Festivals and Events

WB’s Anne Kolbe Bringing ‘King Arthur’ to FMX

Published on March 17, 2017

FMX, the International Conference on Animation, Effects, VR, Games and Transmedia (Stuttgart, May 2-5) has announced that Warner Bros. Pictures SVP of Visual Effects Anne Kolbe will bring Guy Ritchie’s medieval actioner King Arthur: Legend of the Sword to the confab, ahead of its release. Other recently confirmed program highlights include Dear Angelica on the VR track, an animation panel on the “Quest for Young Talent,” and more.

These informative sessions build on previously announced can’t-miss programs at FMX 2017.

VFX:

Anne Kolbe, SVP of Visual Effects for Warner Bros. Pictures, will be joined by VFX Supervisor Nick Davis to elaborate on the digital wizardry behind the folklore epic King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which will be released one week after FMX. Plus, Christian Manz (Framestore) will talk about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Oscar-winning Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg alum Volker Engel will spotlight Independence Day: Resurgence, and Thilo Ewers (Pixomondo) will bring to life The Walking Dead.

VR:

Max Planck will present on Dear Angelica, which was directed by Filmakademie alum Saschka Unseld and utilized Oculus Story Studio’s Quill VR illustration tool. Jessica Brillhart, principal filmmaker for VR at Google, will discuss her work with the latest 360-degree Jump camera tech and her films World Tour and Resonance. Adding to the VR directing insights will be Tom Burton (BBC) and Solomon Rogers (REWIND), who helped create the BBC Home: Spacewalk experience; and Limitless Inc. founder Tom Sanocki will discuss his company’s VR character animation solution.

ANIMATION:

Several FMX events this year will explore the “Quest for Young Talent” in times of increasing globalization — and new boundaries. Ben Owen (One Of Us) will host a panel of industry professionals, experts and education personnel including Shelley Page (DreamWorks Animation), David Sproxton (Aardman Animations) and Seth Holladay (Brigham Young University Center for Animation). Topics will include the movement of students post-Brexit.

ARTS:

“Artists Liberated” will feature two professionals at who left influential companies in order to devote themselves to their own creative visions: Andy Lomas (head of CG for The Matrix sequels) will present his digital artwork inspired by morphogenesis, while Daffy (VR director, Avengers VR Experience) explains how he went solo.

TECH:

The “Shaping the User Experience” track instructs attendees in the difficulty of making technology accessible, with input from Celia Hodent (Epic Games) and David Lightbrown (Ubisoft) moderated by Julien Blervaque (Ubisoft). FMX will also welcome Christophe Hery (Pixar) and his flock of Sci-Tech Oscar winners Larry Gritz (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Vladimir Koylazov (Chaos Group), Maurice van Swaaij (Blue Sky Studios) and Marcos Fajardo (Solid Angle) to share their takes on new rendering technologies.