Sebastian Sylwan, Technology Executive

Sebastian is an accomplished and trusted Technology Executive with 30+ years of experience in theMedia & Entertainment Industry. He has been at the forefront of technology in VFX and Immersivemedia, leading teams and building companies and organizations of all sizes.

He was Director of R&D - Production technologies at Netflix where he oversaw the integration of theacquired companies Scanline VFX and Eyeline Studios later acting as their CTO and bootstrappingtheir GenAI strategy. Previously Sebastian had held CTO roles at leading studios like Weta Digital,Technicolor, Felix & Paul Studios, Digital Domain amongst others where he consistently acceleratedinnovation.

Sebastian is a passionate member of the VFX community. He acted as chair of the VES TechnologyCommittee for over a decade and was named a VES fellow in 2020, he is a member of AMPAS andthe Television Academy and his work has been recognized by Emmy, Lumiere and Monolith awards

Kevin Baillie, Head of Creative, Eyeline Studios powered by Netflix

Kevin Baillie began his VFX career at 18 as a previsualization artist on Star Wars: Episode I. Over the next 27 years, he has left a lasting impact on the industry, supervising groundbreaking work at The Orphanage (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and ImageMovers Digital.

In 2010, Kevin co-founded Atomic Fiction, a trailblazing VFX studio behind The Walk, Top Gun: Maverick, and Flight. He has also supervised VFX on Star Trek, Transformers, Welcome to Marwen, The Witches, and Pinocchio, collaborating extensively with director Robert Zemeckis.

Most recently, Kevin served as VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director on Here (2024), pioneering real-time AI-driven workflows for de-aging and digital environments.

Now, as Head of Creative at Netflix’s Eyeline Studios, he continues pushing the boundaries of technology to tell stories that would otherwise be untellable.

Beyond VFX, Kevin founded Conductor Technologies, a cloud rendering company acquired by CoreWeave in 2023. He is a member of the DGA, VES, and AMPAS, where he has served on the VFX Executive Committee multiple times.

Ellenor Argyropoulos, Director & Producer, Mermaid Toast

Ellenor Argyropoulos is an award-winning director, photographer, and creative technologist based in Los Angeles. Originally from Australia, she co-founded Mermaid Toast, a female-driven production company pioneering AI-integrated filmmaking. Hailed by Forbes as a trailblazer in AI storytelling and praised for her films by industry legends like George Miller (Mad Max) and Catherine Goldschmidt (House of the Dragon), Ellenor blends cinematic vision with cutting-edge technology.

She serves as an advisor to the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council and has spoken alongside Oscar-winning filmmakers like James Cameron and Rob Legato at Academy and DGA panels on the ethics and future of AI in film. Her diverse projects span narrative and documentary, including collaborations with Michael Bay, Oscar-nominated studio XTR, and Dark Dreams Entertainment. She recently completed visuals for Simple Plan’s tour, a short film titled A Funeral for My Vibrator, and is in production on a TV series with Rob Minkoff (The Lion King).

Carolyn Giardina, Senior Entertainment Technology & Crafts Editor, Variety

Carolyn Giardina is senior entertainment technology and crafts editor at Variety, which she joined in 2024, following more than 15 years at The Hollywood Reporter. She has also worked on titles including SHOOT, Cinema Editor, The IBC Daily and SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal.

Her commitment to education includes serving as a lecturer at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts. She also co-authored a book about stereoscopic 3D filmmaking, titled “Exploring 3D” (Focal Press, 2013).

Carolyn has been honored with American Cinema Editors’ Robert Wise Award for journalistic contributions to film editing; the International Cinematographers Guild’s Technicolor William A. Fraker Award for journalistic contributions to cinematography; the Women in Technology Hollywood Leadership Award; and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Lumiere Award.

Carolyn has long been an active member of the community. That includes nearly two decades on the HPA Board of Directors, during which time she co-founded and was founding chair of the HPA Awards.