment service studios in Canada. Cinesite’s recent deliveries include; the Apple film Tetris, the Universal film Strays, and the Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the Disney movie Peter Pan and Wendy.

Graham was previously a guest lecturer of Creative Industries Management at Sheridan College. He also held leading management positions at Canadian creative studios Rocket Science and Mr. X.

Zoe started her career at DNEG London in 2005, progressing through a variety of roles such as Matchmove Artist, Generalist TD, Lighting TD, and Lighting Lead. She subsequently moved to the Singapore studio as CG Sequence Supervisor before moving to British Columbia to help set up the Vancouver Studio in 2014. From then, Zoe took on the role of CG Supervisor, Head of Build, and finally Head of CG before joining beloFX as Head of CG Canada in 2021. Zoe’s creative credits include titles such as The Dark Knight, John Carter, Godzilla, Alice through the Looking Glass, and Wonder Woman.

Josée Chapdelaine started in the VFX industry a bit later than most. Though she began her academic career in French Literature, she went back to get a Bachelor in Interior Design and discovered a passion for 3D software in creating interior renderings. After graduation, she went right back to school to get a Bachelor in 3D Animation then promptly got hired by Oblique FX in Montreal where she was mainly doing FX and rigging. With the studio being small, she ended up touching a bit of everything and after 5 years there, she got a job at Rodeo FX, first as a CFX artist, then as a CFX lead, then as a CG Supervisor. Since the beginning of 2021, she’s been back on the CFX side as Head of the Creature FX Department and loving every minute of it.
Josée has worked on well-known productions in the past few years such as Lovecraft Country (nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award), The Aeronauts, Paddington 2, Resident Evil, and the upcoming The Little Mermaid.

Chloë Grysole is an Emmy-nominated VFX expert, boasting over 25 years of experience as a visual effects producer and business manager, having worked on critically acclaimed projects such as the Harry Potter franchise, HBO Film’s Into the Storm, Skyfall, and Edge of Tomorrow. In her current role as Managing Director of Framestore Canada, Film & Episodic, Chloë is leading a dynamic growth phase, managing a packed schedule of upcoming projects in Montreal and Vancouver. Her extensive production management experience and passion for fostering excellence will be used to uphold the creative studio’s high standards across an increasingly diverse portfolio of work.

Mathieu Mazerolle has over 25 years of engineering and product experience in the VFX, cloud and gaming industries. His projects include founding a games start-up, helping to launch the blockbuster Assassin’s Creed franchise, pioneering game and film technology convergence at Digital Domain, and a platform for building VFX studios in the cloud. As Director of Product for Innovation, Mathieu connects Foundry’s Research projects in the areas of machine learning, virtual production, and cloud with the VFX artists who use our tools to create the impossible.

Dr. Vahe Vardanyan is the Scientific Director and an active member of the AI team at CDRIN, leading various projects related to computer vision, graphics and more. He has about 8 years of experience in the industry, worked in different companies in Montreal, creating VR applications, games and museum expositions.

With over two decades of experience in animation, visual effects, and character design, Stephan Kozak is the Principal Investigator and Lead of CG, Animation, and VFX at SIRT, a nationally-funded research and technology access center situated at Pinewood Studios Toronto. His extensive knowledge of production pipelines helps production teams innovate and democratize technology throughout the screen industries. He has two patents for character pipelines and contributed to creating the first AI digital human to receive citizenship. His research centers on digital humans and immersive environments, providing the screen industry with solutions for pipelines, rendering, AI, and ML integration.

Frederic Servant is a Director of Engineering at Autodesk and is based in London, where he looks after the Arnold, Bifrost, look development and color management development teams scattered around the globe. Previously in charge of the Arnold team, he once was the main developer of the Arnold integration in Houdini. Prior to working on Arnold, Frederic worked as an R&D Engineer at The Mill in London and La Maison in Paris.

Marc-André is a veteran in the animation industry with over 35 years of experience. He has worked with TONIC for more than two decades on a variety of projects spanning from TV commercials, series, and feature films. His credits include Space Jam: A New Legacy, Apple TV+’s Central Park et Disney+ Disenchanted. Marc-André is proficient in many aspects of the animation industry, from stop motion, motion graphics, 2D, and 3D animation.

Marc-André is a veteran in the animation industry with over 35 years of experience. He has worked with TONIC for more than two decades on a variety of projects spanning from TV commercials, series, and feature films. His credits include Space Jam: A New Legacy, Apple TV+’s Central Park et Disney+ Disenchanted. Marc-André is proficient in many aspects of the animation industry, from stop motion, motion graphics, 2D, and 3D animation.