As we are aware The Garden Cinema membership community is not just made up of cinema enthusiasts, but also covers a large range of film creatives, we would love to help connect our members working across all departments of the industry.

For our regular industry panels, we invite knowledgeable speakers to discuss their specific branch of the industry, with plenty of time for asking questions. After the discussion, we all head into the Garden Bar, so you can mingle with fellow members.

On Tuesday 23 January, we will be joined by Michaël Dudok De Wit (The Red Turtle) and Sasha Balan (The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse), who will discuss their respective careers and approaches to animation, and shed light upon this multi-faceted genre.

Tickets are restricted to 1 per member, and available for just £5, which includes a token for a complimentary house wine, beer or soft/hot drink.

There are two Pay What You Can screenings of The Red Turtle scheduled on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 January. You can book for these screenings here.

About the speakers:

Alexandra (Sasha) Balan is a 2D animator & illustrator based in London. She has worked on features and shorts, including Oscar & BAFTA winner The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. She graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015 and her influences range from Art Deco to Samurai Jack to Aeon Flux. You can find out more here.

Michaël Dudok de Wit grew up in the Netherlands and he has lived in London since 1980, directing independent animated films and TV commercials. He specialises in hand-drawn animation and his shorts have won numerous international awards, including an Oscar and a BAFTA award in 2001 for Father and Daughter and a César for The Monk and the Fish (1995). His most recent project, the feature length film, The Red Turtle was a Wild Bunch - Studio Ghibli coproduction, made in France with Prima Linea Productions. The film won the Special Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, at Cannes Film Festival (2016) and it was nominated for an Academy Award in 2017. Michael also illustrates books for children and adults and he gives talks on animation, creativity and related subjects at universities and film schools in the UK.

Previous speakers have included:

- Jacob Stolworthy (Reporter, The Independent)

- Jack Shepherd (Writer, Total Film)

- Georgia Goggin (Producer of Pretty Red Dress)

- Susan Simnett (Producer of Fadia's Tree)

- Christina Papasotiriou (Senior Film Programmer at Raindance Film Festival)

- Philip Ilson (Co-Director of London Short Film Festival)

- Edward Lovelace (Director of Name Me Lawand)

- Tom Howson (Head of Theatrical Sales at Dogwoof)

Check out our Youtube channel for videos of our previous industry panels.