AnimfxNZ

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – October 16, 2008 – AnimfxNZ, the world’s leading conference for digital animation, visual effects, animation and games, today announced that Aimee McCammon, general manager of Park Road Post Production will give a keynote at this year’s conference. The conference also announced additional international speakers to give prospective attendees time to take advantage of the early-bird pricing which ends on October 18th. New speakers include Jeff Barnes (CafeFX), Laurel Walker (Universal), Dan Sarto (Animation World Network), and Carolyn Giardina (Hollywood Reporter) who bring additional international perspectives on VFX and Animation to the conference.

“Aimee will give an excellent view of the digital post production process with the perspective of an experienced commercial and advertising creative executive,” said Jos Ruffell, Chairman of the New Zealand Games, Animation and Visual Effects Trust (NZGAV), the organizing body behind Animfx. “We wanted to announce additional speakers to give potential attendees as much information about the schedule as possible so they can begin preparing for the show.”

Under the theme, “Where Creative Convergence Begins,” AnimfxNZ is bringing together leaders from the four major creative digital mediums to share ideas and further the creation of digital entertainment. AnimfxNZ will take place November 14-16th, in Wellington New Zealand and present a line-up of keynotes and panels that feature the brightest minds in digital media today. Registration is now open with early bird pricing set at NZ $675 until October 18th, after which the price goes to NZ $790.

About The Speakers

Aimee McCammon is the general manager of Park Road Post Production, one of the finest post-production houses in the business. Aimee’s ability to inspire a hugely talented team of 70, while giving over-worked filmmakers the time of their lives can be detected in every frame the company finishes. Aimee came to the slow purgatory of modern filmmaking via ten years in the world of advertising, including five at Saatchi’s in New Zealand and New York.

Jeff Barnes is the co-founder and CEO of the ComputerCafe Group and has broad oversight of the operations of its feature effects division, CafeFX, and its Santa Monica-based commercial visual effects and design studio, The Syndicate. Barnes also provides management support and development input for Sententia Entertainment, the company’s feature film production division. As a visual effects production executive, his credits include Iron Man, Speed Racer, Nim’s Island, The Mist, The Kite Runner, Evan Almighty, Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, The Departed, Pan’s Labyrinth, King Kong, Memoirs of a Geisha, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Sin City, and The Aviator. He was also executive producer on Sententia Entertainment’s first feature film, Danika. Barnes was instrumental in forming the creative and financial partnership with director Guillermo del Toro to co-produce the Academy Award®-winning Pan’s Labyrinth. Barnes is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Visual Effects Society (VES) and is an invited guest at conferences and film festivals around the world.

Dan Sarto is co-founder and publisher of Animation World Network, AWN.com, the largest, most comprehensive and respected source for animation news and information resources on the Internet. Dan and his business partner Ron Diamond founded AWN in 1995. Now in their 13th year of publishing, Dan, Ron and AWN have stayed true to their goals, passion and deep commitment to provide the professional and enthusiast communities a cohesive assembly of the best animation, visual effects and related resources that exist today, in an interactive and enjoyable environment. Dan frequently speaks about animation at industry events, having served on juries, delivered keynotes or moderated panels at events such as the Hong Kong Entertainment Expo, 3D Festival, fmx, London Effects and Animation Festival, eDIT VES and VES Festivals as well as the Ottawa and Annecy International Animation Film Festivals.

Carolyn Giardina is a journalist for the Hollywood Reporter and a popular freelance contributor to a number of titles including Backstage Shoot and many others.

AnimfxNZ 2008 has already announced Barrie Osborne, Carolyn Soper, Howard Postley, Jeff Okun, Habib Zargarpour, Joseph Olin, Tim Willits, Henry LaBounta, Mario Wynands, Joshua Greer, Harrison Ellenshaw, David Scammell and Patrick von Sychowski as speakers at this year’s conference.

About AnimfxNZ

AnimfxNZ was founded in 2006, to provide a global platform for the creative content community to exchange ideas across the various disciplines of digital media. Since its inception, the conference has presented leading speakers on the topics of animation, digital entertainment, digital effects and games, and has served as the crossroads of collaboration for creative media convergence. The 2008 conference is organized under the theme, “Where Creative Convergence Begins,” and is focused on the current and future states of creative digital content creation, worldwide.

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Sean Kauppinen

International Digital Entertainment Agency

+1-415-299-2156

sean@ide-agency.com