CAPE is excited to partner once again with Sony Pictures Entertainment for the CAPE Animation Directors Accelerator (CADA), a first-of-its-kind program to identify and uplift the next generation of storytellers and leaders in animation.
For a medium that has been heavily influenced by Asian aesthetics and an industry with a large API workforce globally, there are few animation directors that are reflective of the stories centering API characters. The CAPE Animation Directors Accelerator aims to equip animators on-the-cusp with the skills, mentorship, and professional network needed to break the ceiling in feature film and episodic animation.
Selected rising animation directors will hone both their artistic and leadership skills through a series of panels, workshops, and masterclasses from high-level executives, producers, and creatives in the animation industry.
MEET OUR 2023 FELLOWS!
PROGRAM CHAIR
As senior vice president of creative for Sony Pictures Animation, Kevin Noel is responsible for helping shepherd both feature and series projects through the creative and production pipelines, from development, through pre-production, production, and post.
In addition to his executive duties, Noel also served as Executive Producer on Sony Pictures Animation’s first-ever adult animated series, “Agent Elvis,” which premiered on Netflix in March 2023.
Noel was one of the first staff members at Sony Pictures Animation as the assistant to the producers of the studio's first CG feature, “Open Season.” He followed that by working in various production roles on films for both Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Some of his credits include titles in the “Hotel Transylvania,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” and the “Smurfs” series.
After a stint at Mattel where he produced original content for some of the toy giant's most lucrative brands, Noel returned to Sony Pictures Animation in 2016 in a new role as a studio executive.
Noel began his career as an executive assistant at the management and production company 3 Arts Entertainment. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a degree in Cinema.
PROGRAM CO-FOUNDERS
JUSTINIAN HUANG
As Vice President of Creative at Sony Pictures Animation, Justinian Huang is responsible for overseeing creative development and production of a number of animated features and series at the studio, including “K-Pop: Demon Hunters” directed by Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans.
Prior to joining Sony Animation, Huang was head of development at Pearl Studio in Shanghai, where he led the team that oversaw the historic co-productions "Kung Fu Panda 3" and "Abominable" in partnership with DreamWorks Animation, as well as the studio's most recent film, the Netflix original "Over the Moon," which was recently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Huang was also the executive in charge of the Netflix original "The Monkey King.”
Huang is also a novelist, with his debut book THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE to be published by MIRA Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in March 2024.
MICHELLE WONG
Michelle Wong is one of the producers behind Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix's “K-POP: DEMON HUNTERS,” a dramatic action adventure comedy about a trio of female K-Pop idols who slay evil spirits in between gigs.
Wong has 20 years of experience in feature animation and has worked on “VIVO,” “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Hotel Transylvania,” and “Hotel Transylvania 2.” Prior to producing “K-KPOP: DEMON HUNTERS,” she produced the 2021 original animated musical “VIVO” with original songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda and the 2017 feature “Surf's Up 2: WaveMania” directed by Henry Yu.
Submissions for the 2024 CAPE Animation Directors Accelerator will open next fall.
If you would like to receive an email when the 2024 application has been released, please fill out the form below.
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For any additional questions, please email info@capeusa.org.
THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 PARTNER!
