Industry Dayz In Person
A WAFF Event
20–22 March | Miramar Creative Centre, Wellington
Under the theme From Dream to Reality, this three-day professional programme brings together animation, VFX, and creative tech practitioners to focus on the realities of production — how ideas become viable projects, how teams collaborate under pressure, and how studios build sustainable pathways. The weekend includes talks, panels, software workshops and networking, with two dedicated streams on IP creation and VFX/animation service work.
$60 General | $30 Guild Members | $20 Students & Unwaged
+20$ Unreal & Houdini Workshops (Limited Seats)
Industry Dayz In Person
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20 March - 22 March 2026
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Industry Dayz In Person | 20 March - 22 March 2026 |
Open & Welcome | Friday | 20 March | 6:30 PM
Keynote | Friday | 20 March | 7:00 PM
A Creative Journey
Kyle Balda
Kyle Balda is a filmmaker known for his work on some of the most successful animated features of the last three decades. He has directed Minions, Despicable Me 3, and Minions:Rise of Gru, helping shape the comedic and visual tone of the Despicable Me franchise. Kyle is making his debut as a live-action feature director this May with the release of The Sheep Detectives starring Hugh Jackman. Prior to directing, Kyle worked as a supervising animator at Pixar (Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life) and ILM (Jumanji, Mars Attacks!), developing a foundation in character performance, visual storytelling, and world-building.
Animator | DirectorPanel | Friday | 20 March | 8:00 PM
Bevin Linkhorn | Moderator
With over twenty years’ experience in the screen industry, Bevin Linkhorn is an Investment and Development Executive at the New Zealand Film Commission. He has worked across film, television, animation, and factual entertainment as a producer, writer, and script editor, with a strong focus on story and supporting emerging talent.
Investment and Development Executive | NZFCBack from Annecy
Creative Director & Producer | DozeFaceHaojun Huang
Jun is an animation and art director whose practice spans animation, spatial design, and fine art. From Power Rangers to SIGGRAPH 2025, his work blends emotional storytelling with crafted environments. With a Master of Design Technology, Jun also teaches animation as a process of discovery, honesty, and personal evolution.
Jo Luping
Jo Luping is a Malaysian New Zealander working across film, television, and design since 1997. Her credits include Classics Explained, I Duok Om I Bohuntung, and unscripted series The Health Detective and Local Heroes. She is co-directing He Tohu and developing Anavau, blending Kadazan and Pākehā heritage with contemporary screen storytelling.
Director, Producer & Designer | Siung Film Productions
Program Director - Master of Design Technology | VUWAreito Echevarria
Areito Echevarria is an Academy Award winning artist and researcher. He is a Cristal Award winning writer/director, Annecy Festival Artist in Residence and Sundance New Frontiers Fellow. A Senior Lecturer at Victoria University and former Head of FX at Weta Digital, his work explores storytelling through the lens of computation and design.
Presentation | Friday | 20 March | 8:00 PM
A Minecraft Movie: Crafting Malgosha, The Mean-Queen 'Gosh'
Kevin Estey
Kevin is a multi-award-winning Animation Supervisor at Wētā FX. Most recently, he served as Animation Supervisor on A Minecraft Movie, shaping characters including Malgosha, Dennis, the Piglins, and Mobs. His career also includes key roles on The Hobbit, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.
Animation Supervisor | Wētā FX
Visual Effects Supervisor | Wētā FXSheldon Stopsack
Sheldon joined Wētā FX in 2019 as a Visual Effects Supervisor on Ang Lee’s ground-breaking film Gemini Man. He was recently VFX Supervisor on Jared Hess’s A Minecraft Movie and Predator: Badlands. On Gemini Man, he led Wētā’s breakthrough development in the facial technology that was used to create the younger and entirely digital Will Smith and establishing a new industry-standard for CG human characters.
Networking Drinks | Friday | 20 March | 9:30 PM
Presentation | Saturday | 21 March | 9:00 AM
Concept to Script, Script to Reels, Reels to Movie
Kirby Atkins
Kirby Atkins wrote and directed Mosley, directed The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, and won Best Animated Short for Mutt at the Hollywood Film Festival.
Writer | DirectorPanel | Saturday | 21 March | 9:00 AM
The Hustle Is Not a Strategy: Freelancing in VFX & Animation
Yin Wu | Moderator
Film and VFX professional with international experience across the US, China, and New Zealand. Credits include Devs, The Mandalorian: Season 2, M3GAN 2.0, and Zombies 4, with roles spanning on-set crew to CG generalist at The Mill, Shanghai. Experienced across feature films, commercials, and campaigns for global brands including Apple, Tencent Games, and Shanghai Disney.
CG Generalist | VFXG Board MemberArt Director & Motion Graphics ArtistZoi Naum
Zoi Naum is an art director and motion graphics artist based in Wellington. With over eight years of experience across feature films, episodic storytelling and commercials, she specialises in crafting cinematic interfaces and title sequences that extend a story’s world beyond the screen. Her work explores how typography, motion and graphic design can enhance emotional tone and guide audience perception.
2/.5D Character & Motion Animator | Creative DirectorFraser Munro
Traditionally trained on pencil and paper in the Disney style, Fraser has over the last 20+ years built a career working in 2D character animation, motion graphics and creative direction, for everything from TVCs to feature films. For the last 8 years he has continued to collaborate with agencies, studios and direct clients in a remote freelance setting, via his home studio in Foxton Beach.
Presentation | Saturday | 21 March | 10:00 AM
Badjelly the Witch: Scaling IP Through Partnership with Mukpuddy
Ryan Cooper
Ryan Cooper is a co-founder of Mukpuddy, an Auckland based animation studio. As a director and writer, he co-created The Barefoot Bandits and led the 2025 series adaptation of Badjelly.
Co-Founder, Writer & Director | MukpuddySimon Ward
Simon Ward is a producer and writer with Mukpuddy in New Zealand, recognised for his work on projects like Badjelly (2025), The Adventures of Tumeke Space, and The Drawing Show.
Producer, Writer, Voice Actor - Oddly Quiet | MukpuddyPresentation | Saturday | 21 March | 10:00 AM
AI tools that are actually helping me today!
Ibrahim Saad Zaghlool
15 years experience in VFX, starting in Camera moving to Crowds to Onset to Engineering. Former securities and banking analyst, swayed to VFX by Helm’s Deep Battle; passionate for rapid prototyping and edge-tech experimentation. Relentlessly hunting complex problems and engineering solutions.
VFX Senior Software Engineer | Wētā FX
Viral Shah
Principal Solutions Architect at AWS, helping content creators push the boundaries of cloud, AI, and real-time media. Passionate about building at the intersection of creativity and technology.
Principal Solutions Architect | Amazon Web ServicesPresentation | Saturday | 21 March | 11:00 AM
“Bloke of the Apocalypse: From Farm to Tablet”
Charlie Faulks
Welling based animator and writer who recently created the NZ On Air funded show, Bloke of the Apocalypse.
Showrunner | Bloke Of The ApocalypseBen Powdrell
Co-director of Suite Habana Productions since 2008, working in Film and TV, and most recently co-producing web-series Bloke of Apocalypse.
Co-ProducerPanel | Saturday | 21 March | 11:00 AM
Studio Founder’s Playbook: Setting up a VFX Studio in NZ
Dave Gougé | Moderator
Dave is a business and marketing strategist working with companies who are looking to define the future of media and entertainment. He combines extensive go-to-market and brand experience with a deep understanding of technology innovation. Clients include companies in animation and VFX, as well as games, AI and data intelligence.
Business & Marketing StrategistMarie Tricart
Marie Tricart is Creative Director and Co-Founder of 37Degrees Studio, a creative development studio based in Wellington, New Zealand. With over 12 years of experience in the VFX industry, Marie specializes in World-Building and Art Direction across film, games, and immersive media. With a generalist 3D background and cross-disciplinary production experience, she combines artistic vision with technical precision to navigate complex design challenges.
Founder & Creative Director | 37 Degrees Studio
Frank Rueter
Frank began his VFX career in 1997 as a 3D generalist in Germany, moving to New Zealand in 2003 to join Weta Digital as a compositor and has been focused on 2D workflows since. After a stint at Digital Domain in the US, he founded OHUfx to work as VFX and 2D Supervisor on both client and facility level.
Founder | OhuFX | VFXG Board MemberFounder and Creative Director | RascalKelsey O’Hagan
Co-founder and Creative Director of Rascal, building technology that transforms traditional animation into interactive, real-time rendered stories for children.
Founder | 808 LtdScott Chambers
Wellington-based VFX studio founder at 808 Ltd, crafting invisible precision, trusted partnerships, and cinematic polish for film, television, commercial storytelling.
Presentation | Saturday | 21 March 1:00 PM
Andrea Kahukiwa
Andrea is a writer and producer at Adrenalin Group, working across animation, scripted live action, and documentary. Her recent writing and producing credits include the rangatahi animation series Tipua (2024, TVNZ+ & Māori+), Island of Mystery Seasons 1–3 & Te Wā o Matariki (2020–2025, TVNZ+, SkyKids, Māori+ & Speak Māori YouTube), and the teen drama series Kupu X (2025, Māori+).
Producer, Writer | Adrenalin GroupThe Making of Island of Mystery
Matt Pitt
Matt is a core member of the Adrenalin Animation team, providing strong creative leadership across a number of successful animation projects. Most recently these have included Island of Mystery Seasons 1-3 & Matariki Special, and the YA thriller Tipua. He has over 25 years of experience in the animation and live-action industry, in everything from high-end commercials for the likes of Disney and Steinlager to music videos and planetarium shows.
Animation Director | Adrenalin GroupFrank Rueter | Moderator
Frank began his VFX career in 1997 as a 3D generalist in Germany, moving to New Zealand in 2003 to join Weta Digital as a compositor and has been focused on 2D workflows since. After a stint at Digital Domain in the US, he founded OHUfx to work as VFX and 2D Supervisor on both client and facility level.
Founder | OhuFX | VFXG Board MemberPanel | Saturday | 21 March | 1:00 PM
Vision to Screen: Creative Leadership Across Departments
Kristina Russo
Kristina Russo is Senior Head of Department – Assets at Wētā FX, overseeing digital asset delivery across Art, Creatures, Facial Models, Layout Models, and the Virtual Art Department. Her credits include The Adventures of Tintin, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Mortal Engines, and The BFG.
Senior Head of Department, Assets | Wētā FXJo Davison
Joanna joined Wētā FX in 2009 to work on Avatar as a Lighting TD. Since then, she has worked on some of Wētā’s key projects including The Hobbit trilogy, where she became a Lighting Lead, managing the lighting design for a number of sequences. Joanna has most recently wrapped as Sequence VFX Supervisor on James Gunn’s Superman, where she led the work on the Glenmorgan Square Kaiju attack.
Sequence VFX Supervisor | Wētā FX
Anneka Fris
Anneka Fris is an Animation Supervisor specialising in creature and facial performance. Her credits include Avatar: The Way of Water, Shadow in the Cloud, Alita: Battle Angel, Gemini Man, and Lady and the Tramp. She has also contributed to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit trilogy, and The Avengers.
Animation Supervisor | Wētā FX
Danielle Immerman
Danielle Immerman was drawn to visual effects production more than two decades ago out of a passion for filmmaking. She joined Wētā FX in 2019 as VFX Producer on James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad for which she received an HPA award nomination, proceeding to VFX produce the Marvel TV series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Most recently Danielle delivered Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as VFX Producer and has since been working on an undisclosed project.
VFX Producer | Wētā FXPresentation | Saturday | 21 March | 2:00 PM
Animation in Realtime: Linear content pipelines in Unreal Engine
Chris Murphy
Chris Murphy is a Principal Technical Artist at Epic Games with game development credits on multiple platforms. Chris has over a decade of experience with Unreal Engine, over 9 years at Epic, a Bachelor of Computer Science, and a Bachelor of Multimedia, culminating in a broad skillset across a range of development disciplines. Chris’ role in the Developer Relations team at Epic Games is to provide support, advice, and guidance for Unreal Engine projects.
Principal Technical Artist | Epic Games
Saturday | Screenings & Awards | 21 March | 2:30 PM
From 2:30pm at the Roxy Cinema, attendees can catch a special festival screening of Mosley, introduced by writer-director Kirby Atkins. Alternatively, head to the WAFF NZ Student Festival Selection and Awards at 3pm at The Roxy Cinema to celebrate emerging talent from across Aotearoa. Please note: tickets for these selections must be purchased separately through Roxy Cinema ticketing and are not included with an Industry Dayz ticket.
Workshop | Sunday | 22 March | 10:00 AM
Learn How to Animate in Unreal
Benjamin Mulot
Benji is a bold artist that animates with his incredible eye for timing and believable weight. He's overflowing with creativity, which has sparked and built the unique world of "Kyoryu" with Floating Rock. His past experience includes animating countless creatures and characters on projects like “Kong vs Godzilla, “Eternals”, “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Game of Thrones”.
Creator of KyoryuWorkshop | Sunday | 22 March | 2:00 PM
Learn How to Animate in Houdini
Garrick Rawlingson
Garrick is a versatile professional with expertise in client outreach and creative project leadership. He has extensive experience in character and creature animation and developed his creative eye having worked for top VFX studios around the world on films like Alita: battle Angel, Peter Rabbit 2, and The Hobbit 3. His natural social skills aligned him well for connecting with people and businesses.
Co-Founder | Chief Business Officer | Floating RockGrab Your Tickets In Person Event
$60 General | $30 Guild Members | $20 Students & Unwaged
Unreal & Houdini Workshops (20 Limited Spaces) +$20
