It’s 1996, Space Jam is on the big screen, and the elite NBA players have had their talent stolen by the wimpy Nerdluck aliens. Weeks later, Charles Barkley promises never to gamble again from a psychologist’s chair. Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson, and Mugsy Bogues follow a doctor through the hall after getting lab-tested for their talent loss.
It’s 2023, and a totally rational mind might imagine a bumbling pack of those little Monstar aliens will be camped out in Turin, Italy between October 15th and October 20th, trying to suck the talent out of the assembled Dream Team of VFX and animation artists.
The little aliens will run off and make Avatar on Steroids and the VIEW Conference 2023 speakers will be left on stage wondering which is the right way to hold a drawing pencil.
Hopefully, this is not the result of the 2023 VIEW Conference, but it’s true – the lineup is like VFX Coachella – but way over in Italy and nobody is gonna drop acid in a tent next to you.
With an early confirmed speaker list released, here’s a look at who’s attending the event and what you can expect from the 2023 VIEW Conference.
First off…what is the VIEW Conference?
The VIEW Conference is an event dedicated to a week of showcasing international films and advancements in computer graphics, digital cinema, 2D and 3D animation, VR, AR, gaming, VFX, and interactive techniques. It is what would happen if SIGGRAPH had a baby with the Festival de Cannes.
Okay, so tell me the VIEW Conference 2023 Dream Team lineup.
Alright, then – no need to be pushy about it. But here is the confirmed in-person speaker lineup, straight from the 2023 VIEW Conference website:
- Henry Selick, Director, Wendell & Wild, Netflix
- Peter Sohn, Vice-President, Creative & Director, Elemental, Pixar Animation Studios
- Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor, Weta Digital (4-time Oscar winner)
- Doug Chiang, Vice President and Executive Creative Director, Lucasfilm
- John Gaeta, Chief Creative Officer, Inworld AI (Academy Award winner)
- Bruno Coulais, Composer
- Paul Debevec, Director of Research, Creative Algorithms and Technology at Netflix
- Scott Eaton, artist exploring figurative representation & abstraction by combining traditional mediums with machine learning and other digital tools
- Hal Hickel, Animation Director, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) (Oscar, BAFTA winner)
- Dylan Sisson, one of the creative pioneers behind Pixar’s RenderMan
- Eloi Champagne, interactive storytelling specialist discusses his work as technical director at the National Film Board of Canada
- Nikola Damjanov, Lead Game Artist, Nordeus
- Michael Coldewey, Professor of Concept Art, Drawing & Design, Media Design University of Applied Sciences in Munich
- Jan-Bart van Beek, Bafta winner and studio director, Guerrilla Games, will be presenting Horizon Forbidden West, the critically acclaimed action role-playing game from Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Andreas Maaninka, VFX Supervisor
- Richard Kerris, VP of Omniverse Platform, GM of Media & Entertainment, NVIDIA
An animated wormlike alien with no skills would have an absolute buffet trying to soak up some of Doug Chiang’s Mandalorian talent, or maybe Joe Letteri’s Avatar/Lord of the Rings/Jurassic Park goodness.
What else is going on at the 2023 VIEW Conference?
Besides the extensive speaking lineup, the conference will have meetings, screenings, demos, and exhibits. The VIEW Conference also hosts a festival called VIEWfest, which spotlights the best international animation and 3D cinema. Attendees can screen some of the year’s best animated releases, as well as content designed specifically for a VFX/animation professional audience. For example, the 2022 VIEWfest program included the animated films Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank and the world premiere of ONI, then also carried informative screenings like the “SIGGRAPH 2022 Electronic Theater Traveling Show” including a Q&A with Kalina Borkiewicz (Director of the Visualization Program Office at the NCSA).
I’m not going to Italy. Can I get into it from home?
Yes. The VIEW Conference tickets are available for their session recordings going back to the 2020 VIEW Conference. According to the Eventbrite VIEW Conference page, 2023 Conference early bird tickets will go on sale the last week of June.
You may not get the irreverent thrill of seeing a legendary animation artist or VFX supervisor have their talent sucked out by Space Jam aliens, but attendees will be entertained, educated, and treated to a week of some of the most innovative minds in VFX and animation.
