Ed Catmull, the President of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, has paid tribute to the Irish animation industry during his visit to the Dublin Web Summit, describing its work as remarkable.
The computer scientist, who has been at the helm of both companies since 2014 after nearly a decade working at Disney, told TEN of his admiration for Kilkenny company Cartoon Saloon's Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea.
He also saluted Dublin animation studio Brown Bag Films, which received an Oscar nomination for Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty.
"I think it's really remarkable to have a local industry that's healthy and represents something from the culture," he said.
Although Catmull presides over two world famous animation studios whose hits include Frozen and Inside Out, he maintained that the Irish industry model should be copied by more countries around the world.
"The healthier the film community is, and the more representative [it is] of the culture, the better off we all are."
Catmull, who is one of the creators of the RenderMan effects software which has been used in 44 of the last 47 nominated for the best visual effects Oscar, was attending the Web Summit to discuss his work with Pixar and creativity.
He said he did not see the animation studios as being in competition, and that it was very important that animators in different companies were friends with each other.
"It isn't like some industry where it's a win-lose situation. If somebody goes to the theatre [cinema] and has a good experience, then they'll want to come back and have another good experience. So we want everybody who goes to movies to enjoy all the movies, because we benefit from that too. That's why it's a different kind of relationship between the studios."
