This year's Gatherings are going to include a new activity: Let's Talk About This!

Let's Talk About This! will be a live TV show featuring a round table discussion that will be recorded and broadcast during each event.

In every city, we will be tackling a different issue that concerns the global creative community: our Tribe. What doubts do they have? What is the future of the industry? How can they shape it? How do things work?

The specific topics of each conversation will be different in each city: London, Berlin, and Paris. We are going to dig deep into the industry, reveal all its secrets and decide which direction to take it in.

At the Kachette in London, on May 11, 2017, the question we will raise during the show will be related to animation: is it a good thing or not that the lines between live-action feature films and animation are blurring?

Many "live-action" feature films now often consist of 80% animation; for example, The Life of Pi and The Avengers, just to name two. Can the live-action animation model really be considered "animation"? Is bringing a creature to life, a tiger in a boat for instance, that different from bringing a toy to life, like Woody or Buzz in Toy Story? One is imitating life, one is caricaturing. But both are alive on screen.

The debate promises to be interesting. We will be joined by our panelists and animation experts Jimmy Kiddell (The Mill), Jaime Maestro (Blue Dream Studios Spain), and Simone Giampaolo (Blue Zoo Animation Studio).

You might have heard of them before, but here’s a brief introduction.

Jimmy is an award winning art director based in The Mill’s London studio.  He leads a team of talented illustrators, concept artists and matte painters.

Jaime is a 3D artist based in Valencia, who was pre-nominated for an Academy Award with his first short film. He co-founded Blue Dream Studios Spain and is now working on some very interesting projects.

Simone is a filmmaker from Switzerland who has had the chance to work as director, animator and pre-production artist throughout his career. He is currently working as a director and CG generalist in the commercial department at Blue Zoo Animation Studio in London.

Tickets to join us in person are still available (read how to get hold of them here). If you can’t make it, you can still follow the round table discussion on THU TV starting from 8:30pm (London time). We will release the link for the livestream closer to the event.

All of this is only made possible thanks to our partners at Lenovo, Foundry, and Axis Animation, who will be supporting the London Gathering.

The event will start at 6pm and end around 11pm on May 11, at the Kachette. Prepare for an evening full of creative activities and inspirational talks, and don’t forget to join us for Let's Talk About This! at 8:30pm.