Conversations with filmmakers selected to the festival.
A conversation with Emmy Award-Winning writer/director Joe Mateo speaks about his career and his new film Blush.
SPEAKER
Joe Mateo
Director
(Blush, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Zootopia, Big Hero 6)
For almost three decades, Emmy Award winner Joe Mateo (Written and Directed by) has made his career in feature animation. In 2019, Mateo was recruited as a storyboard artist for Skydance Animation and, in 2021, his Short Film Blush will become the studio’s very first release.
A proud Filipino-American who immigrated to the United States in 1992, Mateo got his first big break on Pocahontas, and his 25 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation took him from in-between work on beloved classics from Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan—as well as The Emperor’s New Groove and Treasure Planet—to his role as story artist on such hits as Bolt, Tangled, Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph.
In addition to receiving an Emmy for his work as storyboard artist on the Short Prep & Landing, Mateo served as head of story on Disney’s Big Hero 6 and co-wrote the studio’s Meet the Robinsons. The most unexpected highlight of his career was acting as the voice of that animated-adventure’s T. rex. He will forever be linked with the often-quoted phrase: “I have a big head and little arms. I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through…”
Before his move to the States, the filmmaker majored in advertising in fine arts at the oldest university in Asia, the Philippines’ University of Santo Tomas (UST). Mateo lives with daughters Mina and Joey Ann, girlfriend Hazel and their mischievous dog, Coco, in Northridge, California.
MODERATOR
Keith Blackmore
Sr. Lecturer // Vancouver Film School
As an animation historian, Keith Blackmore has been a passionate cheerleader and a voice for all-things animated in the Vancouver area for almost 30 years. As one of the producers of the SPARK ANIMATION Festival and an active member of the local SIGGRAPH chapter, Keith has presented, interviewed and moderated at many festivals, local and national.
Since 1995, Blackmore has educated, entertained and inspired students in the history of animation and media studies at the Vancouver Film School. When he’s not reading, teaching or talking about animation, he’s watching it.
Conversations with filmmakers selected to the festival.
A conversation with Emmy Award-Winning writer/director Joe Mateo speaks about his career and his new film Blush.
SPEAKER
Joe Mateo
Director
(Blush, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Zootopia, Big Hero 6)
For almost three decades, Emmy Award winner Joe Mateo (Written and Directed by) has made his career in feature animation. In 2019, Mateo was recruited as a storyboard artist for Skydance Animation and, in 2021, his Short Film Blush will become the studio’s very first release.
A proud Filipino-American who immigrated to the United States in 1992, Mateo got his first big break on Pocahontas, and his 25 years at Walt Disney Feature Animation took him from in-between work on beloved classics from Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan—as well as The Emperor’s New Groove and Treasure Planet—to his role as story artist on such hits as Bolt, Tangled, Zootopia and Wreck-It Ralph.
In addition to receiving an Emmy for his work as storyboard artist on the Short Prep & Landing, Mateo served as head of story on Disney’s Big Hero 6 and co-wrote the studio’s Meet the Robinsons. The most unexpected highlight of his career was acting as the voice of that animated-adventure’s T. rex. He will forever be linked with the often-quoted phrase: “I have a big head and little arms. I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through…”
Before his move to the States, the filmmaker majored in advertising in fine arts at the oldest university in Asia, the Philippines’ University of Santo Tomas (UST). Mateo lives with daughters Mina and Joey Ann, girlfriend Hazel and their mischievous dog, Coco, in Northridge, California.
MODERATOR
Keith Blackmore
Sr. Lecturer // Vancouver Film School
As an animation historian, Keith Blackmore has been a passionate cheerleader and a voice for all-things animated in the Vancouver area for almost 30 years. As one of the producers of the SPARK ANIMATION Festival and an active member of the local SIGGRAPH chapter, Keith has presented, interviewed and moderated at many festivals, local and national.
Since 1995, Blackmore has educated, entertained and inspired students in the history of animation and media studies at the Vancouver Film School. When he’s not reading, teaching or talking about animation, he’s watching it.
