State of the Animation Nation

Wednesday 12 Nov 2025 - 14:30
Bridgewater Hall - Barbirolli Room
Runtime: 60 mins (approx.)

Presenting the State of the Animation Nation roundtable discussion; A session where a spectrum of animation's finest paint a contemporary picture of the animation industry by answering a wide range of hard hitting questions. This panel is a space to reflect on the challenges and triumphs that the industry has been subject to, and what may lay ahead.

Guests

Andrew Ruhemann

Andrew Ruhemann is an Academy Award winning filmmaker and the founder of PASSION PICTURES. Throughout his career, Andrew has been at the helm of a studio creating the most impactful documentaries and ground-breaking animation bringing iconic characters like Gorillaz, Aleksandr the Meerkat and many more to life. Andrew won the Oscar for Best Animated Short on his directorial debut for ‘The Lost Thing’. The Academy also awarded PASSION Documentaries for ‘Searching for Sugarman’ and ‘One Day in September', making PASSION the only independent studio worldwide to hold Oscars for Animation and Documentary production. Andrew’s second short film, ‘The Day I Became a Bird’ has played at festivals worldwide and will soon be adapted into a standalone video game.

Camilla Deakin

Camilla Deakin is an award-winning creative producer with a career spanning more than 30 years in film and TV. In 2002, Camilla set up Lupus Films with her friend and colleague Ruth Fielding and the company has grown to become one of the UK’s leading animation studios, with an international reputation for beautifully crafted film adaptations of classic children’s literature. Camilla has produced a number of award-winning films and TV programmes including The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Ethel & Ernest and Kensuke's Kingdom.

Julio Bonet

Julio Bonet is Director, Animation Series UK & EMEA (Content) at Netflix, based out of London. Joining the company in 2020, he is a key player in the platform's international animation efforts, driving series strategy implementation across Family & Adult Event Series respectively, Adult Animated Comedy, and Kids & Teen Live Action Series, for Europe. Bonet has worked on successful titles such as the award-winning Blue Eye Samurai, Big Mouth, Disenchantment, The House, Tear Along the Dotted Line, and acclaimed limited series Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight. Most recently, Bonet has spearheaded Alley Cats, a brand new original adult animated comedy series from Emmy and BAFTA award-winning creator Ricky Gervais and will debut on Netflix in 2026.

Kate O’Connor

Kate is a senior consultant in the Screen Industries, working with a wide range of private and public-sector clients in the UK and Internationally. In synergy with running her consultancy practice, Kate is the Executive Chair of Animation UK, part of the UK Screen Alliance, the trade body for VFX, post-production and film studios.

Oli Hyatt

Oli Hyatt MBE is co-founder and head of development at Blue Zoo. Oli is also the chairman of Animation UK; a group set up by the animation industry to pressure the government into introducing tax breaks to the UK, allowing the industry to compete on a level playing field with the rest of the world.