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"Song of the Sea," "The Prophet," and "The Dam Keeper" (l. to r.) will all be featured at the Spark Animation conference in Vancouver this week.
“Song of the Sea,” “The Prophet,” and “The Dam Keeper” (l. to r.) will all be featured at the Spark Animation conference in Vancouver this week.

This week in Vancouver, the Spark CG Society will hold its annual Spark Animation conference and festival. The two-day conference portion, which will take place on October 24 and 25th at the Vancouver International Film Centre (1181 Seymour Street), boasts a distinguished and well-curated line-up of programs and presenters. Here’s what attendees can expect:

  • “The Marriage of Art and Technology: How it inspires the future of animation” with The Prophet director Roger Allers, The Boxtrolls director Graham Annable, Song of the Sea head of story Nora Twomey, Bardel CEO Delna Bhesania, and moderated by our very own editor of Cartoon Brew-ED Colin Giles.
  • “Independent Animation: From Story to Screen” with Nick Cross
  • “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet: Bringing Poetry to Life” with director Roger Allers, supervising 3D animation director Eric Prebende and CG supervisor Chris Browne
  • Song of the Sea: Animating Irish Folklore” with head of story Nora Twomey
  • The Boxtrolls: Something Old, Something New” with director Graham Annable
  • “Capturing a Character: The Animation of Big Hero 6” with Disney animation supervisor Michael Franceschi
  • Lava: Get Into the Flow” with director James Ford Murphy
  • “The Making of The Dam Keeper and Starting Tonko House” with Robert Kondo
  • “The Duet of Art and Technology” with Glen Keane and Max Keane
  • The Book of Life: Creative Challenges and All-You-Can-Eat Churros” with Reel FX supervising animator Wesley Mandell

More program details are available on the conference website. Tickets cost $25 per presentation or $225 for all ten programs. The 2014 Spark Animation event also includes a series of feature and short screenings between Wednesday and Sunday, as well as a job fair.