Rendr Festival focuses on film and gaming talent

The festival will hear from experts who have worked on recent productions like The Batman

"We undersell ourselves so much and don't appreciate what we have here and that's part of what this event is about."

That is according to Michael Weir, founder of a new festival which highlights Northern Ireland's video game, animation and special effects talent.

The sold-out Rendr festival takes place in Belfast on Thursday and Friday.

More than 30 industry speakers will feature at the festival.

There will also be technology demonstrations, live performances and digital art.

The idea for Rendr grew out of the Belfast Photo Festival, which Weir also runs.

In 2022, the photo festival brought a huge image of intertwined hands to Stormont, painted by the French artist Saype.

But Rendr is wider, encompassing film, animation, video gaming, photography and special effects.

Senior staff from companies founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas will be at the festival

Weir said they were not separate industries as they often depended on each other.

"There's so much convergence going on at the minute and this event is a first of its kind," he said.

"You have your film festivals, you have your gaming festivals, you have animation - we're kind of all of that.

"People can start by having a career in gaming but move into film or animation.

"The technology is enabling all this to happen."

A virtual production studio called Studio Ulster is being built in Belfast which will bring many of the industries together when it opens in 2024.

Northern Ireland also has a number of successful video game and animation companies.

'Not shouting'

But Weir said a lot of talent in the industries like that in Northern Ireland could get overlooked.

"They're not out shouting about it," he said.

"We have so many people here who aren't being appreciated enough and part of what we want to do is to show appreciation for those people and to stop us underselling ourselves."

"This event helps to bring these people to the stage alongside some of the leading names in the industry."

One of the festival's speakers worked on The Mandalorian

Rendr has attracted some very big names alongside those working in Northern Ireland.

Senior staff from Industrial Light and Magic and Lucasfilm will be speaking at the festival.

Both of those companies were founded by legendary film-maker George Lucas, who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films among others.

Photographer David James has captured images of iconic films including 1998's Saving Private Ryan

Charmaine Chan who is an associate visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic, and has worked on recent productions like the Mandalorian and The Batman, will be speaking on Friday.

The Simpsons long-time writer and producer Mike Reiss is another festival guest, as is photographer David James who has worked extensively with stars including Tom Cruise and David Bowie.

Tara Rueping is the art director for the Warner Brothers series for HBO Max, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.

However she has extensive experience of visual design in video games and animation, and will also be at Rendr.

A TV series based on the Blade Runner films will be filmed in Northern Ireland

So what advice is Weir hoping experts like that can give to those just starting their careers?

"Inspiration and belief," he said.

"It's inspiring people by these people coming talking about the projects they're working on, the step-by-step process of how they got to where they are.

"It's not them way up there and us down here, it's 'you can be just as successful and you can be just as successful being from Northern Ireland.'

"That's what we want people to get across from this."

And according to Weir, the festival is also taking inspiration itself from the fact Blade Runner 2099, a TV series based on the Blade Runner films, is soon to be filmed in Northern Ireland.

The Banana Block in the Portview trade centre on Belfast's Newtownards Road has been turned into what is described as "a misty Blade Runner inspired environment".

"It'll be really interesting when we bring it back next year and we have all that same art direction and we hope to be collaborating with some of those people that will be shooting that production here," he said.