In celebration of the 30th anniversary, Producer Don Hahn moderates a discussion with directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise on the making of a modern animated classic and its legacy 30 years later.

On the event of the West Coast premiere of his latest film, Belle, Academy Award nominee Mamoru Hosoda sits down with critic Leonard Maltin for an in-depth discussion of his career and the new film.

As video games continue to push the boundaries of narrative animation, Slate’s Allegra Frank moderates a discussion on the importance of 2D character designs and development in video game storytelling.

Note: Due to panelist availability, this discussion is being rescheduled for after the festival. Check back at Animation Is Film or follow us on social media for updates.

Join Baobab Studios’ Chief Creative Officer, Eric Darnell, and Erick Oh, the Oscar-nominated director of their latest animated short film, NAMOO, as they talk about their respective journeys working for big studios such as DreamWorks Animation and Pixar, embracing new technology and working in the world of independent filmmaking. They will discuss their creative freedom from an artistic standpoint, as well as the biggest challenges they faced along the way. They will end by going into a deep dive about creating the studio’s latest animated short film, NAMOO, simultaneously for both theatrical and VR platforms. Using one of the latest state-of-the-art animation tools, Quill, along with real-time technology, NAMOO – translated to “tree” in Korean – is a hand-crafted narrative poem following the beautiful and heartbreaking moments of a man’s life, from beginning to end.