Lighthouse Studios

Today, I’m excited and proud to share the official 'Light of the World' movie poster by the extremely talented Izzy Burton. On September 5, 1975, for my 7th birthday, my parents bought me the Jaws soundtrack album and movie poster. I listened to that soundtrack over and over while staring at that movie poster. My mom did have issues with that poster, but she knew I loved the movie and was fascinated by sharks. The following birthday, I received the King Kong (1976) album and movie poster. Then, on my 9th birthday, I received the Star Wars double album soundtrack that came with a poster—not theatrical, but depicting the assault on the Death Star. I also got a Star Wars movie poster by the Hildebrandt Brothers. This poster was different from others I had. There were story moments. When you see the poster without context, it intrigues you and draws you in. When you look back after seeing the film, it brings out those memories of experiencing those moments. At that time, there were no Star Wars toys, so I was reliving the movie while listening to the album and staring at the posters. The late seventies, throughout the eighties, and early nineties, movies and their accompanying posters and soundtracks were inspirational and influential in what I one day dreamed of being… a director. Izzy was one of our fantastic Viz Dev Artists and Background Painters working on “Light of the World’. Several months ago, I saw a WonderCon exclusive of “The Land Before Time” poster on an Instagram story. It brought back memories, not just about the movie, but the storytelling in a poster that I fell in love with years ago. It was designed by Izzy, and we are grateful and humbled that she designed our poster. Funny how God works. I got my first poster on my birthday, September 5, 1975, and our movie comes out on September 5, 2025… stated on our poster. Full circle. Teaser Trailer | https://lnkd.in/gvHVC3yd Light of the World  | A Film By Salvation Poem Project

Of course, we couldn't wrap it up without saying thank you to the core team who brought the festival to life this year. Kilkenny Animated is hosted by Cartoon Saloon, Lighthouse Studios and Schweppe Curtis Nunn Events, and we want to highlight some of those who help make everything move! Ann, Aoife, Cath, Claire, and Sarah are on the operations team. They're the logistical arm of the festival, planning, organising, building and marketing the 40+ events on this year's festival. Meanwhile, in the run up to the programme announcement, Lilian joins the ops team to manage the box office and the sales side of things. The main festival programme is curated by Claire, Gilly, Paul, Nora and Tomm who never disappoint, bringing us all the inspirational events we love to see at KKA and introducing us to all the wonderful speakers such as those at this year's festival. Meanwhile, Claire, Gerry, Naoise and Paul make the decisions on where to allocate resources - it's hard when you want to do it all, but someone's got to make the call! And this year we welcomed Niamh to the team, our festival producer who you would have all seen corralling the audience in and out, legging it back and forth to make sure the screenings were running smoothly, problem solving and making quick decisions - such as giving Glen Keane an extra five mins at the end for live animation! That's only what you saw at the weekend, but in fact Niamh's been a key part of the operations and programming teams, looking after all the inbetween niggles and keeping everyone moving in the same direction. So a huge thank you to you all! And we've kept our very last thank you (we think - unless we've forgotten someone) for every single person attended one of the events over the festival weekend - who booked tickets, reserved their spots, travelled from near and far, tagged us in posts and stories onlines, and gave us such fantastic energy over the weekend! You are who we do it for each year and we hope you loved the weekend as much as we did. Here are some lovely audience moments - as captured by our talented photographer, Andrew Downes.

We'd like to thank all our external partners, collaborators and crew members who supported the delivery of this year's festival programme. Our venue partners, Langton's Ballroom, The Set Theatre, Harry's Bar & Butler Gallery housed all our main events, while Kyteler's Inn hosted the Art Market run by local artists during the festival. Thank you for giving our community the space to celebrate the craft of animation together, and for all your support in the lead up to, and weekend of, the festival. Cheers to the Home Rule Club for hosting our wrap-party too! Our volunteers, led by volunteer manager, Peter Geoghegan - the way you all worked in unison and seamlessly coordinated the running of events over the weekend was truly incredible. Thank you for your wonderful enthusiasm and the spirit you brought to this year's festival - some of our favourite conversations over the weekend happened after hours with you all and were truly inspiring 🙌 Thank you too to the WIA for hosting Saturday mornings coffee and chat before the main events kicked off. It was fantastic to hear how women now comprise over half the Irish animation workforce! Our collaborative partner, the National Talent Academy for Animation, who help to facilitate the Pathways to Animation programme for students and graduates. Thank you so much for the various resources you provided this year - the Pathways strand is very special and we're so glad to have run this for a second year with your support. Our educational partners in SETU Carlow, TUS Athlone, TUS Clonmel, IADT and BCFE - thank you for all the time you put into running workshops, sourcing volunteers and gathering films for Sunday's showcase - and thanks to all the graduates whose films were featured! A special mention to all the crew members from Lighthouse Studios and Cartoon Saloon who faciitated workshops, led sketching tours and studio tours, spoke/MCd at events or on panels, prepped and ran the studio venues and supported the running of the Pathways strand - a huge THANK YOU! Photos 1-5 Credit: Andrew Downes (and thank YOU Andrew!) @Xposure101 #KilkennyAnimated #KilkennyAnimatedFestival #KKA2024 #KilkennyAnimated WIA National Talent Academies