RENDR festival, the creative meet-up of the year, has announced its return to Belfast in 2026 with an blockbuster line-up of creative powerhouses from the worlds of film/TV, gaming, animation, and immersive, including visionaries behind global hits KPop Demon Hunters, Fallout, and The Last of Us.
Promising two nights of genre-busting technology and creative inspiration, RENDR, which is supported by Northern Ireland Screen, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council and Visit Belfast, takes place from 12-13 February at Portview Trade Centre in East Belfast.
Over 30 speakers from across the creative industries will deliver keynote presentations across two evenings and two main stages: the RENDR Stage and BLOCK stage. Alongside live and interactive demonstrations of new technology, digital art and gaming experiences, RENDR also offers aspiring creatives the opportunity to participate in industry workshops and have their portfolios reviewed by studios and top creative professionals.
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Building on its mission to connect Northern Ireland with global creative innovation, RENDR has announced an early line-up of internationally recognised speakers, including Belfast-born CG Supervisor James Carson from Sony Pictures Imageworks, whose most recent credit includes the global phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters for Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix.
Carson joined Imageworks in 2015 and has worked on both animated and live-action projects, including the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Angry Birds Movie 2, and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Also announced is Jay Worth, the Emmy-winning VFX supervisor known for his highly-acclaimed work on projects such as Westworld, Lost, and most recently Amazon Prime’s episodic adaptation of Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout series.
Other speakers on the bill include Giovanna Ferrari from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, who served as head of story and animation director on the Oscar-nominated feature My Father’s Dragon; Tobias Weisner, a compositing supervisor at WēTā FX, who worked on HBO’s Last of Us Season 2; and digital media pioneer Matthew Scott, the founder of Playhuman, the digital entertainment platform on a mission to redefine traditional engagement and linear storytelling.
Alongside experts in VFX, RENDR will also have a multidisciplinary focus and shine a spotlight on practical effects. Camille Balsamo-Gillis, co-founder of ProMachina, the Los Angeles-based practical FX production company, will share insights on the process of creating the miniatures for the film and TV industry, including examples from their work on The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
From Limerick’s Studio Odyssey, one of Europe's largest model-making studios, Mark Maher, whose credits include The Hobbit trilogy, will talk about his role as head of department prop making on Netflix’s Wednesday season two.
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RENDR director Michael Weir said: “We’re really proud to be at the heart of our growing creative sector to help incubate new ideas. RENDR is for the artist, the developer, the student, and the industry veteran. It’s a space where creativity and technology collide in spectacular fashion to connect the island with the global creative community and inspire – maybe even challenge – the next generation to push at the boundaries of possibility.”
Early bird tickets for standard entry, concession and VIP access are available now. More speakers will be added to the line-up over the coming weeks.
For more information and to book, visit www.rendrfestival.com.
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