• SUMMIT - Speakers 2019

    2019 Speakers

    ALEX MCDOWELL

    Visionary Narrative Designer and Founder of Experimental Design. Film credits include FIGHT CLUB, MINORITY REPORT

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    ALEX MCDOWELL, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN STUDIOS

    Alex co-founded Experimental Design Studios where he is executive creative director, building worlds of future-facing holistic narratives for multiple clients and partners. Experimental collaborates with game makers, architects, anthropologists, neuroscientists, musicians, and storytellers to inform outcomes across all media including those not yet defined. The design studio is unique in its integration of design, platform agnostic media and storytelling in a practice that is built on a 20-years of world building that was honed during McDowell’s film career, particularly the film Minority Report. Beside film and other media industries, Experimental has a diverse range of clients that include Nike, Boeing, Ford Motor Company, the Saudi village of Al Baydha, the Alaska indigenous Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Autodesk, the American Society of Civil Engineers, Ulster University, The Freeman group, the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe, and the State of Alaska’s higher education system.

    TIM WEBBER

    Oscar-Winning VFX Artist and Chief Creative Officer, Framestore

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    TIM WEBBER, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, FRAMESTORE

    Tim joined Framestore in 1988 after an outstanding academic record in Maths, Physics and Art. He rapidly became the driving force behind the company’s push into digital film and television, developing Framestore’s virtual camera and motion rig systems. Tim started supervising with Emmy winning VFX on Gulliver’s Travels in 1996 and has since guided the company in new directions while supervising its most technically and artistically challenging projects. These include Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Spike Jonze’s highly original CG/practical creatures in Where the Wild Things Are and sequences in James Cameron’s incredible Avatar. Tim has also directed commercials, second unit, title sequences and teaser trailers. He was VFX Supervisor on Alfonso Cuarón’s space masterpiece, Gravity. The unusual storytelling techniques and contemporary space location led Tim to develop a number of groundbreaking techniques to deliver stunning visuals in a photo-realistic film, for which he won an Oscar. Tim worked closely with Alfonso who fought for Tim, in an industry first, to be given a credit directly after the Cinematographer, to reflect his input on the film.

    HAZ DULULL

    Filmmaker & Co-founder of HaZ FIlm

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    HAZ DULULL

    Hasraf ‘HaZ; Dulull is known for his breakout sci-fi indie feature film - THE BEYOND, which was released by Gravitas Ventures, and premiered at #2 on the iTunes charts early 2018 before trending on Netflix. His second feature film 2036: ORIGIN UNKNOWN, which starred Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica and most recently Another Life on Netflix) and earned a limited theatrical release in the US. He was later hired to direct the pilot for Disney’s action comedy mini series - FAST LAYNE (TX’d on the Disney Channel on March 2019), and was also credited as creative consultant on the entire series and directed three additional episodes when he wowed Disney channel executives with his vision for the 8 part series. HaZ is repped by Paradigm and The Gotham Group, and is the co-founder of production company http://hazfilm.com/

    YIFEI CHAI

    Innovation Architect UNIT9

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    YIFEI CHAI, INNOVATION DESIGNER, UNIT9

    With a Double Masters degree at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering, Yifei Chai took on the role of Innovation Architect at UNIT9. His work focuses on Innovation, creative thinking and especially focusing on any type of Experiential Execution that can trigger human emotions. His strengths are Innovation, Emotion Alchemy, Concept and Strategy, Retail Design and Fabrication, Art & Creative Direction. Yifei’s work is very much driven by the idea of Emotion Alchemy: a healthy mixture of technology and emotional intelligence to trigger, explore and understand our emotional connections with technology and each other. Emotional Alchemy helps brands win by designing memorable, poignant and surprising experiences, which increases a sense of deeper audience connection.

    KAREN PALMER

    Award winning artist and TED speaker. Storyteller From the Future.

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    KAREN PALMER

    Karen Palmer is the Storyteller from the Future. She is an Award Winning International Artist and TED Speaker. She creates immersive film experiences at the intersection of film, A.I. technology, gaming, Immersive Storytelling, Neuroscience, Consciousness, Implicit Bias, and the Parkour philosophy of moving through fear.

    DR JO TWIST

    CEO, UKIE

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    DR JO TWIST(CHAIR), CEO, UKIE

    Jo is CEO of UK Interactive Entertainment. With a background in commissioning and journalism, she is Deputy Chair of the British Screen Advisory Council, London Tech Ambassador, BAFTA Games Chair and Trustee, Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board Ambassador, Creative Industries Council member, and a Visiting Professor at Ravensbourne University. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to the creative industries. She’s a SpecialEffect VP and Disabilities Sector Champion.

    DAVID SHELDON HICKS

    Founder Territory Studios. Credits include AD ASTRA, BLACK MIRROR, READY PLAYER ONE

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    DAVID SHELDON HICKS, FOUNDER

    Founded on a love of storytelling and technology, Territory Studio has established a reputation for creatively led narrative design. Today, David’s multidisciplinary team thrives on future vision challenges, creating richly layered technology experiences that support vision, action and performance. From close collaborations with Art Department teams to detailed design for visual effects, Territory attracts diverse briefs across film, episodic, games, experiential, advertising and product design. Film credits include Ad Astra, Black Mirror, Mindhunter, Ready Player One, Blade Runner 2049, Ghost in the Shell, The Martian, and many more

    CLAIRE FLEMING

    Art Director Star Wars Episode IX

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    CLAIRE FLEMING, ART DIRECTOR

    Working in the art departments of films for over fifteen years including Star Wars Ep VII + IX, Ready Player One, Terminator Dark Fate, Sherlock Holmes Movies and Jason Bourne V. Claire has had the pleasure to learn from some of the most talented filmmakers in the business.

    NIHAL THAROOR

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    NIHAL THAROOR, CEO & FOUNDER

    Electric Noir Studios is a London-based studio creating a future platform for mobile episodic interactive entertainment. Their flagship series, Dead Man’s Phone, is an interactive crime drama where you, the detective, investigate and solve murders through the smartphone of victims. Nihal is chief writer and narrative designer on the series, and founded the company alongside Benedict Tatham in 2017. The pair were previously a creative team in advertising.

    JACK ATTRIDGE

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    JACK ATTRIDGE, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

    After a history in audio design, filmmaking, and games design, Jack co-founded Flavourworks with the goal of merging the worlds of film and games like never before. The studio's first title 'ERICA' was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PS4 in August 2019

    TONY KEARNS

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    TONY KEARNS, EDITOR

    Tony is a highly experienced film editor based in Dublin, Ireland, mostly working in Dublin and London. He has been a busy and successful editor since 1989, working on music videos, TV commercials, short films, TV dramas and feature length films. In the past two years Tony has edited three Black Mirror projects, Metalhead (series 4), Bandersnatch - both directed by David Slade - and Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too starring Miley Cyrus and directed by Anna Sewitsky (series 5). He recently received a BAFTA Television Craft Awards nomination for his work on Bandersnatch, Netflix’s first interactive film for adults. Bandersnatch was also the recipient of two 2019 Emmy awards. He is recently finished editing the first four episodes of the second series of The End Of the F***ing World, directed by Lucy Forbes. He has also edited feature films such as The Lodgers (dir: Brian O’ Malley), Cardboard Gangsters (dir: Mark O’Connor) and This Way to Egress (dir: David Slade), a part of the anthology film Nightmare Cinema. He has edited iconic and award winning music videos for artists such as Radiohead, Coldplay, The Prodigy, Blur, Pulp, Sir Paul McCartney, Manic Street Preachers, The Chemical Brothers, Suede, Muse, PJ Harvey, among many others.

    MATTHEW BROWN

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    MATTHEW BROWN, CEO, IMAGINARIUM STUDIOS

    Matt Brown, CEO at The Imaginarium Studios, runs the UK's leading performance capture studio and the only commercial facility of its kind in London. Based at the historic Ealing Studios, Matt and the team have developed a global reputation for top quality work across film, TV, games, xR and live theatre.

    SAM BRIDGER

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    SAM BRIDGER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES, PULSE FILMS

    Sam Bridger is an award-winning documentary filmmaker based in London, specialising in creating visually striking and innovative music, arts and social history films with high profile artists. Sam's films have been selected for Toronto International Film Festival, London Film Festival, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, DOC NYC, CPH DOX, Doc N Roll, See You Sound, the Broadcast Awards, the UKMVA's and has worked with talent including Adele, The Rolling Stones, Muse and more. Sam is Executive Producer of Music Documentaries at Pulse Films.

    JUAN DIAZ BOHORQUEZ

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    JUAN DIAZ BOHORQUEZ, EUROPEAN DIRECTOR WORLD BUILDING INSTITUTE; CREATIVE DIRECTOR KOSMOLOGY; DIRECTOR, WRITER, NARRATIVE DESIGNER

    Juan Diaz Bohorquez is an awarded director, writer and narrative designer who works at the convergence of design, science and storytelling. His practice is driven by a non-linear, cross-disciplinary approach, to create human narratives that emerge from holistic worlds to trigger change. He is founder and creative director of Kosmology Studio, Berlin/Bogota, a multi-platform, development and production company, where he is creating film, episodic and XR projects in Europe and America on present social issues.

    IAIN DODGEON

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    IAIN DODGEON, DIRECTOR, SCIENCE & RESEARCH ENTERTAINMENT EXCHANGE, WELLCOME TRUST

    Iain Dodgeon is Director of the Science & Research Entertainment Exchange, a new body supporting collaboration between the research sector and entertainment industries. A former medical doctor and producer with over fifteen years’ experience in entertainment, he has led the Wellcome Trust’s activities in broadcast, games and film. He pioneered its work with the games industry, supporting the development of multi-award-winning games including the 5-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Their celebrated programme of industry collaboration includes the Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship in partnership with BFI and Film4, Experimental Stories with BBC Radio 4 and The Big Data VR Challenge with Epic Games. Other projects have included collaborations with Jamal Edwards on mental health in the music industry, documentaries Irene’s Ghost, The Island and the Whales and Against the Law; series The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds; comedy series Quacks; and feature films Rocks, Eternal Beauty and Journeyman.

    CHRIS FERRITER

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    CHRIS FERRITER, CEO, HALON STUDIOS

    Chris is an award-winning Producer and Designer that has been active in the entertainment industry since 1994, serving as a Managing Producer for several of the game industry’s top publishers including THQ, Midway, and Ubisoft, as well as working as a Lead Designer and Producer for EA Sports. An expert in adapting film and TV properties into successful video games, Chris oversaw the re-launch of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise after a three year stint managing CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a franchise that would go to sell over 3 million units worldwide before moving on to co-found Divisive Media Australia and serving as Managing Director. Chris joined Halon Entertainment in 2016 and oversaw the production of game cinematics and advertisements for clients such as Ubisoft, Obsidian, 2K Games, and Sony Santa Monica Studios. He currently serves as CEO of Halon Entertainment.

    PAULA CRICKARD

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    PAULA CRICKARD, CO-FOUNDER, HAZFILM + HEAD OF POST PRODUCTION NU BOYANA UK

    Paula has produced several award winning feature dramas and documentaries for release on multiple platforms including BIFA nominated Winter (2015) and break out indie sci-fi hit The Beyond (2018). Other producer credits include Everton Howard’s Way (2019), Mission of Honor (2018), XV Beyond the Tryline (2016) and Calloused Hands (2013). Paula’s other hat is post production supervising and recently joined Nu Boyana UK to run the UK post operations for Millennium Media productions. Other post supervising credits include Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018) and DI producer on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). Paula is passionate about storytelling, working with new technologies and collaborating with interesting people.

    KATE BULKLEY

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    KATE BULKLEY, JOURNALIST & MEDIA COMMENTATOR

    Kate is an award-winning business journalist both on camera and in print and writes regularly for specialist publications, including DTVE, RTS Magazine and Broadcast Magazine in the UK. She tweets @KateComments. Kate has lived and worked in London since 1990, first as International Editor for pay TV title Cable World magazine; then as Media Editor for European Business News, a 24-hour, pan-European channel, owned by Dow Jones & Co., where she created and co-presented the award-winning, daily half-hour Media Report.

    JAMIE WALKER

    GAVIN HUMPHRIES

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    GAVIN HUMPHRIES, MANAGING EDITOR NOWNESS

    Gavin is Managing Editor of online arts and culture video platform NOWNESS, premiering films made with its international creative community, including David Lynch, Björk, Flying Lotus, Jenn Nkiru, Stella McCartney, Martine Syms, Frank Gehry, Benjamin Millepied and Mykki Blanco.

    RAFAELA PERERA

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    RAFAELA PERERA, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR & MANAGING PARTNER

    Rafaela was never allowed to watch television as a child. This is probably the reason she’s obsessed with it. Her other obsession is words. Having carved out a career in Australian ad agency BADJAR Ogilvy working as a writer on accounts such as BMW, McCain, and The Australian National lottery, Rafaela left Melbourne to go travelling with no definite plan other than to work on her tan. Instead, she wound up working for some of the UK’s biggest media brands including Sky, ITV and Comedy Central. Finding herself as the proverbial kid in the candy store, Rafaela spent the next decade working in television. As an award-winning Creative Director, she lead her creative teams to critical success, launching everything from Sky+ to Game of Thrones to the ITV rebrand. In 2014, Rafaela was appointed Executive Creative Director of BBC Studios, managing a department of around 90 creatives and overseeing all of BBC Studios’ creative output including trade, content, global franchise brands and EMEA channels. During her tenure, she helped to drive transformational change within the business and win the global accounts for the BBC’s most prized content brands. She has worked with world renowned talent including the writers, showrunners and executive producers of Sherlock, Top Gear, Doctor Who, Planet Earth and Blue Planet. Today she’s the Executive Creative Director and managing partner of Littlehawk. An independent creative agency that specialises in content, brand and strategy. (She still spends an inordinate amount of time watching telly.)

    CATHY BOXALL

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    CATHY BOXALL, GLOBAL SVP BRAND ENTERTAINMENT THE STORYLAB

    Cathy heads up the global brand entertainment team at The Story Lab, devising and producing market-leading entertainment properties for global brand clients including Jaguar Land Rover, Diageo and AB InBev. She is an established entertainment specialist with 20+ years of experience across a wide range of sectors including movies, TV, digital and publishing. Prior to joining The Story Lab in 2015, Cathy led the global client solutions team at NBC Universal across 9 international TV brands and before that she was head of integrated brand partnerships at The Walt Disney Company EMEA where she led the team in charge of commercial brand partnerships across Disney, Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilm.

  • SUMMIT - Partners 2019

    Partners of Future of Film Summit 2019