Motionographer’s F5 Fest Announces Final Batch of Speakers

Mark Romanek, Neil Huxley, Adam Bly (Seed), Tanya Morgan & PressPausePlay Join Two-Day Creativity Conference, along with RE:VISION Gallery & the RE:PLAY Film Festival

F5, the biennial creativity festival presented by Motionographer that returns to the historic Roseland Ballroom in New York City April 15-16, 2011, has unveiled even more speakers and announced the final event schedule! F5 encompasses two days of talks, presentations and performances exploring the intersection of art, design and entertainment. This year’s theme, “Happy F5,” celebrates F5’s birthday (the first event was held in 2009) with inspiring, optimistic messages that foster creative collisions. This year’s speakers include:

•Mark Romanek: Visionary director of Never Let Me Go and One Hour Photo as well as countless iconic music videos and commercials will be interviewed live on stage by msnbc anchor Thomas Roberts.

Adam Bly (Seed Media Group): Founder and CEO of Seed will discuss Visualizing.org, a global open data visualization platform dedicated to solving complex issues, organizing information and designing it in a more ‘communified’ way.

Tanya Morgan: Indie hip-hop favorites will present a collaborative session, diving into the mechanics of hip-hop music and rhyme creation, followed by a performance with help from special surprise guests.

•PressPausePlay: Directors David Dworsky and Victor Köhler will screen their documentary film, which looks at the digital revolution of the last decade through interviews with Moby, Seth Godin, Lykke Li, Sean Parker and more. PressPausePlay’s screening closes out Friday’s schedule, preceded by a directors’ session.

•Neil Huxley (Digital Domain): Huxley is the boisterous Brit whose motion graphics and fantasy user interface credits include Neveldine Taylor’s Gamer, James Cameron’s Avatar and film titles for Watchmen.

•Eclectic Method: With a rambunctious, unruly spirit and a supercomputer’s worth of samples and productions, UK trio Eclectic Method is at the forefront of a new way to see and absorb sound and images.

•Wayne White: Emmy and Billboard award-winning artist, art director and set designer behind “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” and Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time” music video, will pull from his hilarious one-man biographical stage show, “You’re Supposed to Act All Impressed.” Just added - legendary designer Todd Oldham will introduce White to the stage!

•Scott Belsky (Behance): Cutting-edge business leader and best-selling author of “Making Ideas Happen” will impart knowledge on how to execute on your best creative ideas.

•Kid Koala: Turntablist, musician, producer, and artist Eric San, a.k.a. Kid Koala, has DJ’d alongside the likes of Radiohead, Björk, and DJ Shadow. He’ll wow the audience with a blend of audiovisual madness and electronic soundscapes.

•Buck: Trailblazing creative shop and designer of F5’s awe-inspiring opening title sequence shares its street-smart creative process.

•Adam Sadowsky (Syyn Labs): President of the engineering whiz-kid collective behind the massive Rube Goldberg machine in OK Go’s “This Too Shall Pass” music video.

•Dustin Callif (Tool of North America): Executive Producer of Digital, Callif, will discuss immersive storytelling, including Tool projects “Touching Stories” for the iPad and “David on Demand,” last year’s Cannes Lions Twitter/live-action experiment.

•Heather Knight (Marilyn Monrobot): Knight creates socially intelligent robot performances and sensor-based electronic art. She’ll introduce the lovable Data, the first robotic stand-up comedian (who is admittedly not that funny.)

•Nathan Love: Character animation maestros known for dark humor and of course, love.

•Jacob Escobedo (Adult Swim & Cartoon Network): This network executive-cum-designer works with the likes of Broken Bells, Gnarls Barkley, Ghostly International and Vampire Weekend, creating album and promotional artwork.

•Radical Friend: a.k.a Julia Grigorian and Kirby McClure, are an acclaimed directing duo whose interactive video installation “The Digital Flesh” creates a collective digital being.

•Onesize: Dutch motion design powerhouse will draw open the curtain behind their storied production history.

“We have an inspiring and eclectic line-up this year of speakers and performers who transcend easily definable categories,” said F5 Executive Producer and Founder Carlos El Asmar. “They a’re business leaders, filmmakers, designers, artists, musicians, technologists and sometimes, combinations of two or more of the above. We launched F5 in 2009 with the vision of creating a conference that went way beyond design because we believe true change occurs when you look outside your world. Our goal is for anyone who attends F5 to change the way they think about their work and their life.”

This year’s F5 will also see the return of the RE:PLAY film festival showcasing commissioned work from heralded studios and independent filmmakers. The films will be shown on F5’s main stage and will live on Motionographer.com and F5fest.com after the conference. This year’s participating filmmakers include Alexander Gellner, Daniels, David Wilson, Edouard Salier, Hi-Sim, Holbrooks, James Copeman, Mixtape Club, Nomint, PepperMelon & David Kamp, Physalia, and Upper First.

In the RE:VISION Gallery, emerging and world-renowned artists, including minivegas, Tronic/Goldrun/F5, Radium Audio, Shantell Martin, Smilebooth, and Babycastles will also be exhibiting their work at the F5 venue, inviting attendees to watch, listen and otherwise play with the interactive installations.

F5 wraps with the legendary closing night party on Saturday, April 16, held this year at Good Units at The Hudson Hotel, the official hotel of F5. Presented with Verboten, artists include Eclectic Method, Dalston Ponys, and Kompakt Records’ honcho and DJ Michael Mayer.