John Musker (Disney) will preside over the Animayo 2024 Jury

Animayo Gran Canaria 2024, the only animation festival in Spain qualifying for the 2024 Oscars in the Best Animated Short Film category, will feature the participation of John Musker, director of unforgettable Disney titles such as 'Hercules', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Aladdin' and 'Moana'.

The first meeting with lizard will take place on Wednesday, May 8 to 6:00 p.m. in the CICCA space, where he will participate in the presentation of the guests and will premiere his short film for the first time in Spain. I’m Hip, followed by an exclusive ‘Making of’ masterclass on this animated piece in which a cat engrossed in a jazzy song and dance proudly and comically proclaims its “modernity” to the world. The next day, Thursday the 9th, from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., he will give the drawing workshop “Tres Deseos” and on Saturday the 11th, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., he will teach his master class “Bringing Dreams to Screens”, en el que pondrá el foco en la writing y animated feature film direction.

Additionally, John Musker will be the president of the Animayo International Jury Gran Canaria 2024, whose winning piece in this category will obtain a direct pass to the Oscar Awards preselection, since Animayo is the first and only animation Festival in Spain to qualify for the Oscar Awards for the international animated short film category. Together with Musker, they will be part of this jury Shuzo Shiota (Japan), Elena ø Alexa (Denmark), Patrick O’Keefe (Los Angeles, USA) and Sara Koppel (Denmark and USA).

Animayo Gran Canaria 2024 will once again place Gran Canaria and its capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the epicenter of the industry with a ambitious program for which he has designed fourteen in-person master classes, which will deal with animation, production, VFX or leadership; four workshops focused on practical learning of skills and abilities in areas of animation, matte painting, illustration and artificial intelligence; fifteen training presentations; five premieres and screenings; three presentations; five school stands; twenty talent booths; two exclusive exhibitions, including the European premiere of the Art on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with the help of Sony Pictures Animation, and twelve hours of recruitments, portfolio reviews and signatures with more than fifteen participating companies in the sector such as Platige Image, one of the video game cinematics studios in Europe.

John Musker: a life dedicated to Disney

Musk, who currently resides in California with his wife Gale, a former Disney researcher, grew up in Chicago, Illinois, as part of a large Irish Catholic family. After studying English Literature at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, he decided to undertake two years at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) to be part of the new Character Animation Program in the mid-1970s, where he learned from Disney and Chouinard veterans such as Elmer Plummer, Bill Moore y Ken O’Connor, as well as shared classes with personalities such as Brad Bird, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, Tim Burton y Chris Buck. At Disney, his mentor was Eric Larson, the veteran animator and one of Disney's legendary “Nine Old Men,” who brought Figaro the cat to life in Pinocchio, among many other characters in his distinguished career.

Musker became an entertainer Tod y Toby (1981) to later join Ron Clements to direct The Great Mouse Detective (1986) alongside Disney veterans Burny Mattinson y Dave Michener. Ron and John teamed up to write and direct The Little Mermaid (1989), which John co-produced with Howard Ashman. Ron and John also wrote and directed such iconic animated films as Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), The treasure planet (2002) o Tiana and the toad (2009). John's most recent project was Moana (2016), once again directed with Ron Clements, along with co-directors Don Hall y Chris Williams.