Instructors

Kyle BALDA

After studying traditional animation at the California Institute of the Arts (Calarts) in 1991, Kyle Balda has been a professional animator for 15 years.

At Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) he worked on films such as The Flintstones, The Mask, Mars Attacks and also Jumanji for which he was supervising animator.
After working on The Frighteners for Peter Jackson at Weta Digital in New Zealand, Kyle joined Pixar to work on A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, and as directing animator on Toy Story 2.

Kyle is now based in France where he has been teaching at GOBELINS since 2003, and holding master classes at various European animation schools, including Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark and Filmakademie de Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany. He is also pursuing his professional animation work for studios such as Mac Guff and Passion Pictures in Paris.

 

Robert W. BENNETT

Originally from Meridian, Mississippi in the USA, Robert W. Bennett came to Paris, where he now lives, to learn his craft from a master known as the "father of modern mime", Etienne Decroux, creator of the technique "Mime Corporel Dramatique" and teacher of Marcel Marceau and Jean-Louis Barrault.

Robert first taught at GOBELINS in 1994, collaborating on an exercise of "Performance walk cycle".

Since then, he has worked around Europe and in the USA presenting a course in "Corporeal Acting" for different animation schools and studios, including Walt Disney Feature Film France, Warner Brothers Feature Film USA and A-Studio in Copenhagen. He has also given classes for Richard Williams’ Workshop.

 

Louis CLICHY

Louis Clichy is both a 2D and 3D animator.

After graduating from GOBELINS in 2002 where he co-directed the prize-winning Annecy film Jurannesic and a much appreciated limited animation film called Mange (Eat !), Louis worked as both animator and storyboader in professional studios such as Cube in Paris and Passion Pictures in London while also directing his own short film, A quoi ça sert l’amour, based on a famous Edith Piaf song.

He then spent three years animating at Pixar Animation Studio working on Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up. In 2009, he returned to live and work in Paris.

 

Alexandre HEBOYAN

After graduating from GOBELINS in 2004, Alexandre Heboyan won the Special Jury Prize at Siggraph 2005 for the film Migration Bigoudenn which he co-directed.

In France, he was an animator for Michel Ocelot’s 3D film Azur et Asmar made at the famous French studio Mac Guff. Alexandre Heboyan joined DreamWorks Animation in Los Angeles in 2006 and worked on various films including Kung Fu Panda and Monsters versus Aliens.

Starting in 2009, he will be co-directing in France a feature film, Mune, le gardien de la lune, for the studio Method Films.

 

Frédéric NAGORNY

Frédéric Nagorny has been fascinated by animation since his early childhood.  He entered the profession as an animator on French TV series after getting his diploma in architecture from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris in 1982.

Shortly thereafter he held the posts of animation director, then production director and finally studio head for the production of traditional 2D animation series. As of 1988 he started experimenting with 3D animation then in its early stages. Using this technology he produced several animation shorts which won prizes at international festivals. During the same period, he produced and directed animation for commissioned films, commercials, feature films, and TV specials.

In parallel he did lecture work in continuing education courses at various specialized schools and companies.

He has been a professor at GOBELINS since 1991 and now also teaches at Marne la Vallée University. He attaches great importance to passing on to new generations of animators the various techniques of animation from the study of movement to the different stages of the production process.

 

Kristof SERRAND

After studying at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris, Kristof Serrand came to Gobelins to study 2D animation (1981-1983).

Upon completing his studies, he was hired as assistant animator for the full-length feature film Asterix versus Caesar for Gaumont. He worked as animator on the following film, taking on as assistant another young graduate of Gobelins, Eric “Bibo” Bergeron, the future co-director of two feature films for DreamWorks, The Road to El Dorado and Shark Tale.

In 1987, he directed several advertising shorts for a studio in England. He went on to become an animation supervisor for full-length feature film projects such as La Table tournante by Paul Grimault.

In 1990, he was hired as animation supervisor by Steven Spielberg at the founding of the Amblimation studio in London. There he worked on films including American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) and Balto (1993). He also taught at Gobelins during that time, from 1986 to 1991.

He left Europe in 1995 to work for the newly created DreamWorks Animation studio in Los Angeles. His credits included The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit, Sinbad, Shark Tale and Over the Hedge. For the latter film, Kristof was nominated in the category “Character Animation in a Feature Production” at the Annie Awards 2007 in the USA. His most recent animation work was on How To Train Your Dragon.

On each of his trips through Paris, Kristof always comes to Gobelins to share his current projects with students and teach classes.