A range of international speakers has been confirmed for KingstOOn Animation Conference and Film Festival, scheduled virtually for April 21-25.

this year’s staging has pinpointed ‘Diversity in Animation’ as the central theme. Three sessions have been structured to focus on the issues of diversity and cultural inclusion within the media.

These have been dubbed ‘Diversity in the Media Industry’, ‘Black Women in the World of Animation’, and a conversation around the Academy Award-winning short film The Creation of Hair Love – From Script to Screen.

Registration for KingstOOn is free and can be accessed at www.kingstoonfest.com.

According to KingstOOn’s animation specialist Robert Reid: “The media influences us all from a very early age — the music we listen to, the books we read, the films we watch and the video-games we play. These become our frames of reference and so it is crucial that the characters and messages in media reflect as much as possible the diversity that exists in the world.”

‘Diversity in the Media Industry’ KingstOOn panellists Jay Francis, Disney’s vice-president, current series, diversity and inclusion; and Camille Eden, vice-president, recruiting and talent development at Nickelodeon, will treat with the subject of inclusion and minimising disparity in content creation.

The panel will be moderated by Mounia Aram, founder and president of a company of the same name.

The Mounia Aram Company is a production and distribution house that markets African animation stories, movies and series to international audiences. The Diversity in Media Industry session will take place on Saturday, April 24 at 12 noon.

‘Black Women in the World of Animation’ in a field dominated by white males will shine a light on the personal experiences of four notable and prominent black women in the world of animation and their commitment to increasing opportunities for women and minorities.

They will tell stories of their personal struggles and the roles they play in moving the entertainment industry to take action to improve the level of visibility of women in the industry.

The panel will include Melanie Goolsby of Netflix; Sonya Carey, founder of The Animation Lounge; Kimberly Wright of Sesame Street Workshop; and Pilar Newton of Pilar Toons. The panel will be moderated by Taylor K Shaw, founder and CEO of Black Women Animate, a visionary creator, writer, and activist who lobbies for representation across the media landscape. This panel will be aired on Sunday, April 25, at 12 noon.

The Creation Of Hair Love – From Script To Screen, the moving 2020 Oscar-winning story of a father’s struggle with his daughter’s hair in the film Hair Love is the focus of this stimulating conversation with the production team at Lion Forge, who not only took home the Academy Award with this their first film.

The session will feature Carl Reed and David Steward II, founders of Lion Forge Animation and fervent advocates of representation in media. They will be joined by Everett Downing Jr who co-directed the short film alongside Matthew Cherry and Bruce W Smith, as well as Hair Love Story Artist and Illustrator Pearl Low.

KingstOOn will be opened by Prime Minister Andrew Holness who has articulated the importance of the creative industries, and animation in particular, to the generation of employment opportunities for our nation’s youth.

The prime minister will be joined at the event opening by Tahseen Sayed, World Bank country director for the Caribbean and Latin America.