VIEW 2023: First Confirmed Speakers Attending In-Person
Onsite in Turin, Italy, October 15-20, 2023 and Online
VIEW Conference is delighted to announce the participation of five award-winning legends from the world of filmmaking at its prestigious international conference this October. Appearing in person to deliver an inspirational suite of talks and workshops are Pixar's Pete Sohn, Lucasfilm’s Doug Chiang, stop-motion director Henry Selick, composer Bruno Coulais, and ILM’s Hal Hickel.
VIEW Conference 2023, an English-speaking event, takes place 15-20 October, 2023, in the beautiful baroque city of Turin, Italy. Tickets are now available from the official VIEW Conference website:
Register for VIEW Conference 2023
https://www.viewconference.it/pages/registration
Peter Sohn
Peter Sohn joined Pixar Animation Studios in September 2000, and began working in both the art and story departments for the Academy Award®-winning “Finding Nemo.” Sohn continued on to work on “The Incredibles” in the art, story, and animation departments. He focused on animating members of the Parr family and worked on many memorable scenes from the film. He also worked as a story artist on another Oscar® winner, the 2008 feature film, “WALL•E.”
Sohn worked with producer Kevin Reher on the Pixar short “Partly Cloudy,” which was also his directorial debut at Pixar. Sohn directed Disney•Pixar’s original feature “The Good Dinosaur,” which opened in theaters in 2015.
In addition to his contributions as a filmmaker, Sohn has lent his voice talents to Pixar’s feature films. In “Ratatouille” he voiced the character of Emile, and in “Monsters University,” he is the voice of Scott “Squishy” Squibbles.
Prior to Pixar, Sohn worked at Warner Bros. with “Ratatouille” director Brad Bird on “The Iron Giant,” as well as at Disney TV. He grew up in New York and attended California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). He currently lives in the Bay Area.
Doug Chiang
Doug Chiang’s Star Wars experience spans over 25 years, beginning in 1995 when George Lucas selected him as Head of the Lucasfilm art department for the Star Wars prequel films. Since then he has been Lucasfilm’s principal designer for Disney World Resort’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, and Production Designer on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Chiang is currently Vice President and Executive Creative Director of Lucasfilm, and Production Designer for Star Wars live-action series including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew.
Chiang began his career as a stop-motion animator on the TV series Pee Wee’s Playhouse, before working as a commercial TV Director for Rhythm and Hues, then Creative Director at Industrial Light & Magic. In 2006 he partnered with the Walt Disney Company and Robert Zemeckis to form ImageMovers Digital, a new digital film studio built around IceBlink Studios, the design studio he formed in 2002. During this period he was Production Designer for a number of Robert Zemeckis films including The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. He recently reunited with the director as Production Designer on Disney’s Pinocchio (2022).
Working with the award-winning author Orson Scott Card, Chiang co-wrote the illustrated novel Robota. His artwork has been exhibited worldwide, and he has received awards including an Academy Award, two British Academy Awards, two Clio Awards, a Theo Award, a VES Award, a Webby, The Genie Visionary Award, and an Art Directors Guild Award.
Henry Selick
In addition to the award-winning Coraline, Henry Selick directed Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, both produced by Tim Burton. In 2022, Selick made a triumphant return to stop-motion feature animation as director of Netflix Animation’s Wendell & Wild. Based on an original story by Selick, the film was co-written and co-produced with Jordan Peel.
Fascinated with animation from a young age, Selick studied animation at CalArts. He received Student Academy Award nominations for his student films Phases and Tube Tales, both of which are now preserved in the Academy Film Archive. Selick began his professional career at Walt Disney Studios working on films including Pete’s Dragon and The Fox and the Hound. In addition to his BAFTA for Coraline, he has received two Annie Awards and multiple awards from a number of festivals including the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Bruno Coulais
Bruno Coulais is an award-winning French composer and musician who has created scores for over 100 films and television shows. His scores include Coraline, Wendell & Wild, Wolfwalkers, and The Secret of Kells. Born in 1954 in Paris, Coulais spent his childhood studying music and eventually went on to earn a degree in composition from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. He began his career as a film composer in the early 1980s, working on French television documentaries and films. Coulais is perhaps best known for his work on the 2001 animated film "Les Choristes" ("The Chorus"), for which he received a César Award for Best Music Written for a Film. Over the years, Coulais has developed a reputation for his ability to create unique and evocative soundscapes that perfectly complement the films and shows he works on. He has collaborated with many notable directors, including Claude Nuridsany, Luc Jacquet, and Christophe Barratier, and has received critical acclaim for his work on a variety of projects. In addition to his film and television work, Coulais has also composed music for theater productions and has released several albums of his own original music. Throughout his career, Coulais has received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the world of film and music. In addition to his César Award, he has been nominated for a BAFTA Award, a European Film Award, and multiple World Soundtrack Awards. He has also been recognized by the French government, receiving the prestigious Order of Arts and Letters in 2010 for his contributions to the arts.
Hal Hickel
Hal Hickel joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1996 as an Animator on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he graduated to Lead Animator on Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, then Animation Supervisor on Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Hickel has since worked on multiple award-winning films including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He also served as Animation Director on the Academy Award-winning Rango, ILM's first animated feature. Most recently, Hickel has been Production Animation Supervisor on all three seasons of The Mandalorian, and Consulting Animation Supervisor on The Book of Boba Fett.
Hickel began his professional career as a clay animator and motion-control operator at Will Vinton Studios, after studying Film Graphics at CalArts. He received both an Oscar and a BAFTA Award for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. He has also received two Primetime Emmy Awards, both for The Mandalorian, plus multiple other award wins and nominations.
