ParisFX to spotlight Gravity, World War Z and T.S. Spivet

French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and his longtime visual effects expert Alain Carsoux will be among the top speakers at the Ile De France Film Commission’s annual ParisFX conference running Dec 4-5.

Carsoux, whose career kicked off as a digital compositor on Jeunet’s The City of Lost Children, now has more than 100 films credits to his name, including most recently Grace of Monaco and Turning Tide.

He will discuss his recent work on Jeunet’s The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet, which hit screens in France in October, and will also participate in a conversation with the director on their 20-year collaboration, which also included working together on the worldwide hit Amélie.

Other key speakers in the two-day conference devoted to the special effects industry, the programme of which was unveiled by the Ile de France Film Commission on Thursday, will include DreamWorks head of character animation Kristof Serrand, whose recent credits include The Croods and How to Train Your Dragon.

From the UK, MPC’s Adam Davis and Cinesite’s Matt Johnson will discuss their respective companies work on World War Z.

London-based Vincent Aupetit, currently a pre-vis supervisor at The Third Floor, will discuss his two-year collaboration with Alfonso Cuaron on Gravity.  Framestore’s Alexis Wajsbrot will talk about the company’s VFX work on the film.

The UK-based professionals are attending as part of an ongoing partnership between the Ile de France Film Commission and Film London. Four French producers were invited to the London Production Finance Market in October. 

Other films under the spotlight at ParisFX will include 9-Month Stretch, The Scapegoat (Au Bonheur des Ogres) and Futurikon’s hybrid live action-animation picture Valley of the Lost Ants.

Beyond the case studies, there will also be an event looking at the international strategies of French special effects companies, featuring talks by David Danesi of Paris, Montreal, Brussels and Shanghai-based Digital District and Paris-based special effects agent Carla Diamond.

The two-day ParisFX conference will take place at the Centre des Arts in the Enghien-les-Bains on the outskirts of Paris, which is being developed as digital specialist hub.