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LAIKA/house Ups Roland Gauthier to CG Manager

Roland Gauthier will now serve as CG manager for LAIKA/house division. He will oversee LAIKA/houses CG animation group for all LAIKA/house commercial projects. The CG department has successfully created memorable commercials for various commercial clients.

Roland brings great expertise and enthusiasm to this key role, remarked Lourri Hammack, president/exec producer LAIKA/house. We are very excited for him to lead our phenomenally talented CG team.

Gauthier, who most recently served as senior td for LAIKA/house, said, I look forward to working with such a talented community of artists. LAIKA/house has a strong foundation from years of making great memorable spots, and I want to help continue our success.

From the San Francisco Bay area, Gauthier joined LAIKA/house (formerly Vinton Studios) as a character rigger in CG in 2003. For the next three years, he fined-tuned his talent in CG character setup on a variety of projects.

My goals for this position are to strength the team by building up the individual, expanding the scope of our work, implementing new tools and techniques to enable us to grow our animation arsenal and to bring in new, young talent to the department, Gauthier added.

Gauthier graduated from Vassar College and Expression College for Digital Arts. In addition to working on commercial projects, he also was a rigger for the LAIKA Ent. animated short, MOONGIRL.

LAIKA (www.laika.com) is owned by Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike. The company was rebranded as LAIKA in the summer of 2005, when it absorbed Vinton Studios, an animation leader and innovator for more than 30 years. LAIKA/house produces animated commercials and shorts for global clients, including Coca-Cola, Wrigleys, ESPN and Esure UK.

LAIKA Ent. has two animated feature films in various stages of production. CORALINE, based on the international bestselling childrens novel by Neil Gaiman, is being adapted for the screen and directed by Henry Selick and will star Dakota Fanning. JACK & BENS ANIMATED ADVENTURE, an original story of brotherly love set in the animal kingdom, is being directed by Jorgen Klubien.

Throughout its history, the company has won 11 Clio Awards, three London International Advertising & Design Awards, five Mobius Advertising Awards, two Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival awards, two Academy Awards, five Academy Awards nominations, 11 Prime time Emmy Awards and honors from the New York International Film & TV Festival, Annecy Awards and Annie Awards, and the World Animation Celebration Festival.

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Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.

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