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Ireland’s Animation Dingle Festival Kicks off March 24

Speakers at Animation Dingle’s fifth edition include ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ director Dean DeBlois, Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey, former Nickelodeon exec Russel Hicks, Brown Bag Films’ Bronagh O’Hanlon and Darragh O'Connell, Lupus Films’ Camilla Deakin, Amazon Studios’ Tara Sorensen, and more.

Ireland’s Animation Dingle Festival is taking place this weekend, March 24 & 25. Hosted by the Dingle International Film Festival and JAM Media, this year marks the festival's fifth year.

This year the festival includes a presentation of Cartoon Saloon’s upcoming feature The Breadwinner with director Nora Twomey, a Producer's Panel with Brown Bag Films creative director Darragh O'Connell alongside Boulder Media's Rob Cullen, Giant's Alex Sherwood, and Pink Kong's Niamh Herrity, and a Keynote address by How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch director Dean DeBlois. Other notable speakers include former Nickelodeon exec Russel Hicks, Brown Bag Films’ Bronagh O’Hanlon, Lupus Films’ Camilla Deakin, and Amazon Studios’ Tara Sorensen.

There will also be an “Igniting Sadie Sparks” panel with Brown Bag Films VP of development Jennie Stacey and series director Bronagh O'Hanlon alongside Disney's Beth Parker and Lucy Pryke, and head writer and development executive Rebecca Hobbs. The panelists will discuss their diverse careers in the world of animation and how they collaborated together on new show Sadie Sparks.

Other festival highlights include screenings of The Red Turtle, My Life as a Zucchini, Ethel & Ernest, and a selection of international shorts as well as workshops such as the Walt Disney Animation Studios VFX Masterclass with Moana and Big Hero 6 VFX Supervisor Kyle Odermatt, and professional actor Ed Hooks’ Acting for Animators. The full festival schedule can be viewed on the Animation Dingle website.

The Irish Student Animation Awards and the YAOTY Awards ceremony will take place on Friday March 24, with the Irish Animation Awards taking place on Saturday, March 25th at Dingle Skellig Hotel, where the presentation of The Murakami Award, named in honour of Jimmy T. Murakami, will be made.

Source: Animation Dingle Festival

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.