This panel looks at the ‘before and afters’ of pitching- pitching persuasively beforehand to bring on board collaborators and backers, gaining willing talent and finance to start that great idea, and afterwards to get your work in front of distributors and finally the general public. We’ll ask what are the most effective ways to pitch your ideas, what levels of visuals are essential, and how a little bit of psychology can go a long way. We’ll also discuss tactics for creating a quick elevator pitch. Do you need to be good at presenting? What’s the real impact of a good logline, and how detailed should a pitch deck be? Come and find out!
LIAF presents the 2026 UK Animation Industry Event – 7 panels giving insider access to some of the hottest topics of the year. We’ve gathered together some of the most passionate, honest and insightful experts from a wide range of different areas and backgrounds who are ready to cover all manner of vital topics to give you much food for thought.
Animation doesn’t stand still; and debates and discussions with animators and creative experts are the best way to get in touch with what’s happening. The panels will be chaired by Saint John Walker, Postgraduate Media Programme Leader, University of Hertfordshire and Julian Scott, animation consultant at Film London.
For anyone currently working in the film and animation industry, thinking of working in the industry or just plain curious, these 7 talks are indispensable. They are free to everyone and take place live and online on our streaming platform over the 2 days of Saturday December 5 and Sunday December 6.
HUGE SAVINGS WITH OUR ONLINE CURATOR AND VIP PASSES!
Our online CURATOR PASS grants you EIGHT tickets for just £39. You can browse them all here.
Our online VIP PASS grants you 1 ticket for all THIRTY online programmes for only £79!
Panellists
Moderator: Saint John Walker
Saint John Walker is the Programme Leader for postgraduate media at the UK’s University of Hertfordshire and a leading VFX educationalist with over 25 years of experience of teaching and training in the games, animation and VFX industries. Most recently Saint was Dean and Director of Industry Engagement at the UK’s Escape Studios and previous to that he designed, initiated and ran the VFX degree course at Norwich University of the Arts for four years. Saint is an active member of Access:VFX. Saint is also the convenor, designer and chair of the popular Industry panels at the London International Animation Festival each year. In 2024 he has chaired and taken part in panel discussions at the View conference in Turin, the Viborg Animation Festival and FMX, Stuttgart.
Joseph Wallace
Joseph Wallace is a BAFTA-nominated director celebrated for his distinctive stop motion animation and puppetry. His award-winning work spans commercials, idents, music videos, short films, features and television. Step into Joseph’s hand-made worlds and you’re immediately immersed in a realm of wonder and creativity; where storytelling, performance, and technical artistry collide in meticulously crafted, tactile creations. His music video for Sparks screened at over 50 international festivals, winning five awards and securing a spot on Anim18’s list of the top ten British animated music videos of all time. His short film Salvation Has No Name won major awards across Europe and South America and was long-listed for both a BIFA and a BAFTA. Joseph has collaborated with BBC, Sky, Loewe, LinkedIn, Sainsbury’s, Adult Swim and acclaimed director Edgar Wright, among others.
Maryam Mohajer
Maryam is a British-Iranian, BAFTA Winning animator-director who was born in Tehran, Iran just before living through revolution, war and immigration. With a background in painting, she discovered animation after moving to the UK in 2000. She got her MA degree in animation from Royal college of Art. Her short films have been screened at many International festivals. She lives and works as an animator, writer, and director in London. She is also a part time lecturer in animation at Kingston University.
Kim Noce
Kim Noce is an award-winning animation director, artist and educator whose work explores memory, identity, social histories, animation as ritual and other-than-human perspectives. Combining hand-drawn techniques, experimental processes, immersive, documentary and collaborative storytelling, her films have screened at over 500 festivals, winning more than 30 awards, including at Encounters, LIAF, LSFF, ANIMA and Sopot, with Bafta, Golden Hugo and McLaren nominations. Her work has been presented at Tate, Barbican, BBC, Channel 4, MUBI and Netflix. She is Course Leader of MA Animation at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, and a lecturer at the National Film and Television School. Her practice and education model champions independent voices, alternative narratives and artistic experimentation. She sees pitching as a creative process of research, questioning, testing and consolidating ideas, opening dialogue with collaborators and audiences. She advocates for inclusive approaches to supporting animation that recognise artistic, cultural and creative value.
Martin Bowman
Martin Bowman is a Principal Lecturer and Admissions Tutor at the University of Hertfordshire, where one of his roles is assisting students to get their films selected at festivals, resulting in over 850 selections and wins over the past 20 years. He teaches perspective drawing, lighting, compositing, medical visualisation, procedural modelling, art direction and works across 2D and 3D animation. Before becoming a lecturer, he worked as a Lead Artist in the Video Games Industry and has also worked in Architectural Visualisation and as an Illustrator. In his rare moments of spare time he composes music, builds electronic instruments, and helps with environmental conservation in his local area.
Our Funding Partners
With Special Thanks to The Elf Factory, official sponsor of LIAF 2026.
With Special Thanks to the Arts Council England
Event supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.
Online
