The BFX Festival brings together visual effects (VFX), animation, and gaming experts from around the world for a week of talks, panel discussions, and masterclasses led by industry experts.
Now in its 10th year, the festival will play host to over 35 studios, organisations, and institutions who will be gathered at Bournemouth University (BU). Attendees will share their knowledge and experience of their work in Computer Animation, Games, and VFX to an audience of BU students, other industry professionals, and hobbyists.
The highlights of the festival will include keynote speakers Mat Irvine, Visual Effects Designer for many classic BBC shows including the classic Doctor Who series, VFX supervisor Scott Pritchard Industrial Light and Magic, who worked on the recent TV show Andor set in the Star Wars universe, and Elizabeth Rega from Western University of Health Sciences who is also a consultant to the film industry and recently worked on Disney’s Strange World.
The festival’s speaker series programme also includes talks about recent TV series and films, including Marvel’s Moon Knight, Netflix’s Sandman, and Amazon’s The Rings of Power. Further speaker highlights include the director’s team from the Emmy-nominated movie “The House” and a panel focussed on art direction in games led by BAFTA-winning art director Kevin McDowell.
Celebrating diversity in animation and VFX the festival will also host a panel of five industry names to discuss the issues around diversity in the workplace and how to address the need to develop this further.
Additional speaker highlights include Andrew Robertson from DNEG and Blue Zoo sharing insight into their work with the BBC in celebration of their centenary milestone.
Many Bournemouth University alumni will be returning to campus to highlight their work on renowned projects, such as Tara Saunders – PlayStation London, Tom Box – Blue Zoo, Rikki Trembath, Matt Traynar, and Tom Minor – Technicolor Creative Studios – and many more.
Dr Oleg Fryazinov, Principal Academic in Computer Animation at Bournemouth University and the BFX Festival Director, said: “The line-up this year covers all the hottest TV shows, films, and, most importantly, the latest trends in animation, games, and visual effects. We will have the biggest line-up the festival has ever seen with 50 speakers and 16 masterclasses and we are very grateful to be able to bring these wonderful speakers to our campus.
Anyone attending the 10th BFX Festival this year will find talks and masterclasses for them – whether they are aiming to enhance their skills for their career and personal development, want to create material at home for their own enjoyment or just want to know how the films and games they love get made.”
The festival takes place 9th – 13th of November and the programme is comprised of the Speaker Series events and Masterclasses.
Over the years BFX has become established as an international event that inspires both current and future generations of artists, technicians and engineers, and that celebrates all aspects of VFX, animation and games’ unique mix of technical and creative practices.
Speaker Series Tickets can be purchased here and Masterclass tickets are available here.