Robert Minkoff an American director, animator, and producer. He is best known for co-directing The Lion King (1994), and live-action films including Stuart Little (1999), Stuart Little 2 (2002), The Haunted Mansion (2003), and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). In recent decades, he returned to feature animation with Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022).

Scott Ross is the Co-Founder of Digital Domain with Hollywood luminaries James Cameron and Stan Winston, one of the largest digital production studios in the motion picture and advertising industries. Under Ross' direction, Digital Domain garnered multiple Academy Award nominations, receiving its first Oscar for the groundbreaking visual effects in Titanic. For well over a decade Ross oversaw the company that created imagery for movies such as Titanic, The Fifth Element, Apollo 13, Fight Club, True Lies, Interview with the Vampire, O Brother Where Art Thou, X-Men, The Lord of the Rings, The Day After Tomorrow, and I, Robot.

Currently the Chief Operating Officer at Blender, General Manager and Producer at Blender Studio. He has a professional background in industrial design and has made important contributions in 3D art and open source film projects.

Francesco Siddi is a key figure in the fields of 3D animation and open source filmmaking, best known for his work in the open source 3D creation software Blender. Over the years, he has participated in numerous Blender projects, contributing both in technical development and creative production. With a background in digital art, design, and computer graphics, Siddi's early exposure to Blender laid the foundation for his career, prompting him to deeply p…

Wayne Kennedy, based in Los Angeles, CA, USA, is currently a Senior Production Director at Blizzard Entertainment. He previously acted as the CEO of Empyreal Entertainment and a director of Digital Domain.

Kennedy's pioneering work in incorporating AI into Hollywood productions places him at the cutting edge of merging creative and technological domains. His experience at Blizzard Entertainment and Digital Domain provides him with unique insights into the future of AI in entertainment.

Léo is a French animator who trained in traditional animation techniques before specialising in 3D at ATI (Art et Technologies de l'Image) at the University of Paris 8. He began his career on the project 'Les Contes de la Nuit', by Michel Ocelot, with whom he later collaborated on all his works.

In parallel, he worked on various animated series, shorts and features, developing his expertise and taking on new responsibilities. It was on the project 'Dilili à Paris' Michel Ocelot that he discovered Blender, a software that would become central to his practice. He then expanded his skills on other productions at Mikros and Autour de Minuit and other studios…

Mārtiņš Upītis is a Co-Founder and creative director of Physical Addons (https://physicaladdons.com) where he and his team design Blender addons. Started to contribute to the Blender community in 2006 and ever since is using Blender as his main tool. He is Academic arts graduate and a Technical Artist in computer game and VR training simulation companies.

Teaching his own course in physical lighting and materials using Blender in art schools and universities in Latvia. Started using Blender Game Engine to make games.

Dad of 2. He has a passion for shading, physical lighting, and space.

Konstantins Visnevskis is a Latvian 3D artist and a lecturer at the Art Academy of Latvia, with over two decades of experience at the intersection of art and technology. His extensive career as a freelance 3D artist has spanned the fast-paced world of television commercials to the immersive realms of virtual reality and computer games.

A testament to his innovative approach is his recent work as a 3D Computer Graphics Artist on the internationally acclaimed animated feature film, "Flow" (2024). The film, created entirely with the open-source software Blender, has been lauded for its technical and artistic achievements, earning numerous accolades, including the Golden Globe for …

Emilio Coppola leads the Godot Foundation as its Executive Director, guiding the growth of the free, open-source Godot game engine. He started out making games and teaching others how to use Godot. With his background in web development and startups, Emilio now oversees the Foundation's work. He manages funding, allocates resources, and helps Godot become a top choice for game creators.

Nosipho Maketo-van den Bragt is the CEO and owner of Chocolate Tribe, a leading African studio in Animation, Visual Effects (VFX), and Content Development. An admitted attorney turned creative entrepreneur and writer, she thrives on synthesising ideas, adaptability, and storytelling, while advocating for creatives across industries.

Under her leadership, Chocolate Tribe has produced award-winning international films, episodics, and commercials, establishing itself as a powerhouse on the African continent. With a focus on building the next generation of talent, Nosipho prioritises mentorship, skills development, and youth empowerment within the animation and VFX sector.

In 2021, she fo…

Pablo is the CEO of Kaleidos, makers of Penpot. He has 20+ years of experience in software development and has been an entrepreneur since 2011. He has led major technological undertakings ranging from AI to Retail. His academic background in Physics and Computer Science is at the core of his multidisciplinary collaboration ethos. He raised $8M for the biggest Series A round for an open source product in Spain to date and helps kindred spirits that aim at positive impact of technology.

He frequently speaks about open source, design and code collaboration and lean and inclusive teams.

On a personal side, he loves archery, role-playing games, gardening and cooking.

Yuichiro Katsumoto is an artist and a professor at Tokyo Denki University. His work focuses on exploring the interplay between letters and images by experimenting with linear objects such as strings, ribbons, and springs.

Artistic expression has long been intertwined with the acts of writing and drawing—processes through which humanity has mastered the compression of the three-dimensional world into two-dimensional lines. Katsumoto seeks to reverse this compression, liberating these lines back into physical space to create kinetic typography and motion graphics.

Katsumoto earned his Ph.D. in 2010 from Keio University, specializing in video production, physical computing, and des…

Mr. Tada started his Art and VFX career at Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) in Tokyo, working on games. He then moved to Los Angeles, USA to work on VFX shows with Digital Domain as a 3D Generalist/TD. Afterwards, he moved to New Zealand to work with Weta Digital as Lead and Senior Lighting TD for VFX films such as Avatar, The Hobbit, and Planet of the Apes. In 2018, he worked as Senior TD at Industrial Light & Magic in Canada. Mr. Tada currently runs an online art school as a Founder.

Mr. Tada enjoys creating stylized 3D illustrations, animation. He created the Deep Paint tool, a user friendly tool to create 3D stylized illustrations in Blender. Deep Paint extends Blender's Gre…

Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

• Core Member of the Director Group and Creative Design of the Main Production Team

Cultural and Tourism Brand Planning & Operations

• Planned "Home, the Story of Chinese People" for OCT Group, which won China's first world-class award in the cultural tourism sector - the Clio Awards (USA)

• Over 20 years of collaboration with Chimelong Group, covering brand planning, creative theme park content, and direction/production of visual promotional films

Film Industry

• Art Director and Visual Effects Supervisor for the film "The Only Green"

• Visual Director and A…

Bilibili UP | I am a Chinese Blender video creator with 394,000 followers. Since 2018, I have been updating over 400 episodes of open-source Blender teaching videos in the "Black Iron Knight" series on Bilibili.

Add-ons | I have led the ACGGit team in designing and developing 34 Blender add-ons. Examples include Simple Deform Helper, Place Helper, Light Helper, Lattice Helper, Colorista, POPOTI Align Helper, Gesture Helper, and more.

AI & ComfyUI | I have designed and developed an add-on called Blender ComfyUI Node Editor, which was used for demonstration at Nvidia CES 2025.

Interests | I am extremely fond of Blender, animation, and the mobile game League of Legends: …

Robert Chao, founder of Polaris Studio, former Industrial Design Lead at Shenzhen KUPA (under the Dawn Venture Capital umbrella).

Polaris Studio is a technology team specializing in the 3D digital domain and one of China's most influential Blender technical teams today. Adhering to an open-source 3D and AI technology approach, the team has successfully developed China's first "Blender + AI Full Pipeline" training system and cultivated a benchmark KOL in the Blender field - "HulkFatZerg". Focused on "character creation and Blender 3D software tutorials," this IP has surpassed 10 million views across platforms, with over 200,000 dedicated followers, an…

MAJA is an Art Director at Beijing Xiangxin Culture and Art Co., Ltd.

He began his career in film art and visual effects concept design in 2008, accumulating over a decade of experience in visual CG for film, television, and games. His responsibilities primarily include visual effects, early concept design, storyboarding, and developing on-set design schemes, as well as serving as a visual effects director and CG director.

From 2014 to 2015, MAJA was a senior lecturer in film concept at Mars Era Education. He has contributed to the visual concept and atmosphere design for films such as Caught by the Tides, The Battle at Lake Changjin II, Mao Zedong 1949, The Thousand Faces of Dunjia, …

Dr Ray Li is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for China Business of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), leveraging three decades of global corporate finance and strategy advisory expertise. He has held numerous board director positions at public and start-up companies, contributing to governance and innovation in financial, technology, and health sectors.

Dr Li’s distinguished career includes serving as Group Finance Director and Executive Committee Member at PingAn Group, where he oversaw finance strategies for the conglomerate’s insurance, banking, asset management, and technology divisions. He was the Board Director at PingAn Securities, PingAn Trust, PingAn Financial …

Dr. Neoh’s diverse roles, including his leadership at Global Digital Creation, showcase his significant influence in China’s creative industry. His insights into the legal, business, and academic aspects of creativity and animation make him a critical voice at the conference. 

Raymond Dennis Neoh is widely recognized as the "Father of the Chinese CG Industry." He has been instrumental in pioneering the computer graphics sector in China. Neoh founded the Institute of Digital Media Technology (IDMT), Global Digital Creation (GDC), and GDC Technology, which significantly contributed to the development of digital cinema in China. He also established the Institute of Digital Game Technology (IDGT) for game development and training in Singapore, and CG Global Entertainment (CGGE) for the International AI and Creativity Conference. Additionally, he founded the Krystal Institute and Krystal Technology, focusing on bridging the global digital divide and advancin…

With 23 years of experience in the digital animation and visual field, I have participated in over 50 domestic and international animated films, artistic short films, and interactive entertainment film projects. I was responsible for process management in China's first full 3D digital animated film Gordian, and served as the producer of the ocean-themed animated film Happy Little Submarine, which won the "Outstanding Animated Film" award at the China Film Huabiao Awards. The military-themed animated film Soldier Shunliu received the Guangdong Provincial "Five-One Project" Award and the Ministry of Culture's "Chinese Culture and Art Government Award for Best …

ZRO2 is an anti-industrial utopian experiment by a group of Blender artists — a lightweight miracle creation.

Heixuan is the person in-charge and director of UoU Studio.

UoU Studio is an animation advertising studio that explores diverse and engaging forms of animated expression. Through experimentation, the team continuously refines ideas and brings creative concepts to life.

Jiang Xinzheng (Mark) - Founder and Visual Effects Director of MindX.

Established in 2021, MindX is a dynamic digital studio with over 20 team members, integrating creative content and visual production. The studio specializes in commercial projects including TV commercials and immersive exhibitions, having collaborated with brands such as Tencent, Bilibili Games, miHoYo, and TCL across industries like gaming, 3C electronics, and cosmetics. Currently, the team is developing its first original full-length CG series and transitioning into a digital film production studio focused on creating and globally promoting content rooted in Chinese culture.

Personal:

• 8-year program in clinical medicine; transferred from medicine to visual art
• Co-founder of Immed.co
• Founder of OmooLab
• Practitioner in life science visualization

Studio: A digital creative team specializing in life sciences, providing high-quality digital media content for the field. The studio has collaborated with multinational pharmaceutical corporations, top-tier domestic academic institutions, and renowned healthcare technology brands.

Generalist 3D artists located in Switzerland and working for Dreamscape Immersive. He has worked and has given presentations in the following countries: Switzerland, China, Netherland, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia.
He gives presentations and workshops in both English and French and has pipeline design and TD experience.

Mr. Cao is a partner resident at the firm's Beijing office. Mr. Cao's practice focuses on entertainment and media industry matters. He is extensively involved in transactions including development of film and television projects, Sino-foreign co-productions, production financing (including debt financing and slate financing matters), establishment of production and financing vehicles, large theme park projects, music industry contracts, personal management, as well as advertising and new media. Mr. Cao is also richly experienced in general corporate and finance transactions, such as IPO and M&A matters, which helps him structure complicated transactions in the entertainment and …

Ilena Yeru Pegan is the Project Manager within the Godot Foundation, overseeing the team and ensuring the development of an open-source game engine accessible to everyone. Ilena is a game developer, previously managing interactive projects and indie teams. Their background is in grant writing and program management within non-profit and tribal government, where they grew passionate for the development of free, community-driven resources. Now, Ilena works with the Godot team to enhance development workflows, coordinate contractors, and ensure milestone alignment.