2023 Participants

Mick Abela and Marcos Silva

Mick and Marcos joined creative forces in 2018, when they were both doing a part-time film directing course, and working in VFX on movies such as The Lion King (2019) and Sex Education, S2 (2020)

Having worked in VFX for almost 15 years, Marcos has had an array of experiences in film, tv, in-game cinematics and advertising projects, culminating in his recent focus on virtual production. He moved from Rio to London 5 years ago, where he has primarily been studying real-time workflows. Currently he works as an Unreal Artist, with his most recent on-set virtual production on Snow White (2024). After moving to London from Malta, Mick completed a degree at Central Saint Martins where they primarily developed work around character and gender expression. They have written for photography and art magazines such as Musee magazine, and film platforms such as Nowness. In the last 5 years, Mick has been working in the VFX industry, starting out in production and eventually coming into VFX and animation editing roles, with recent projects including Snow White (2024) and Little Mermaid (2023). At the moment, the artist duo continue to work to complete two short films, one of which includes a full CG environment.

Paul Booth, Alessandro Manghi, Fred Suddell and Deborah Stone

Paul Booth is a Cinematic Artist and aspiring Creative Director with a background in digital design and Product Design & Management. His professional journey includes a significant role at MPC Film, where he managed their Virtual Production platform, gaining valuable insights into high-end VFX production. He is also the founder of SuperMotionCollective.com, a network of freelancers dedicated to real-time, virtual production, gaming, and sound design. Three other members of Super Motion Collective make up the crew of the Red Ball project in its current form - Alessandro Manghi (3D generalist, architect, photogrammetry expert), Fred Suddell (Environment artist) and Deborah Stone (Producer, Metahuman specialist).

Joshua Dawson

Joshua Ashish Dawson is an India-born, Los Angeles-based, film director known for incorporating the built environment as an essential character in his films. His body of work he calls “Speculative Climate Futures”, a seamless blend of CGI and live-action, explores water politics, resource extraction, and climate change, encouraging viewers to consider their actions' long-term consequences. Dawson holds a Master's in Advanced Architectural Studies from the University of Southern California and has trained under notable figures like Hollywood production designer Alex McDowell and Pritzker prize-winning architect BV Doshi.

Dawson's short films have screened at prestigious film festivals worldwide and notably secured the Jury Prize for Best Science Fiction Film at Cinequest. His work has been featured in prestigious publications like Vice Motherboard and more recently, was honored with a comprehensive profile of his background and work in The New York Times. Beyond his directorial ventures, Dawson applies his expertise to various Hollywood productions as a World Builder and Conceptual Design consultant.

Claire Doherty

Claire is a creative director and writer known for ground-breaking arts producing. Awarded a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Breakthrough Award for outstanding cultural entrepreneurs in 2009, she led Situations, one of the UK’s foremost arts producing companies for fifteen years. Projects included ‘Nowhereisland’ for London 2012 Cultural Olympiad; the 100-year ‘Future Library’ in Oslo and the acclaimed, non-stop 552-hour-long ‘Sanctum’ with American artist Theaster Gates.

Claire’s writing and research on new forms of public art and storytelling rooted in place is widely published. In recent years, Claire has moved into film and TV. In 2022, she was Creative Director and Executive Producer of a multi-platform project for National Theatre Wales and Sky Arts. GALWAD was a tri-lingual story told in real-time over seven days through live performance and across social media and on Sky Arts broadcast live from Wales. The project was a 2023 SXSW Innovation Award nominee. She is currently developing a number of projects for broadcast.

Adrienne Liron

Adrienne Liron is an award-winning producer and co-founder of British / Dutch production company 3 MINUTES WEST. Working with her creative partner, writer-director Jeff Tudor, Adrienne loves to produce mixed media, cross-genre content aimed at a broad audience. Her first feature, COPPELIA, premiered at Annecy Festival 2021 before international theatrical release. An original mix of animation, music and live action dance, COPPELIA is a modern fairytale for a family audience, told without words. The film features a diverse, international cast and a positive message for a young audience in the age of social media: Be yourself! COPPELIA garnered critical acclaim for its “Disney-esque” and “innovative” approach. The film was selected for many festivals and won several awards including Best Fiction Feature at the 40th Cambridge Film Festival. Broadcasts include nationwide across North America on PBS at Thanksgiving, and on the BBC at Christmas 22. Adrienne’s career spans TV, event cinema, branded content, live events and features. Before shifting her focus to fiction, Adrienne produced arts programming for TV and event cinema. Co-producers and distributors include BBC, CBC, NRK and Pathé Live. Awards include the Rose d’Or.

Imaan Samson

Imaan is a multifaceted digital producer, boldly traversing the ever-evolving landscape of combined arts with a relentless passion for creative experimentation. With a Weeby Awards honour and nomination for outstanding contributions to technology under his belt, Imaan's curiosity and ambition have no bounds. His evocative and thought-provoking work spans the mediums of film production, digital art, and immersive storytelling, revealing the innate beauty and complexity of the human experience. With an unwavering commitment to pushing artistic boundaries, Imaan continues to forge new paths in the visual arts sector, using the immersive storytelling medium to ignite imaginations and foster connection.

Tosin Sanni

Tosin is a creative, competent, and meticulous artist with hands-on graphic design and 3D VFX experience who can create complex design and animation concepts based on in-depth knowledge of aesthetic layout and animation principles. The key strengths that represent him are his ability to coordinate and multitask within a fast-changing and challenging environment, using different forms of effective artistic expression to deliver the requested briefs. As a multidisciplinary artist and researcher, Tosin sees every medium of artistic expression as an avenue to convey his innermost thoughts, which allows him to better understand his subconscious and the world around him.

Musfira Shaffi and Kanza Naheed

Musfira Shaffi is a writer. Her work has been featured in BBC, Saatchi Gallery, Art Dubai, PH Museum of Humanity, Opensea and nextmuseum.io. She is the winner of the Montegrappa Award, longlisted for the Zeenat Haroon Rasheed Prize, and a Cannes Lions See It Be It leader.

Kanza Naheed is a marketer, self-taught artist, and stand-up comedian. Her comedy career spans over three years, with an all-women’s troupe Auratnaak in Lahore and open mics in Berlin. Her illustrations on protest art and patriarchal violence for Aurat March (Women’s March) have been featured in BBC Urdu and international blogs.

Inga Teder, He Sun and Neil Blackler

He-Sun has 14 years combined experience in both the video game and film industries, including The James Bond: GoldenEye, Dead Space, BattleZone VR, Sniper Elite, The Lion King and The Mandalorian.

Inga Teder specialises in storytelling, art direction and cinematics. She has been in the VFX industry for nearly 12 years working over 17 high budget projects such as The Jungle Book, Prometheus, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Witcher, among many others.

Neil Blackler Neil has over 20 years experience as an accountant in computer games, comic & book publishing and film & tv. During his time as CFO, he helped develop and guide the businesses through a 10X growth in all areas. He successfully managed the Finance, HR and Facilities departments servicing over 40 companies.

Michael Turkington, Ester Almagro I De Toro and Pauline Blanchet

Michael Turkington is Music Tech Creative with 12+ years working across live, distribution, product and as Head of A&R in London. Now actively working in Social AR in projects with TikTok, Meta, Snap and Google.

Ester Almagro is born and raised in Barcelona, Spain and is a multidisciplinary data developer and strategist, with high interest and over 5+ years of experience in tech and creative businesses.

Pauline Blanchet is a documentary filmmaker and audio producer with 5+ years working in social impact storytelling, including the communication of the climate crisis.