View Conference Director Maria Elena Gutierrez on Mixing Oscar Winning Masters and Beginners, the Power of Human Imagination and Staying in Turin — SkimNews
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- Maria Elena Gutierrez is CEO and executive director of Turin-based VIEW Conference, which she has led since 2005 after taking over its predecessor Virtuality, launched in 2000 as a forum for Italian animation and VFX professionals
- The 2026 program includes a four-day hands-on Puppet Lab led by Chris Lavis, who the source credits with an Oscar for "The Girl Who Cried Pearls," teaching stop-motion filmmaking
- Gutierrez reports a "huge upsurge in interest in old-school tools and techniques" alongside advanced production tools, prompting VIEW to pair emerging technology with traditional craft sessions
- The conference's central question for younger attendees remains "How can I break into the business?" with programming designed to put Oscar-winning masters beside first-time filmmakers, animators, and students
- VIEW Conference has turned down approaches to relocate to countries including India, Japan, Uzbekistan, and the United States, with Gutierrez insisting "Turin has always had cinema in its DNA"
- Gutierrez has steered the conference through the expansion of digital animation and VFX, the rise of streaming, theatrical distribution disruption, labor disputes, and the pandemic
Why it matters: For animation, VFX, and game-industry professionals and students, the 2026 VIEW Conference offers rare direct access to Oscar-caliber talent — including a four-day stop-motion workshop with Chris Lavis — in an intimate Turin setting that organizers have refused to franchise abroad despite active interest from India, Japan, Uzbekistan, and the US, preserving the in-person networking that drives repeat attendance.
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