Heiko Burkardsmaier, Head of Business & Legal Affairs, Accenture Song Content Germany GmbH

Heiko Burkardsmaier has long-standing expertise with visual effects and legal affairs. After finishing his law degree, he joined EM.TV in Munich as legal counsel where he was responsible for Merchandising contracts and International Co-Productions. He subsequently worked as General Counsel of the EuroArts-/Medici Group and came to Pixomondo in 2008 where he managed the Stuttgart branch and was responsible for legal affairs worldwide.

In April 2013 he joined Mackevision as VFX Executive Producer and Head of Business & Legal Affairs where he is responsible for running the VFX Department of Mackevision. Heiko contributed to various award winning Feature and TV-projects such as Academy Award winning “Hugo” and Emmy Award winning HBO Series “Game of Thrones”. He’s an and expert in VFX contracts, international tax credits and subsidy schemes and a regular lecturer at Filmakademie Baden Württemberg   and an adviser on the audio-visual media course at the Media University in Stuttgart (HDM). Heiko is member of the board of the “section animation” of the German Producers Alliance (ProduzentenaIlianz Deutschland) and a member of the Deutsche Filmakademie.

In 2014 Heiko’s team at Mackevision won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for Season 4 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. In 2018 his team was nominated for an Emmy for their work on “Lost in Space”. In 2020 the Team was nominated for 2 Emmy’s for “Lost in Space, Season 2” and HBO’s “Watchmen” and in 2021 for HBO’s “The Nevers”. In 2022 they received and Emmy Award Nomination for the Visual Effects for “Lost in Space, Season 3”

Patrick Davenport, President, Ghost VFX

Davenport was named President of Ghost VFX in 2021, bringing with him 30 years of industry experience managing global studios and producing VFX for commercials, episodics, and features. At Ghost VFX, he has concentrated on building and expanding the talented global teams he oversees, as well as unifying culture, technology, and production workflows. He started at MPC in London before heading to the US to work at Digital Domain and Method Studios, most recently as COO. Davenport has led the teams behind the scenes of such notable recent titles as Top Gun: Maverick, The Mandalorian, and the upcoming Fast X.

www.ghostvfx.com

Matt Dravitzki, Senior VFX Producer, Wētā FX

As Wētā FX’s Los Angeles-based Senior Visual Effects Producer, Matt Dravitzki establishes and maintains Wētā’s key relationships within the film, visual effects, and technology communities. He is a central contact for studios, filmmakers, and onset crews throughout production. Recent highlights include Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear (2023), the Peacemaker (2022) television series on HBO Max and Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022). Matt also produced Wētā’s contribution to Childish Gambino’s 2018 Pharos concert, an interactive real-time rendered immersive visual experience. He keeps abreast of new technologies and initiatives globally, particularly in virtual production, virtual reality, and performance capture.    Matt’s career in the film industry began in 1999 when he joined Peter Jackson in the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He went on to become the Executive Producer at Wingnut Films and was part of the producing team on The Hobbit trilogy, and co-producer of West of Memphis.