This year’s Kilkenny Animated Festival will take place in Kilkenny City, Ireland from October 4-6, with special guests including Disney Legends John Musker and Glen Keane; Beryl creators and multi-award winning duo, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills; producer Imogen Sutton, wife of the famed Richard Williams; and Nick Dorra, host of the Nick Dorra Show podcast.
Hosted by five-time Oscar-nominated animation studio Cartoon Saloon — whose 25th anniversary celebrations will form part of this year’s program — BAFTA-winning Lighthouse Studios, and Schweppe Curtis Nunn Events, Kilkenny Animated is a celebration of the creativity and craft of animation, set against the backdrop of medieval Kilkenny in the heart of Ireland’s Ancient East.
Disney Animation director John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Moana) will host a one-hour talk on Saturday the 5th detailing how he made his latest short film, I’m Hip, which will be screened as part of the event. Meanwhile the iconic Glen Keane, the man who brought to life such characters as The Beast, Pocahontas and Ariel, will be kicking off the day’s program with a 1.5 hour Masterclass in Animation. Both events are sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet and will take place in Langtons’ Kilkenny, this year’s venue sponsor.
Joining the program of events is director and artist Joanna Quinn, whose films have won numerous international awards, including four BAFTAs, three Emmys and three Academy Award nominations. Quinn will be joined by husband and Emmy-winning producer/writer Les Mills. Their 2022 short film, Affairs of the Art, earned the pair their latest Academy Award nomination. In the Saturday talk aimed at artists, Watch Out!, Quinn and Mills will be discussing the importance of observation drawing on examples from two of their works, Britannia and Elles.
Producer Imogen Sutton will be joining the program on Sunday as part of her book tour for Adventures in Animation — the eagerly anticipated biography of famed animator (and Sutton’s husband), Richard Williams. The late Williams is widely known for his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, while his book, co-edited by Sutton, The Animator’s Survival Kit, is widely regarded as being the essential manual for animation professionals. Their last animated collaboration, the hand drawn short Prologue, was nominated for an Academy Award and will be screened as part of the event.
Nick Dorra’s Sunday panel will see him dissecting the world of AI in animation along with Grace Dinan, Ellen Byrne and Michael Gubbins in the panel talk AI in Practice, sponsored by Animation Ireland. Meanwhile, Let’s Talk Animation, a panel with Musker, Keane, Quinn and Sutton, will take place on Saturday, kindly sponsored by RTÉ Jr.
This year’s festival also features Pathways to Animation, a strand of events specifically aimed at students and recent graduates. Second-level students can partake in taster workshops from education providers across Ireland to try out the techniques taught at third-level. Those in a third-level course and recent graduates can learn what awaits them in the industry and will have the invaluable opportunity to have their portfolios reviewed.
Co-host Cartoon Saloon will be holding special screenings of its films and studio tours for all those interested in taking a peek behind the scenes of one of the industry’s finest studios, while artists from both Cartoon Saloon and Lighthouse Studios will be leading sketching tours for ages 12+ and workshops for kids aged from 3+. Workshops are sponsored by Gorilla Post Production, Corpay and Brophy Gillespie.
Kilkenny Animated is core funded by Fáilte Ireland and Kilkenny County Council and supported by Coimisiún na Meán.
“Fáilte Ireland is pleased to support this year’s Kilkenny Animated Festival,” said Ciara Sugrue, Head of Festivals and Events at Fáilte Ireland. “Festivals and events present an excellent opportunity to showcase the rich heritage and unique culture that Ireland has to offer. They are also important drivers of tourism revenue across the country, particularly in areas that are outside of the traditional tourism hotspots. Developing unique and immersive visitor experiences like Kilkenny Animated Festival plays a key role in motivating both international and domestic visitors to choose a destination, while helping drive the sustainable development of the tourism sector for the county and the wider region.”
For updating program information and ticketing, visit kilkennyanimated.com.
