Portfolio Reviews - Morning | Manchester Animation Festival

Portfolio Reviews – Morning

Wednesday 11 Nov 2026 - 10:30
Bridgewater Hall - Circle Foyer
Runtime: 90 mins (approx.)

Are you ready to showcase your talent to animation industry powerhouses? Professionals from top studios and companies are coming to the MAF Marketplace on the lookout for fresh talent—and this is your chance to shine! Whether you’re seeking expert feedback, career-changing advice, or that dream job offer, book a spot at our Portfolio Review session. this is where connections are made and futures are shaped. Don’t miss out—secure your appointment and take the next step in your animation career!

Slots will be available for MAF Passholders and last 15 mins. You must have a portfolio of work to bring to the session. You will be allocated a time slot with the company booked for in the session you have requested. A member of the team will later be in touch by email to confirm what time your booking is.

Ensure you are logged in and click 'Book Review' and then select one person/company for your review. Someone will be in touch to confirm your specific time slot before the day.

People hosting portfolio reviews are:

David Park, Managing Director at Dream Games

Jean-Philippe Vine, Creative Director at Dream Games

Alessandro Chirico, Senior 3D Designer at Dream Games

Edgar Karapetyan, Story Supervisor at Dream Games

Interested in: Technical Roles, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production

Dream is a leading mobile gaming company with offices in Istanbul in London. They have a growing animation studio in London focused on high-quality in-game cinematics as well as short and longer form content

Seán McCormack, Series Director at BlueZoo

Interested in: 2D, CG, Pre-Production, Production

BlueZoo are an animation studio creating multi-Emmy and BAFTA winning content. They help grow characterful brands, through co-development, creating mobile games, and growing audiences via YouTube and social media, to licensing and distribution.

Guests

Seán McCormack

Seán McCormack is an Irish-born, Luxembourg-raised animation director, writer, and storyboard artist with over 18 years of experience in feature films and television. His directing credits include Two by Two, Luis and the Aliens, Two by Two: Overboard, Pip and Posy, and Rafi The Wishing Wizard. Having worked across nearly every stage of the animation pipeline, Seán brings a broad creative and practical perspective to storytelling and character performance. He currently works as an Episodic Director at Blue Zoo Animation Studio.

David Park

Prior to joining Dream, David held roles at Pixar Animation Studios, Locksmith Animation and DNEG Feature Animation. During his 15 years at Pixar, David served as Production Manager on 'Coco' and 'Monsters University', Animation Dept Manager on 'Toy Story 3', Animation Coordinator on 'Wall-E' and Art Coordinator for 'Ratatouille'. David’s most recent feature work was on 'Ron’s Gone Wrong' as Associate Producer for Locksmith, and as Head of Production for DNEG Feature Animation where he was involved with the upcoming features 'Cat in the Hat', 'Bad Fairies', 'Angry Birds 3', 'Snoopy Unleashed' and Bong Joon Ho's 'Ally'.

Jean-Philippe Vine

J.P. began his career as a theatre set designer and modelmaker, leading him to discover animation at Aardman Animations in the UK. He progressed to direct on the Emmy award winning series Shaun the Sheep, before joining Pixar where he storyboarded for multiple features including Inside Out. He returned to London to direct his first feature Ron’s Gone Wrong, released by Disney.

His latest short film Cardboard was nominated for a BAFTA in 2026.

He is now Creative Director for Dream Games Animation, establishing a story-driven London studio.

Alessandro Chirico

Alessandro is an Emmy-nominated artist, Art Director and visual storyteller with over 16 years of experience across live-action and animation. He has built a career bringing imaginative worlds and ambitious creative visions to life. He now brings his multidisciplinary experience in visual development, 3D and world-building to Dream Games Animation.

Edgar Karapetyan

Edgar is a storyteller with over 20 years of experience in feature film and TV animation. He has worked with major studios like Pixar, Disney, Cartoon Network, Sony, Netflix and currently Dream Games where he helps develop compelling stories and unforgettable characters.