1pm-2:30pm Elyse Kelly 

Elyse is an award-winning director and producer with a passion for human-centered stories. With expertise in both animation and traditional documentary filmmaking, she brings a distinctive perspective to her work, seamlessly blending unapologetic animated visuals with thoughtful nonfiction storytelling.

Elyse's work has earned accolades and been showcased at festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Tribeca, Annecy, Zagreb, and OIAF. She's directed award-winning campaigns and content for clients such as Netflix, the ACLU, The Atlantic, Sesame Workshop, Sony Music, the United Nations Foundation, and Meow Wolf.

In 2022, Elyse founded the studio Neon Zoo because she recognized a genuine need for stories that inspire change, all told through the vibrant lens of animation. When she’s not at the studio, she’s sharing her love of the medium with students at Georgetown University!

3pm-4:30pm Bill Kroyer

Bill Kroyer is an Oscar®-nominated director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films. Trained in classic hand-drawn animation at the Disney Studio, Bill was one of the first animators to make the leap to computer animation as Computer Image Choreographer on Disney’s ground-breaking 1982 feature TRON.  

He pioneered the technique of combining hand-drawn animation with computer animation on projects such as his theatrical animated feature film Fern Gully, The Last Rainforest and his short film Technological Threat.  As Senior Animation Director at Rhythm & Hues Studios he directed animation on scores of commercials and many feature films, including Cats and Dogs, Garfield, and Scooby Doo.  

5pm-6pm Sara Varon

Sara Varon is a graphic novelist and children’s book author/illustrator living in Chicago. She is the author of Robot Dreams, which was adapted into an Oscar-nominated animated feature film by the Spanish director Pablo Berger. Her other books include Odd Duck, Bake Sale, New Shoes, Hold Hands, My Pencil and Me, and the Detective Sweet Pea series. Her work has received many accolades—among others, Hold Hands was named a Best Children’s Book of 2019 by the New York Times; Odd Duck was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Children’s Books of 2013; Bake Sale was chosen as a YALSA Great Graphic Novel of 2012; and Robot Dreams was on Oprah’s Kids’ Reading List in 2008. In 2013, Sara was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship.