LOS ANGELES – The 2021 World Animation & VFX Summit has announce the recipients of this year’s Hall of Fame awards and panelist lineup. The Summit, taking place in-person November 7 – 10, on the grounds of the historic Garland Hotel in North Hollywood, will kick off with the opening night gala on November 7 when the honorees will receive their awards.
The gala will be followed by the three-day Summit, beginning on November 8, featuring panels, discussions and networking breakfasts, lunches and parties with top tier executive and creative talent representing various aspects of the industry.
This year’s 2021 Animation Summit honorees are:
• Gaumont Animation: International Studio of the Year Award — Will be presented to U.S. President Nicolas Atlan and Exec VP of Creative Content Terry Kalagian.
• Phil Lord and Chris Miller: The producers of Sony Pictures Animation’s acclaimed features Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and this year’s critically celebrated The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
• Tom McGrath: Hall of Fame: Billion Dollar Director Award — Will be presented to the acclaimed director of the two Boss Baby features, three Madagascar features and Megamind.
• Chris Meledandri: 2021 Vanguard Award — Will be presented to Founder/CEO of Illumination Entertainment and creator of Despicable Me, the world’s most successful animated franchise in cinematic history, which includes Minions, the fourth highest-grossing animated film. Other career highlights include being the founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation and producing the Ice Age movies, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax and The Grinch, The Secret Life of Pets movies, Sing, and this year’s Sing 2.
• Chris Nee: Creator of Disney’s Peabody Award-winning series Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, We the People, Ridley Jones and Ada Twist, Scientist.
• Jennifer Yuh Nelson: Acclaimed director of Kung Fu Panda 2 and supervising director of Netflix’s acclaimed anthology series Love, Death + Robots.
• Bruce Smith: Trailblazing creator of The Proud Family and the upcoming Disney+ series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder and director of Bebe’s Kids.
• Cree Summer: Beloved animation voice actress, best known for her work on Rugrats, Kid Cosmic, Muppet Babies, DC Super Hero Girls, Vampirina, Voltron Legendary Defender, Dawn of the Croods, and many others.
Panels
The eclectic lineup of this year’s Summit will explore many different facets of the animation and VFX industries. Panels will focus on advances in new media, co-production opportunities, the future of streaming and the changes in the TV animation landscape, the impact of VR and other technologies pushing the medium forward. Also on tap will be discussions related to more diversity and inclusivity in the industry, how to bring animated projects to the attention of streaming gatekeepers, and how to polish your portfolio and resume to land your dream job in animation.
The Summit agenda also features informative talks with the directors, producers and key creatives on this year’s animated films that are contenders for Academy Awards.
Sessions showcasing the making of top animated features include Boss Baby: Family Business, Encanto, Flee, Luca, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon, Ron’s Gone Wrong, Spirit Untamed, The Summit of the Gods, Vivo and Wish Dragon. A spotlight on acclaimed animated shorts will include Blush, Demi’s Panic, Twenty Something, From the Tree, Namoo, Nona, Robin Robin, Steakhouse and Us Again.
2021 Animation Summit Featured Speakers:
The Animation Summit presents featured speaker sessions with distinguished creative forces to discuss prominent topics in animation and VFX. A complete list of Summit speakers is available
here.)