SCAD AnimationFest 2025 is the best one yet, offering amazing conversations, anecdotes, and stunning animation BTS storyboards and knowledge.
There are 104 days of summer vacation, but the annual problem is knowing how to spend them in Atlanta, Georgia, in September. SCAD AnimationFest 2025 returned in its best form yet, offering amazing conversations, anecdotes, and stunning animation behind-the-scenes art and knowledge. This year’s festival hosted plenty of major animation industry creatives—awarding the creators of Phineas and Ferb, Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, and the co-director of Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s Kpop Demon Hunters, Chris Appelhans. SCAD also showed us an unforgettable educational, immersive experience—made by the students. Most importantly, the student film showcase and student film spotlights were some of the best ones to date.
While the festivities may be over, the learning and fun never stop at SCAD. This year’s SCAD AnimationFest contained so many great talks and guests, including co-creator and director of photography of The Tiny Chef Show, Ozlem Akturk, Webtoon comic creator of Let’s Play, Leeanne M. Krecic, visual novel author of The Beginning After the End, Brandon Lee, and Crunchyroll producer, Heather Horn. The animation industry is constantly booming, and finding new ways to be integrated in ways you could not imagine. Let us take a look at five cool things we saw at SCAD AnimationFest 2025.
1. Seeing the Exclusive First Episode Screening of Prime Video’s The Mighty Nein
Riding the highs of Prime Video’s The Legend of Vox Machina, The Mighty Nein also captures Critical Role’s second campaign in an animated format. However, the tone and animation style will be different. We had the special honour of seeing the first episode of the series, which will drop on the streamer in less than two months, on November 19th. The show’s executive producer and showrunner, Tasha Huo; art director, Joseph Martinez; and character and layout supervisor, Jess Lackey, visited SCAD AnimationFest to share some insights on the new series—set 20 years after the events of campaign one.
One of the main things Huo shared in the post-screening panel was how audiences will see how they took a more “grittier”, “grounded” approach to the storytelling because the characters in this campaign are more complex. Huo added how each episode will be longer than The Legend of Vox Machina, which were closer to 22-minute episodes. On the art side, Martinez and Lackey spoke on similar notes, but noted how this animated series has a more cinematic feel to it. Based on the beloved second campaign of Critical Role, The Mighty Nein follows a band of chaotic adventurers as they confront their pasts and forge their destinies in a world of magic, mystery, and unexpected heroism.
2. Stepping Into Atlanta’s SCADstory 4D Immersive Experience
This was a 4D experience I did not know I needed, until I was plopped into a room that had a secret door with a glowing acorn, which led into another room containing immersive smells and buildings that erected on cue with the storyline. If you think I am crazy, trust me, I would not believe these words either! If you have been to plenty of interactive walkthrough experiences at Disney Land/World or Universal Studios, this was better than that. The best part is that the animations, story design, and art are created by the students.
Discover how the SCAD dream came to life at SCADstory. This fantastic display of imaginative storytelling chronicles the university’s journey spanning over four decades. Whether you’re a future Bee, part of the SCAD family, or a fellow dreamer, prepare to be inspired by SCADstory. The SCADstory immersive experience is available to visit in Atlanta and Savannah, each with unique aspects about SCAD’s origins and the tale behind SCAD’s president and co-founder, Paula Wallace. The experience is completely free, but donations are highly encouraged!
3. Celebrating Kpop Demon Hunters With A Screening + Award Ceremony/In-conversation With Co-director Chris Appelhans
No matter where you go these days, KPop Demon Hunters, HUNTR/X, and the Saja Boys are everywhere. SCAD AnimationFest 2025 went all-out with its free pre-screening boba, Appelhans and Maggie Kang’s award ceremony and an in-conversation with Appelhans, a concert-level movie screening, and a rambunctious post-screening karaoke session. I did not have the chance to check out the sing-along, theatrical version, but this was as good as it gets. SCADshow’s production team made the Honmoon golden with their intricate lighting, elevating the film into a Screen X experience.
With the real-life KPop Demon Hunters singers about to perform on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon next week, it goes to show how much this animated film has become a worldwide phenomenon. Oscar buzz is already swirling around the film, and it will be featured at the upcoming Savannah Film Festival at the end of next month. CGMagazine had the amazing opportunity to talk with Appelhans at SCAD AnimationFest; stay tuned for the full interview.
4. Hearing About The Shifting Landscapes of AI Within the Video Games Industry Panel
This panel brought together industry professionals to explore and answer concerned questions about where games are headed and how emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence—are influencing everything from game design to worldbuilding. Guests included Epic Ecosystem and Unreal Engine academic advisor, Epic Games, Luis Cataldi; executive director, Georgia Game Developers Association, Andrew Greenberg; co-CEO and co-founder, Immersive Enterprise Laboratories (IEL), Blake Baxter; and co-founder of Hi-Rez Studios, CEO and founder of Resurgens, Todd Harris.
One of the interesting insights they shared exclusively with CGMagazine was tied to how “kids would rather go to live gaming festivals than to music festivals.” Greenberg talked about how audiences highly value authenticity these days, and “if you go to a music festival [now], you don’t know if you’re actually hearing their voice.” Baxter expanded on how AI tools can help “live events expand IP” in a similar fashion to how Disney On Ice expands on the Disney brand.
Based on current U.S. laws, Harris stressed how only “human-authored characters like Homer Simpson” can be protected and copyrighted, whereas AI-created ones cannot—protecting human artistry. Cataldi shared his analysis that “by 2030, it’s expected that 1 billion people will be playing on mobile devices that are as powerful as current consoles…so people need games to play.”
5. Appreciating The Student Showcase and Spotlight Films: Inkwashed and Blood and Bamboo
And last, but certainly not least, the SCAD AnimationFest 2025 student films. SCAD students are always given the best and top-of-the-line resources to help turn their innovative, unique ideas into cinematic stunners. Inkwashed and Blood and Bamboo were the two student spotlight films, bringing two different styles—but contain an expertise and focus to each one.
Inkwashed explores what happens when catastrophe strikes a pair of doodled creations — who must choose between competition and teamwork to save each other. A 3D animated film pondering the question of what life would be like inside a drawing, Inkwashed envisions the mischief these drawings might get into.
One of the cool things Leah Whalen (B.F.A., Animation Lead) spoke with us about the “the East Asian references in the environments”, blending “Buddhist architecture.” Unianmously, Emma Richmond (M.F.A, Animation, 3D Animation Lead & Director) and Sydney Levy (B.F.A., Animation, Technical Director) talked about how this project pushed them to “experiment” and do a lot of “trial-and-error”, which Levy explained how experimenting in programs like Blender “will make you learn more than just following a tutorial online.” Noah French (B.F.A., Visual Effects, Producer) highlighted how they had to manage collaborating “between the Atlanta and Savannah campuses” as the post-production team was in Atlanta. French helped “maintain the vision” for the creators at the Savannah campus. Overall, teamwork made the dream work!
Blood and Bamboo is a film about a mother who teaches her daughter an ancient fighting style disguised as dance—only for its true purpose to be revealed when Spanish soldiers raid their village. Anya Perez (B.F.A., Animation, Director) talked about how the story was fully rooted in Filipino culture and history, and also showed them how “coming to America made [her] realize how unique [the Filipino] background is and how cool [the Filipino] fighting styles are.”
One of the most distinct parts of the film is the sound design, and Perez and Gab Talan (B.F.A., Animation), Production Manager and Compositor) explained how they had to make sure the instruments sounded just right. Otherwise, it could “lean more Japanese or Chinese.” Campilan added that “the gongs are very different because it’s not an actual gong; it’s made with bamboo.”
Aaron Raven Campilan (M.F.A., Animation, Background Lead) talked about how it was an enlightening experience researching and learning about pre-colonial Filipino culture. One of the aspects Campilan and Perez had to double-check was whether “mano po” (a respectful greeting, mostly for your elders) “originated from pre-colonial times or not.” Garrett Ray (M.F.A., Animation, Animation Director) discussed how working on Blood and Bamboo made him see “the importance of finding people with whom [he could] collaborate well.” But also, Ray had to work closely with Perez, “reboarding twice to make sure [they] could keep [Perez’s] vision of the film—but make it something that [they] could finish.”
Thanks again so much to SCAD, Paula Wallace, the wonderful guests, and the hardworking PR team who makes this all possible! To learn more about SCAD’s educational offerings, check out their main website.
