Keynote Speakers

Ron Barbagallo runs an Art Conservation practice devoted to the ethical repair and scientific preservation of classic animation art. Founded in 1988, Barbagallo’s repairs and conservation practice is distinguished by his nearly 30 year collaboration with Conservation Scientist Michele Derrick. In 2015, Barbagallo gathered additional colleagues with Disney and Warner Bros. experience and formed The Research Library at Animation Art Conservation. Barbagallo’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen plus one Woman sort, inventory and digitize collections of Animation Art, and Motion Picture Artifacts. The maiden ‘lost and FOUND’ lecture from The Research Library at Animation Art Conservation was held at Chapman University on December 1, 2015. This lecture unveiled an Anamatic that represents the full version of Salvador Dalí’s Destino. Media coverage of: ‘Salvador Dalí's Destino: Lost, Found and RESTORED to Dalí's original intent’ went viral globally in print publications and all over the Internet.

As a film historian, Gian Piero Brunetta dedicated himself to a vast research work, centered around the Italian production, but also focusing on the audience and on the cultural and symbolic value of this art form. He graduated from the University of Padova in 1966, where he studied under Gianfranco Folena and Sergio Bettini. He has been teaching History of Cinema in Padova since 1970; in 1982, the first edition of his History of Italian Cinema was published. Among his other books: Letteratura e cinema (1976); Cent’anni di cinema italiano (1991); Il viaggio dell’icononauta (1997); Il ruggito del Leone (2013). He was visiting professor at the universities of Iowa, Princeton and Chicago. He participated in the production of RAI TV programs and of Ettore Scola’s film Splendor (1998). He was curator of major exhibitions about Italian art, as The House of Images (Tokyo, 1990) and La città del cinema (Cinecittà, Rome, 1995).

Leonardo Carrano was born in Rome in 1958. He trained as a painter; in 1980, he won the Lubiam prize, awarded by Renato Guttuso. Since 1992 he has been making experimental animated films, combining various techniques and languages, both traditional and digital. His animations have been broadcasted several times by various RAI programs as “Blob”, “Blob cose mai viste”. In 1994 he created the virtual sets for a Fininvest program, “L’Angelo”. His films have been selected by the most important national and international festivals including: Venice Film Festival, the Locarno Festival, Rome Film Festival . He worked with important composers of contemporary music like Sylvano Bussotti, Giorgio Battistelli, Ennio and Andrea Morricone. His most recent works include Aeterna (2013), a collection of short films set to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem KV 626; and Jazz for a Massacre (2014). He is currently working on a new short film based on music by Ennio Morricone.

Héctor Cristiani is the grandson of Quirino Cristiani; he was born in the same day and month of his grandfather, July the 2nd. He participated in his achievements and experiences for forty years, and he collected a rich number of stories about the way of life and thinking of an outstanding pioneer of animation. Photographer, musician and speaker for a radio program on local art forms, Héctor Cristiani worked also for a team of sport, music, theater and cinema journalists. In 2014 he published his book Mi Abuelo el Primero, a biography of Quirino Cristiani. He participated in two documentaries about the life and work of his grandfather: El Misterio del Primer Film Animado (Gabriel Zucchelli, 2008) and Sin Dejar Rastros (Diego Kartaszewicz, 2015). He took part in many events and exhibitions about animation. He is currently with the team of Radio FM La Tribu, who has been organizing the “Carton” International Festival of Animation for seven years. They also sent a petition to the House of Representativest of Argentina to make November 9 (the release date of El Apóstol) the National Cartoon Day. Half of the House has already approved of it. He preserves the material and intellectual legacy of Quirino Cristiani.

In brief, Dr. Dill’s Keynote Address distinguishes modes of animation and turns an intelligent eye towards an historical, philosophical, and aesthetic nomenclature in experimental animation. Awarded a D.Phil. with Honours in Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought from the Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinare Studien, Switzerland, Dr. Janeann Dill has authored and lectured extensively as a scholar in experimental animation and the Authorized Biographer of Jules Engel (1909-2003). From serving as Chair of College Art Association’s historically first panel on scholarship in experimental animation; as Scholar to the Museum of Science Boston’s origination of the interactive exhibition, Behind the Science of PIXAR; and as Keynote at the Danish Animation Studies International Conference, Film and Media Institute, University of Copenhagen, Dr. Dill’s recent attributions are contributing author to Giannalberto Bendazzi’s Animation: A World History, Vol.2, and presenting scholar at Harvard’s Film Archive event, “The Animated Cosmos of Karen Aqua.” Dill’s praxis in experimental film and fine art have garnered a James Irvine Foundation Grant, Ahmanson Foundation Grant, Annenberg Foundation Grant as one of ten Independent Media Grants, and three National Endowment for the Arts Grants. Dr. Janeann Dill is Affiliated Faculty, Emerson College, (Boston), for Advanced Critical Writing and Research Seminars in Animation Histories. Dr. Dill serves as Chair of Jury for SAS’ Norman McLaren – Evelyn Lambart Award, “Best Scholarly Article in Animation.”

After she saw a magic lantern show by Janet Tamblin, Laura Minici Zotti began her career as a lanternist. Since 1975, she had been spreading the knowledge of precinema throughout the world, by giving magic lantern shows. She used a bi-unial magic lantern by J.H. Steward (1880), with 19th Century glass slides (8 x 8cm), animated by small mechanisms. She established in Padova in 1998 the Museum of PRECINEMA, a unique ‘Museum of Wonders’ that combines public and private interest. It is based in the Palazzo Angeli, a 15th century building. It displays the optical instruments and hand-painted magic lantern slides, which date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, that constitute the Minici Zotti Collection. In 2008 she received the Jean Mitry award at the Silent Film Festival of Pordenone. In 2010 the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, awarded her the Vittorio De Sica Prize for Culture. On November 7, 2010, during the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, she gave her farewell performance; the lantern’s lamp was turned off to a standing ovation.

Professor Tony Tarantini considers teaching to be his raison d'être. He has taught a wealth of animation and visual arts courses and workshops. His areas of animation expertise are: animation production, directing, storyboarding, layout, design, and art direction. He believes in helping students develop a vision of their creative identity and instill in them a belief that they can access their potential and realize it. He has been teaching at Sheridan College since the year 2000. Tony is a veteran of the animation industry with more than 20 years of creative and management experience. He is fluent in Italian and studied painting, drawing, and art history for two years in Florence Italy, a place he frequents regularly and teaches often. His current research focuses on the relationships between animation theory, practice, and pedagogy. Professor Tarantini is an active member of the Society for Animation Studies, the Lead of the Society’s Industry Committee and the Chair of the 26th Society for Animation Studies Conference which was hosted by Sheridan College.