Originally from Vancouver, Kama Dunsmore was one of the early alumni out of Vancouver Film School in 1998. Dunsmore has 19 years of experience in the animation industry and currently holds a position as an animation director at Ubisoft Entertainment in Montreal. Her latest directorial achievements include “Assassin’s Creed Origins” and “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” for which she and her team have received award nominations from SXSW (2018), the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (2014), DICE Awards (2013), and the Canadian Video Game Awards (2013). Before relocating to Montreal, Kama spent 8 years as a character animator in Europe, contributing to projects ranging from music videos to film. The journey eventually resulted in her discovering the unique experience of bringing characters to life for games, while animating at Electronic Arts on several “Harry Potter” titles.
Rex Grignon is the CEO and Co-founder of Nimble Collective. A renowned animation and computer graphics pioneer, he worked as head of character animation for some of the top animated films of all time, including “Antz,” “Shrek,” and the “Madagascar” series, as well as contributing to films like “Toy Story” and “Kung-Fu Panda.” In 2006, Grignon was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for his contributions to the field of animation. Additionally, Rex has taught animation and storytelling at conferences, festivals, and universities around the world.
Paul Harrod has worked for three decades as a designer, art director, and director on both animated and live-action projects, with a special emphasis on stop-motion. He has lent his skills to a range of diverse projects from sculpting aliens for “Star Trek V” to designing and building miniature sets for “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.” He served for several years as senior art director at Will Vinton Studios, and was both the production designer of Fox Television’s “The PJ’s”, as well as director of several episodes of the series. Harrod’s stop-motion design credits include Aardman Animations’ “Talking Cars” campaign for Chevron, “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” and, most recently, co-production designer on Wes Anderson’s celebrated “Isle of Dogs,” which began its journey to the screen in 2015. Paul lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, internationally acclaimed filmmaker Joanna Priestley.
Pam Hogarth helps people and organizations make their dreams come true. With over 30 years of experience in the world of visual effects, she has done career guidance, teaching, placement, marketing, publicity, and education. The majority of her career has been dedicated to incubating and growing educational programs geared towards helping train people for careers in entertainment production. She currently consults for organizations and schools, coaches entertainment professionals on career management, and teaches. In 2015, Pam co-founded and helped grow Eido, a training company that facilitated training for IATSE creative guilds, which she and her partner successfully sold in 2017. Pam holds an M.Ed. in vocational counseling from Kent State University and a B.S. in fine art and psychology from Springfield College. Whenever she gets a chance, Hogarth makes glass beads and jewelry or knits up a storm.
Polly Ing is an accomplished computer graphics artist and leader. She has over 20 years of experience in the visual effects industry and is currently a senior engineering program manager at Apple, Inc. Before joining Apple, Polly was a computer graphics supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects division of Lucasfilm, Ltd. She helped reboot the “Star Wars” franchise in her role as global computer graphics supervisor for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Her filmography includes movies such as the Academy Award-winning “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.” During her tenure at ILM she also served as a computer graphics supervisor on “Rango,” the first animated feature produced by ILM. It won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She has been nominated for three and won two Visual Effects Society (VES) awards for her work in film. Ing also lent her expertise and leadership to a real-time collaboration between ILM and LucasArts, “Star Wars 1313.” The project was a real-time game cineractive built on top of the Unreal Engine which debuted at E3 and won several accolades.
Angie Jones is a seasoned supervising animator specializing in engaging character and creature performances. As an animation director/supervisor and lead animator, she works closely with directors and VFX supervisors to design character performances and sequences for major motion pictures, commercials, and games. For the past 24 years, Angie has worked on 17 features, 40 commercials, and 38 AAA video games. Her work has received Academy, Clio and VES award accolades and includes such titles as “Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus,” “Dino Crises 3,” “Red Dead Revolver,” “Avatar 2” (release date 2020), “Stuart Little 2,” Spike Jonze’s short film “I’m Here,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “XMen 2,” and “Smurfs.” In addition to her animation work, Jones has taught for several institutions — most notably, University of Southern California, Gnomon School of VFX, and iAnimate — and is a published author, of which her latest title is “Thinking Animation: Bridging the Gap Between 2D and CG.” Angie lives in downtown Los Angeles with her two cats, Bacon and Picasso.
Shuzo John Shiota graduated from Sophia University with a degree in international legal studies. After initially joining Nippon Steel Corporation in 1991, Shuzo jumped industries to participate in the launch of Dream Pictures Studio in 1997. He moved to Polygon Pictures two years later and, in 2003, assumed the position of President and CEO. The company has since enjoyed exponential growth as the premier digital animation studio in Asia, winning many accolades including multiple Emmy Awards. In 2008, he was selected as one of the “25 Toon Titans of Asia” by Animation Magazine. He is also the recipient of the Audi Wired Innovation Award (2016), and has juried on many major Japanese and international film festivals, including Prix Ars Electronica, SIGGRAPH, Annecy, and Digicon6. He has given talks worldwide, including a TEDxKyoto address in 2015. In his spare time, Shuzo engages in his lifelong passion as a vocalist in a classic rock band.
In Vancouver, I fell in love with the people that make up SIGGRAPH; a group of people that enthusiastically support and cheer each other on in the development of ever greater graphics and interactive techniques year after year.
I met tons of people; all different kinds, all different skills and skill levels ... it kind of dawned on me that this wasn't an impossible dream career.
Not only is the Computer Animation Festival is amazing, it’s also inspiring to be a part of an industry and community that’s very supportive of each other.
My friend keeps saying that I go to SIGGRAPH for my annual energy shot.
SIGGRAPH is what you think it is, and more. It opens the door to what I want to do with my life.
I've connected with and befriended so many people through SIGGRAPH. Even if we don't get to talk much throughout the year, it's crazy how we see each other at SIGGRAPH and pick up right where we left off.
The thing that strikes me the most is the inspiration, learning and friendship that I derive out of these SIGGRAPH conferences.