Conference The Art of Animation Animated Shorts
ON SITE ROOM T brought to you by TRIXTER Thursday, May 06, 19:30

Mila

Director Cinzia Angelini will discuss how a personal story attracted, and eventually enlisted, hundreds of artists from more than 35 countries - along with a major studio - to work on a production that took an entire decade to complete. 

The presentation will explore the Director's motivation behind using animation to take an unvarnished look at war from a child's perspective. It will examine how she brought the film to Cinesite with insights from Cinesite Vancouver General Manager Tara Kemes. It will illustrate what it took to make the film a reality.

Cinzia Angelini

Cinzia Angelini, Head of Story & Director, Cinesite

Cinzia Angelini is a director, creator, story artist and animator who has worked in the animation industry for more than twenty-five years. Throughout her life, she has always had an unbridled passion for all types of animation.

After working in London and Munich for Amblimation and then Warner Bros, Cinzia moved to Los Angeles to start the American chapter of her career. While her first Hollywood studio was Dreamworks, she eventually followed a path that would lead to a series of collaborations as animator and story artist, with all of the major studios, including Sony Imageworks, Walt Disney Animation, Warner Bros, and Illumination Entertainment. 

Cinzia has written and directed “Mila,” a high-quality CG short film about a little girl whose life takes an unexpected turn in WWII. The film is produced by the largest independent, world-wide, virtual studio collaboration ever created. 

The notoriety she gained from her development of the virtual studio and crew for Mila led to an invitation to speak at TEDx Trento, Italy, and then again at TEDx Vail, Colorado. There she introduced her idea of bridging cultural diversity through the magic of animation. Currently, Cinzia is directing Hitpig, an upcoming animated feature film for Cinesite.

Tara Kemes

Tara Kemes, Studio General Manager, Cinesite

Tara is the general manager of Cinesite Feature Animation, Vancouver. She joined the studio in early 2018 to lead its work on MGM's film, The Addams Family,

Prior to joining Cinesite, Tara spent several years at Vancouver's Rainmaker Entertainment (now known as Mainframe Studios), last serving as the vice president of culture and talent. In that role, Tara focused on creating a positive and inclusive environment for the team, and she brings that same drive to Cinesite Vancouver in a broader oversight role.

Tara is a recent board member for QMUNITY, British Columbia's queer, trans, and two-spirit resource center, as well as a contributor to various industry-specific organizations in Vancouver. There's a shared mentality in all of this work: Tara's guiding principle is to support, lift up, and empower others, and it shines through in her management of Cinesite Vancouver.