Animation Production Day - Fredrikstad Animation Festival

On 23 October, the Norwegian Producer Guild of Norway (Virke Produsentforeningen) will, in conjunction with Fredrikstad Animation Festival, hold their Animation Production Day for animation producers and people interested in the production of animated features, shorts, and TV-series. The focus of Production Day this year will be on the creative side of animation production.
The program includes an online masterclass and Q&A with Disney producer Don Hahn (the producer behind such classics as The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast and many more). Director, writer, and story consultant Matthew Luhn, screenwriter Philip LaZebnik, producer Claus Toksvig Kjær (producer of Calamity, Song of the Sea, The Ape Star and many more) and producer Frederick Howard (producer of Julekongen, Kaptein Sabeltann og skatten i Lama Rama, Vikingskool and many more) will participate live and share their production experience and how they work with the creatives. In addition, Norwegian producers will give us a sneak peek into their current films in production; Qvisten will show work in progress from Just Super (Helt Super) and Mikrofilm will share new work from Titina.

The production day is divided into three parts and two of the speakers participate remotely from Los Angeles:

Part 1:
14:00–14:45: Norwegian Producers (Qvisten/Mikrofilm mm.)
14:45–15:30: Masterclass with Frederick Howard and Claus Toksvig Kjaer

Part 2:
16:00–16:45: Masterclass with Philip LaZebnik
16:45–17:30: Masterclass with Matthew Luhn

Part 3:
17:45–18:45: Masterclass with Don Hahn

Participants

Don Hahn

Don Hahn began working on Pete’s Dragon for Disney in 1976. He worked as an associate producer on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and later produced Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. In 2017 Hahn executive produced the live-action feature Beauty and the Beast. Don Hahn has also directed and produced several documentaries about animation, such as Waking Sleeping Beauty, Richard M. Sherman: Songs of a Lifetime, and Howard. He has also written several books about animation including, The Alchemy of Animation, Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men, Before Ever After, Animation Magic and more.

Philip Lazebnik

Philip LaZebnik has written numerous television episodes and motion picture screenplays in Los Angeles and Europe. His screenwriting credits include Disney’s Pocahontas and Mulan, and DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt and The Legend of El Dorado. He was also a writer for several television series, including Wings, Star Trek: the Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Mr. LaZebnik now lives in Denmark, where he has written numerous movies and television shows throughout Europe and the U.S. Most recently he wrote the book for the musical theatrical version of The Prince of Egypt with songs by Stephen Schwartz, which is currently playing in London’s West End at the Dominion Theatre.

Matthew Luhn

Matthew Luhn is a director, writer, and story consultant with over 25 years of experience creating stories and characters at Pixar Animation Studios, The Simpsons, and beyond. His story credits include Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc., Monsters University, Finding Nemo, UP, Cars, and Ratatouille. Alongside his story work in Hollywood, Matthew also trains companies, organisations, and other professionals on how to craft and tell stories.

Claus Toksvig Kjaer

Claus Toksvig Kjaer is a Danish animation producer. He studied English literature at Aarhus University but changed course and went on to pursue classical drawing and animation at The Animation Workshop, Viborg. After graduation, he worked on a number of short films before joining Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, Ireland in 2006 as production coordinator on their BBC Television Show Skunk Fu. He returned to Denmark in 2009 and began leading a series of animated science projects. In order to attract international co-productions to the region, he was hired by Arsenalet as a producer of their association in October 2011. Focusing primarily on feature film production, he partnered up with Nørlum Animation Studio in 2013 co-producing such films as the Oscar-nominated Song of the Sea for Cartoon Saloon and Long Way North for Sacrebleu and Maybe Movies. The chance came for another collaboration with Cartoon Saloon in 2015, a 22 minute pilot for Amazon Prime Eddie of the Realms Eternal and again in 2017 with Disney TV Animation on the first Season of Big Hero 6 – The Series.

Frederick Howard

Frederick Howard holds degrees from both Westerdals School of Arts, Communication and Technology, and The Norwegian Film School. He has previously worked as Head of Production in SF Norge AS. He joined the Storm Group in 2012, and has since then become a partner in Storm Films, as well as a board member of the group’s distribution company, Euforia Film. Frederick has been head of the Producers Association’s feature film department, and a member of the board of the Association. He has amongst others produced Captain Sabertooth and the Treasure of Lama Rama, The Young Fleksnes, Captain Sabertooth – the TV-series, the feature films Cupid’s Balls and The Valley of Knights – Mira’s Magical Christmas. Frederik takes part in the Nordic Animation Forum which takes place at Litteraturhuset on Saturday evening.

Frank Mosvold

Frank Mosvold has a master’s degree in film production from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He has directed 14 short films and created and produced two animated TV-series: Hubert (26 episodes) and Ella Bella Bingo (Elleville Elfrid, 104 episodes). Mosvold is now producing and co-directing his first animated feature, based on his Ella Bella TV-series by the same name. The film premiered in January 2020.