Disney Animation VP To Keynote Manchester Animation Festival

Max Goldbart
·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s VP of International Animation is to keynote the Manchester Animation Festival next month.

Orion Ross will address the UK’s biggest animation confab with “case studies of how Disney is working in the UK on global series,” he said, “while discussing the evolving opportunities for the UK’s rich and unique ecosystem of animation creators, writers, artists, studios and producers to play a leading role in making new global hits.”

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Ross is a big draw for the annual fest. As part of the Disney Branded Television group headed by Ayo Davis, he and his UK-based team develop and produce animated series for Disney’s global channels and platforms including Disney+. Recent and upcoming projects include the Disney+ Originals Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Chip ’n’ Dale: Park Life, The Doomies, Magicampers, Dragon Striker and The Sunnyridge 3, as well as the global co-productions Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.

Ross said he is “honoured” to be asked to speak at the festival’s Animation Nation Forum, which was formerly called Industry Day.

This year’s festival will see a range of speakers and panels alongside a State of the Animation Nation roundtable featuring Lucy Murphy (Director of Kids Content, Sky), Emma Turner (Head of Film, Animation and Future Skills, ScreenSkills), Kate O’Connor (Executive Chair, Animation UK), Courtney Arumugam (Executive Producer, The LEGO Group) and Tom Judd (Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director, Animade).

There will also be a Manchester premiere for Netflix’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which premiered at the London Film Festival and launches later this year, along with a Making Of session about the hotly-anticipated sequel.

The festival will run from November 12 to 17.

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