Moderated by Ramin Zahed, editor-in-chief of Animation Magazine, this live one-hour session brings together an elite group of acclaimed directors for an inspiring and lively discussion. It will take place Friday, February 27, 2026, at 9:00am PST / 5:00pm UK / 18:00 CET.
The panelists include:
“Arco” – Ugo Bienvenu
“Elio” – Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi
“KPop Demon Hunters” – Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain” – Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han
“Zootopia 2” – Byron Howard
“The list of nominees for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar is nothing short of incredible,” says Conference Director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “I am honored to welcome the directors of these remarkable films to our free online VIEW Conference panel, to share their creative energy and passion with our international audience. I urge everyone with an interest in animation to register for the event now – you definitely won’t want to miss this one!”
About Ugo Bienvenu
Ugo Bienvenu is a French illustrator, director, screenwriter, comic book author, producer, publisher, artistic director, and entrepreneur. He arrived in France at the age of 15 after spending his childhood in Guatemala, Chad, and Mexico, to attend the École Estienne. He then studied at the Gobelins, the California Institute of the Arts, the Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and Animation sans frontières.
As an illustrator, he has worked for major media groups, illustrated books for most Parisian publishing houses, designed several album covers, and created print campaigns for major brands. Since 2019, he has been designing scarves, watches, twillys, and other items for the prestigious Hermès brand.
As a comic book author, he has published a dozen albums with various publishing houses, including Préférence système with Denoël Graphics, which won the Grand Prix de la Critique at the Angoulême Festival in 2019.
As a director, he has made a dozen short films, music videos, animated segments for several documentaries for Arte and Canal+, and around fifteen advertising campaigns for major brands (Hermès, Gentle Monster, Thierry Mugler, etc.). In 2017, he co-directed the mini-series “Antman” for Marvel and Disney. Arco, his first feature film, was included in the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival and received the Annecy Crystal Award for Best Film and the Sacem Award for Best Music. It also received the Best Film Award at the Champs-Elysées Festival.
As a producer, through his company Remembers, he has supported, in addition to his own projects, some fifteen directors in the creation of fifteen multi-award-winning short films and twenty music videos for big names in music (The Weeknd, The Strokes, November Ultra, L'Impératrice, Polo et Pan, etc.), several seasons of several series for Canal+, and dozens of advertising campaigns for mainly luxury brands (Hermès, Chanel, LVMH, Tiffany, among others). He also co-produced Bertrand Bonello's feature film Coma, as well as Félix de Givry's Adieu monde cruel (currently in editing).
As a publisher, he has published a dozen comic book authors, architects, and contemporary artists, with around twenty books to his name. He was also part of the editorial committee for the first issue of the legendary magazine Métal Hurlant's revival, for which he designed the cover.
As an artistic director, he works mainly for Hermès (advertising campaigns from 2019 to the present, immersive cube in Dubai in 2020, play in Singapore in 2025, among others) and Chanel (several advertising campaigns, haute couture fashion show in 2023).
As an entrepreneur, he founded Réalistes with Charles Ameline and Cedric Kpannou, then Remembers with Félix de Givry in 2018. Remembers Studio in 2022, then Remembers&Co in 2024. That same year, he founded the rights management company Mikki & Co with Jade Nin.
About Madeline Sharafian
Madeline Sharafian joined Pixar Animation Studios as a story intern in 2013, and returned for a full time position in May 2015 as a storyboard artist on the Academy Award-winning film “Coco.” She also worked as a story lead on Pixar’s feature film “Onward.” Sharafian also directed “Burrow,” the Academy Award nominated short film that came out of Pixar’s SparkShorts program. “Burrow” released on Disney+ on December 25, 2020 along with Pixar’s Academy Award-winning feature film “Soul.” Currently, Sharafian is directing Pixar’s upcoming feature film “Elio,” alongside directors Domee Shi and Adrian Molina, and producer Mary Alice Drumm. “Elio” is set to release in theaters June 20, 2025. Prior to Pixar, Sharafian worked at Cartoon Network as a storyboard artist and writer on the show “We Bare Bears.” She also created character designs for the pilot episode while she was attending college at CalArts.
About Domee Shi
Domee Shi began as a story intern at Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011, and was soon hired as a story artist on the Academy Award-winning feature film “Inside Out.” Since then, she has worked on the feature films “The Good Dinosaur,” “Incredibles 2” and the Academy Award®-winning “Toy Story 4.” In 2015 she began pitching ideas for short films, and soon was green lit to write and direct “Bao” which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In her role as a Creative VP, Shi is involved in key creative decision-making at the studio and consults on films in both development and production. Shi most recently made her feature film directorial debut on “Turning Red,” which was released on Disney+ March 11, 2022, and was nominated for an Academy Award®. Currently, Shi is directing Pixar’s upcoming feature film “Elio,” alongside directors Madeline Sharafian and Adrian Molina, and producer Mary Alice Drumm. “Elio” is set to release in theaters June 20, 2025. Shi graduated from the animation program at Sheridan College where she was fueled by her love of anime/manga, Disney, and Asian cinema influences that can be seen in her work to this day. Shi was born in Chongqing, China and resided in Toronto, Canada most of her life. She currently lives in Oakland, California and notes that her love of animation is only rivaled by her love of of cats.
About Maggie Kang
Maggie Kang is a director of Sony Pictures Animation's KPop Demon Hunters, which originated from her idea and is now streaming on Netflix. Kang began her career at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist on various projects including the Puss In Boots franchise and The Croods: A New Age, as well as Rise of the Guardians, Kung-Fu Panda 3, Trolls, Shrek Forever After, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Over the Hedge. Prior to joining Sony Animation, Kang contributed her talents as a story artist at Illumination Entertainment on Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Warner Animation Group, where she was Head of Story on The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Born in Seoul, Korea, Kang grew up in Toronto, Canada and attended Sheridan College where she studied classical animation.
About Chris Appelhans
Chris Appelhans is a director of Sony Pictures Animation's KPop Demon Hunters, now streaming on Netflix, with fellow director Maggie Kang. Appelhans wrote and directed Sony Pictures Animation's 2021 animated feature film Wish Dragon, also streaming on Netflix. Prior to joining Sony Pictures Animation, Appelhans wrote and developed several original projects with major studios including Disney, Laika and Paramount. Appelhans began his career as a concept artist on animated hits such as The Princess and the Frog, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Monster House, before moving into production design on the stop-motion feature Coraline, which earned him an Annie Award nomination for his work on the film. Appelhans' other credits include story artist and illustrator on The Little Prince and character designer on Rise of the Guardians. Appelhans studied illustration at the Art Center College of Design. He resides in Eagle Rock with his wife Maurene and their cat.
About Maïlys Vallade
Maïlys Vallade works within a collective of artists in a village north of Rennes in Brittany, France. Passionate about cinema and special effects since her very young years, she studied Graphic Arts at EPSAA Superior School of Paris, and Animated Film at Gobelins, Paris, where she made three award-winning student short films: "The Hermit", "Garuda" and "The Lighthouse Keeper." In 2010 she worked on animated independent feature film productions including "Adama, the World of Breaths", "Ernest and Célestine," “The Little Prince”, “Longway North”, “The Swallows of Kabul”, “A Man is Dead”, “I Lost My Body”, “Calamity” and "Séraphine." She is also the graphic author of "Itanésie", "Calamity", "Séraphine", "Little Amélie" and "Fleur". "Little Amélie" is her first feature film as director and screenwriter.
About Liane-Cho Han
Liane-Cho Han graduated from Gobelins, Paris, in 2007. He began his career as a key animator in feature films such as Lucky Luke: All in the West and The Illusionist by Sylvain Chomet. With extensive experience in animation, Liane-Cho shifted to storyboarding. From 2018 to 2020, he collaborated with Rémi Chayé on Calamity, a Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary, working on storyboarding and animation supervision. He co-directed and co-wrote his first feature film, Little Amélie or The Character of Rain, adapted from the novel by Amélie Nothomb, and produced by Ikki Films and Maybe Movies. This project was a vision he had nurtured since he was 19. Since 2017, Liane-Cho has regularly worked with Sun Creature as an animation supervisor, storyboard revisionist, and director on various commercials. He is currently based in Denmark, and founded his own production company, Pilepse Production, to pursue future personal projects.
About Byron Howard
Byron Howard (Director) previously directed Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oscar-winning feature “Zootopia” with Rich Moore. Howard also directed Disney Animation’s worldwide hit feature “Tangled” with Nathan Greno, and the duo teamed up again for the short film “Tangled Ever After.”As a child, Howard’s favorite Disney animated films included “Robin Hood,” “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty.” He was also inspired by artists like Chuck Jones, Ronald Searle and Bill Watterson, and he would fill reams of computer paper with characters of his own creation. His love of art and animation continued through high school and college. Howard earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at The Evergreen State College in Washington, where he pursued his interest in filmmaking by studying cinematography, art and literature. By 1991, he was part of the Disney family, hosting the animation tour at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando. In 1994, Howard officially joined the Walt Disney Animation Studios in Florida as an inbetweener and clean-up artist on “Pocahontas.” He quickly went on to become an animator on “Mulan” and a supervising animator on “Lilo & Stitch” and “Brother Bear,” as well as doing character design on both those films. Howard later relocated to California where he continued his study of cinematography and drawing as a story artist and character designer at Walt Disney Animation Studios before becoming a director in 2006. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Oscar-nominated feature “Bolt” marked Howard’s debut as a feature film director (alongside Chris Williams). Howard also designed some of the characters in that film. Howard loves the collaborative medium of animation because it combines art, cinematography, writing, design, acting and music with a family of supportive and talented artists and crew. Team members inspire each other to achieve something greater than they could alone. In addition to his lifelong passion for animation and a career spanning the last 20+ years, Howard’s interests include art, music, theater, travel and a deep love for animals.
About VIEW Conference
An English language event, VIEW Conference 2026 takes place from October 12-16, 2026, in the stunning baroque city of Turin, Italy. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to network with award-winning film directors, animators, designers and thought leaders as they deliver an incredible program of keynotes, panels, talks, workshops and masterclasses at VIEW Conference 2026. Explore cutting-edge thinking with a stellar line-up of stars from Hollywood and Silicon Valley, celebrate the latest achievements in animation, VFX, games and AI, and share inspirational visions of the future.
The conference’s vibrant and inclusive atmosphere is designed to energize and enlighten, with an extensive live program of talks, presentations, workshops and masterclasses embracing cutting-edge thinking on such diverse topics as Storytelling, Virtual Production, Computer Graphics, Interactive & Immersive Media, VR/AR/Mixed Reality and the Metaverse, Artificial Intelligence, Real-Time Rendering and much, much more.