Industry Talks
2022 archive

Grab a rare opportunity to listen to and interact with the top professionals in the industry! BLON Industry Talks are aimed at common areas of video games and animation. Our guests will speak about storytelling, world building and art development for video games, and what inspired them to choose this unique medium. They will explore the worlds of animation and game distribution, and reveal the success stories behind internationally renowned VR experiences. We hope that the speakers' experiences and insights will inspire others to step into this world, in which everyone can become a creator.

Game Production Workshop
workshop
Game Production Workshop

9 Sept, 14:00 · Culture Factory, Studio 2A

This year at BLON, we'd like to focus on production processes. This workshop will be dedicated to the main questions and topics relating to producing a game and managing workflows. Please register in advance for the workshop at https://blon.lt/workshop

Allan Kirkeby

Allan Kirkeby

Senior Business Developer at Game Hub Denmark

Allan became involved in the games industry with the Amiga demo scene in the early 90s. He has worked as a musician, game designer, level designer and project manager, as well as an executive producer at InterActive Vision with over 40 games published between 1997 and 2007. Allan later joined Unity as CEO of Unity Studios. Today, he is a Senior Business Developer and mentor at Game Hub Denmark, hobby board game designer and electronic music producer.

So, Let's Do It In VR
presentation
So, Let's Do It In VR

9 Sept, 18:00 · Culture Factory, Studio 2A

Transitioning from film to VR. How to transfer your knowledge and experience from the advertising, broadcast, film, and entertainment industries to the world of VR. A "Cosmogonic" production case study.

Paweł Szarzyński

Paweł Szarzyński

Director, animator, Poland

Paweł Szarzyński is a director, animator, graphic designer and co-founder of the Kilku design collective. He previously served as head of animation and post-production at Saatchi and Saatchi, and has worked with companies such as Prodigious, FCB, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. A winner of European Design Awards and the Polish Graphic Design Award, he has taught at the Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design.

Presenting for the International Finance Market
Presenting for the International Finance Market

9 Sept, 19:00 · Culture Factory, Studio 2A

Here, we look at elements of a presentation package in detail to understand why it consists of the things it does, and how to improve them as the project develops towards production.

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

International Competition Jury

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard has wide experience in co-production and film finance from films such as “Antichrist” by Lars von Trier, “The Model” by Mads Matthisen, and “Another Day of Life”. From 2007 to 2010, Ole was a financial producer at Zentropa in Denmark. Ole has co-produced with the following countries: France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, UK, Hungary and Germany. After moving to Poland in 2008, he started up Zentropa International Poland and worked as Delegate Producer for Platige Image until the completion of the animated feature “Another Day of Life”. The film premiered in the official selection of Cannes 2018, and won the Audience Award at San Sebastian IFF, as well as European producer of the year Cartoon Movie. Another Day of Life also won the EFA's European Animation Film award. Ole is currently back in Denmark, where he works at the Danish Film Institute as producer for fiction film, and production consultant for the Public Service Fund, which supports TV series.

A MAZE. – the Amazing World of Arthouse Games
talk
A MAZE. – the Amazing World of Arthouse Games

9 Sept, 21:00 · Culture Factory, Studio 2A

In this talk, you'll learn about the A MAZE. / Berlin festival and get to meet its art director. Find out how Berlin spearheads arthouse games and playful media. Get inspired and ready to amaze and be amazed!

Thorsten S. Wiedemann

Thorsten S. Wiedemann

Artistic Director of A MAZE.

Thorsten S. Wiedemann is founder and artistic director of A MAZE.. Under this label, he produces and curates international festivals, exhibitions and workshops at the intersection of games, games culture, digital arts and playful media. With A MAZE. / Berlin, he created international festivals to present arthouse games, playful media and alternative games culture. He generates new and controversial formats (e.g. A MAZE. Magazine, A MAZE. Pop-ups, A MAZE. / SPACE, A MAZE. Train Jam) and provides room for experimentation and exchange. Since 2012, Thorsten has established the A MAZE. Awards, which go to artistic games in six categories. His focus is on the interdisciplinary and diverse discourse about the media of the 21st century, and in filling the gaps between playful media, art and technology. During his Disconnected performance, he also spent 48hrs immersed in virtual reality! Thorsten currently he lives and works in Berlin.

Open Mic
Open Mic

10 Sept, 00:00 · AJE+Skatepark

An interactive networking evening during which we'll be passing a microphone around to anyone who wants to introduce themselves, present their companies, projects or ideas and find likeminded people or colleagues.

Making Artistic Games in Spare Time
talk
Making Artistic Games in Spare Time

10 Sept, 20:20 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

Karolis Dikčius will talk about his passion for creating games in his spare time. What inspires and motivates you to sacrifice free time for making games? Were those games successful at all? How to start your own journey into creating games, even if you're not an artist? Well, come, hear Karolis story and find out!

Karolis Dikčius

Karolis Dikčius

Indie Game Developer, Lithuania

In his professional life, Karolis is a software engineer at a large company. His free time is dedicated to creating indie games, such as Desert of Vice, Ladderhead and upcoming Strange Aeons.

Coffee with Animation Artists
talk
Coffee with Animation Artists

10 Sept, 12:30 · Culture Factory, Roof Terrace

A cosy and informal talk with animation creators about their work and all the secret corners of the animation industry

Thinking Like A Producer
Thinking Like A Producer

10 Sept, 14:00 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

In this introduction to SWOT analyses, we'll be looking at how to evaluate a project and form the arguments you need to get it financed.

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

International Competition Jury

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard has wide experience in co-production and film finance from films such as “Antichrist” by Lars von Trier, “The Model” by Mads Matthisen, and “Another Day of Life”. From 2007 to 2010, Ole was a financial producer at Zentropa in Denmark. Ole has co-produced with the following countries: France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, UK, Hungary and Germany. After moving to Poland in 2008, he started up Zentropa International Poland and worked as Delegate Producer for Platige Image until the completion of the animated feature “Another Day of Life”. The film premiered in the official selection of Cannes 2018, and won the Audience Award at San Sebastian IFF, as well as European producer of the year Cartoon Movie. Another Day of Life also won the EFA's European Animation Film award. Ole is currently back in Denmark, where he works at the Danish Film Institute as producer for fiction film, and production consultant for the Public Service Fund, which supports TV series.

Discussion on How to Fund a Project, Featuring Representatives from the Animation and Games Industries
Discussion on How to Fund a Project, Featuring Representatives from the Animation and Games Industries

10 Sept, 15:30 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

A discussion between animation and video game developers about project funding opportunities and challenges.

Bernardas Šaknys

Bernardas Šaknys

Journalist, animation and video game enthusiast, Lithuania

Discussion moderator. An enthusiast of animation and video games, as a teenager Bernardas created amateur games and animated films, and wanted to be Gordon Freeman (a character from the game Half-Life) when he grew up. Several years ago, some of his short films appeared at the Pravda One Minute festival. Bernardas believes his film directing course has been his most fun learning experience to date. Even though he never ended up becoming a director or programmer (or Gordon Freeman – he still doesn't need glasses), Bernardas uses this experience successfully in his work on radio and television, and still feels a respectful nostalgia when playing games and watching animations.

Agnė Adomėnė

Agnė Adomėnė

Producer, Art Shot, Lithuania

A founder and producer of the production company ART SHOT, Agnė Adomėnė, has an educational background in culture management (Master of Management, Department of UNESCO Cultural Management and Cultural Policy, Vilnius Academy of Arts) and has worked in the film business since 2009. Founded in 2012, the independent production company ART SHOT focuses on developing, producing and co-producing artistic animated films. In 2016, the ART SHOT production “Nuopuolis” (Eng. "Ragnarok”), a short puppet animation directed by Urtė Oettinger and Johan Oettinger, a Lithuania–Denmark co-production, was awarded Best Lithuanian Animation Film of the year by the Lithuanian Film Academy.

Allan Kirkeby

Allan Kirkeby

Senior Business Developer at Game Hub Denmark

Allan became involved in the games industry with the Amiga demo scene in the early 90s. He has worked as a musician, game designer, level designer and project manager, as well as an executive producer at InterActive Vision with over 40 games published between 1997 and 2007. Allan later joined Unity as CEO of Unity Studios. Today, he is a Senior Business Developer and mentor at Game Hub Denmark, hobby board game designer and electronic music producer.

Vytautas Dobilas

Vytautas Dobilas

Managing Partner, Gamedev Investment

Vytautas is managing a new fund, created by a group of private Baltic/Scandinavian investors. The new initiative was formed mostly by games industry veterans from Unity and other studios, currently launching a seed investment fund and starting to build games pipeline.

Death and Taxes: Open Development Case Study
presentation
Death and Taxes: Open Development Case Study

10 Sept, 18:00 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

Leene will share the lessons she learned and plenty of tips she picked up while self-publishing and working with an open revenue share model during the development of 'Death and Taxes'.

Leene Künnap

Leene Künnap

Creative Lead at Placeholder Games

Leene is an indie game developer, artist and graphic designer from Estonia, known mostly for her work at Placeholder Gameworks as creative lead on the game Death and Taxes. She is really excited about everything indie, coherent visual styles, putting the fun into marketing, meaningful game ideas, and cats. Her goal in life is to see people vomit rainbows from looking at her art when she's 80.

Personal Stories and Videogames
talk
Personal Stories and Videogames

10 Sept, 19:00 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

Who are you, and what inspired you to become a creator? How do you express your feelings through games? Let's talk about the moment a digital character made us cry!

Faezeh Khomeyrani

Faezeh Khomeyrani

Indie game designer, The Netherlands

Faezeh is a game designer, writer and storyteller with a passion for games that leave a meaningful impact on us. As part of the indie team Team Lucky Dice, she has helped to create and publish several games on itch.io since 2015, as well as designing board games and writing interactive stories, including "A Rejection Story".

Personal Narratives, Intersectionality and Playable Experiences
talk
Personal Narratives, Intersectionality and Playable Experiences

10 Sept, 19:40 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

A talk about the importance of personal narratives in the games industry, the power of storytelling and finding personal blueprints in relation to intersectionality. How can the medium of games contribute to giving voices to marginalised groups? Aleyeldin Baracat will be talking about his process for developing personal experiences, taking 'The Game of Me' as his main case study.

Aleyeldin (Aley) Baracat

Aleyeldin (Aley) Baracat

Interactive Playable Experience Designer

Aley is an interactive playable experience designer who focuses on creating immersive AR/VR and mixed reality experiences. He believes in the power of harnessing skills and knowledge from various fields, that all knowledge is interconnected, and a multidisciplinary education can provide access to different paradigms and mindsets that can help in gaining distinctive perspectives on the world. Motivated by these beliefs, he pursued a double major in Computer Engineering and Graphic Design, as well as a minor in Mathematics, at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt. He then went on to earn an MA in Independent Games and Playable Experience Design at Goldsmiths University, London, UK. My work revolves around exploring the accessibility of knowledge in relation to power. I consider myself as an emotional designer and I try to channel my personal experiences, thoughts and emotions in my projects. Aside from design and technology, I am an independent musician. I have been working for a couple of years now on my debut arabic album which is called "Rasayel - رسايل" set to be released in 2022.

Awards Ceremony
Awards Ceremony

10 Sept, 23:00 · Arlekinas

Announcement of the winners of the International Competition Programmes. The awards will be handed out by our jury of international experts.

Let's Play!
Let's Play!

11 Sept, 00:30 · Herkus Kantas

Time to play! Want to find out how much you know about animation and video games?

Coffee with Game Developers
talk
Coffee with Game Developers

11 Sept, 12:30 · Culture Factory, Roof Terrace

A cosy and informal talk with game developers about their work and all the secret corners of the game industry

Andrius Jovaiša

Andrius Jovaiša

Tech Journalist, Lithuania

Discussion moderator. A veteran technology journalist and avid games fan, creator of podcasts and radio shows.

The Colour of Money
presentation
The Colour of Money

11 Sept, 14:00 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

Understanding and discussing the different types of money that are found in film and TV production. We look behind the numeric value of a deal to see what other benefits/challenges we get from making it.

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard

International Competition Jury

Ole Wendorff-Østergaard has wide experience in co-production and film finance from films such as “Antichrist” by Lars von Trier, “The Model” by Mads Matthisen, and “Another Day of Life”. From 2007 to 2010, Ole was a financial producer at Zentropa in Denmark. Ole has co-produced with the following countries: France, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, UK, Hungary and Germany. After moving to Poland in 2008, he started up Zentropa International Poland and worked as Delegate Producer for Platige Image until the completion of the animated feature “Another Day of Life”. The film premiered in the official selection of Cannes 2018, and won the Audience Award at San Sebastian IFF, as well as European producer of the year Cartoon Movie. Another Day of Life also won the EFA's European Animation Film award. Ole is currently back in Denmark, where he works at the Danish Film Institute as producer for fiction film, and production consultant for the Public Service Fund, which supports TV series.

Are Universities a Scam (Because Nobody Hires Juniors)?
talk
Are Universities a Scam (Because Nobody Hires Juniors)?

11 Sept, 15:30 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

We sit down with people from the Lithuanian Gamedev Association, academia and studios large and small to work out what junior professionals need to know so that a games studio in Lithuania will want to hire them.

Olegas Pridiukas

Olegas Pridiukas

Gamedev.Camp Founder

You probably know Oleg (Olle) from his work at Unity or King, now you gotta love him as the founder of http://Gamedev.Camp – an educational online camp for game developers

Meet the Future
presentation
Meet the Future

11 Sept, 16:30 · Culture Factory, Seminar Hall A

A short presentation about the Lithuanian higher education institutions where future illustrators and animators study, and reviews of student portfolios.

Antanas Skučas

Antanas Skučas

Director, Lithuania

In 2008, Antanas graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts with a Master of Arts. His diploma was based on Lithuanian mythological beings (mitologija.lt). Antanas' filmography includes "Copy of Paste" (2006), a humorous movie about computer icons living their lives in a computer world and "Nebaigta pasaka" (Unfinished Story, 2007), about the massive die-off of a beehive. He worked with his professor Ilja Bereznickas, on the movie Cyber Pirate. He is currently working on the movies "Vaikystes dienorastis" (director and animator) and "The Vanishing of the Bees"(artist, animator). Antanas worked for a number of commercials, including those of national TV channel, Baltijos TV, for the 2005/2006 season. He also made video installations for local pop-group Saulės Kliošas for their participation at the national Eurovision Contest.

Exhibition. Vilnius Tech: Synergy of Creativity and Technology
Exhibition. Vilnius Tech: Synergy of Creativity and Technology

Invalid Date, Invalid Date · KKKC

This display, organised at BLON by the Department of Graphic Systems at Vilnius Tech, aims to show young creators and lovers of the animation medium the technologies that have become established today as an indispensable part of cinema and TV animation, special effects, advertisements and video games. Visitors to the display will be able to become acquainted with virtual and augmented reality and try it for themselves, in addition to the 3D motion scanning technologies used in the industry. And for visitors who are interested in acquiring an education in the field of animation, representatives of Vilnius Tech will be happy to explain more about the university's Master's study programme in 3D animation.