May’s Irish Animation Awards took place in person, allowing nominated studios the chance to cheer each other on for the first time since before the pandemic. Among the winners on the night was The Cuphead Show! (Netflix), animated at Kilkenny’s Lighthouse Studios, which emerged victor of both the Kids’ Choice Award (6+) category and the Best Animated Sequence category. Congratulations to all who worked on the series, and special shout out to Julius Mingi, Dindo Santos and Gian Carla Atienza who worked on the winning Cuphead sequence in the Best Animation Sequence category.
Lighthouse at Annecy 2023
The team from Lighthouse were back in full force at Annecy this year, meeting old friends and new against the stunning backdrop of the French Alps. Highlights from the week included meeting animation legends, Tom and Tony Bancroft, with whom the studio will be working on an upcoming production (watch this space!) and Jim Capobianco, director of The Inventor, a stop motion feature by Jim Capobianco about Leonardo daVinci’s final years. The Rick and Morty special was well-attended and Lighthouse even got a shout out for creating some of the animation for the upcoming series from Exec Producer, Steve Levy. Thanks Steve!