Visual effects facility CafeFX has named respected industry veteran Joni Jacobson Executive Producer and Head of Business Development. Jacobson will oversee the company's Los Angeles production operation at the spacious facility it shares with sister company, commercial and design studio The Syndicate.
Jacobson will work in tandem with CafeFX CEO and Executive Producer Jeff Barnes and CafeFX's longtime Senior Producer Vicki Weimer, both of whom will continue to provide oversight of the company's visual effects and animation projects at its facility in Santa Maria. Additionally, Barnes and Jacobson will spearhead new business development and cultivate working relationships with studio executives, visual effects supervisors and post production supervisors.
Jacobson, who holds a degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, began her career in visual effects as a graphic designer and creative director before becoming a visual effects and compositing supervisor for feature films. She is also an accomplished compositing artist for film and television projects. Over the past two decades she has worked for such noted facilities as Digital Domain, CIS Hollywood, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, ILM, Entity FX, Asylum and Dream Quest Images. In 2002, Jacobson opened her own boutique studio, Mar Vista Ventures, to produce high quality, low maintenance compositing together with a small team of highly experienced digital artists.
Among her credits as a visual effects producer and compositing artist are THE X FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE, GET SMART, RUSH HOUR 3, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END, ZODIAC, GHOST RIDER, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, MR. & MRS. SMITH, THE AVIATOR, ARMAGEDDON, TITANIC and the television mini-series ANGELS IN AMERICA.
Barnes said, "We are thrilled to have Joni on board. She is very highly regarded in the visual effects industry. Her vast experience in the dual roles of producer and artist gives her a unique perspective that will be invaluable for our company and our clients. Joni's down-to-earth style is a perfect fit for our approach to clients, as well as our company culture."
Jacobson said, "I'm so pleased to be joining CafeFX. The eclectic and talented team at Cafe is really a special group. They are technically brilliant, but the science is combined with a real artistic sensibility. We are at a size where we can take on the big showcase movies and also service the smaller, more edgy films that keep us challenged and excited about our business."
CafeFX is currently in production on visual effects for SHUTTER ISLAND, SEVEN POUNDS and WHITE OUT and recently completed THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, THE BATTLE OF RED CLIFF, LOVE RANCH, IRON MAN, SPEED RACER, NIM'S ISLAND, THE KITE RUNNER and SPIDER-MAN 3. CafeFX's team of artists recently won an Emmy Award for their visual effects for HBO's JOHN ADAMS.
