Animation director Kirk Hendry has joined Paris-based production house Troublemakers. Hendry’s work spans commercials, shorts, music videos and a feature film. It is alongside Neil Boyle that Hendry has directed his debut feature, Kensuke’s Kingdom. This beautiful hand-drawn adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s classic novel was an official selection at Annecy 2023 and will be released in France in February....

Toronto-based Fort York VFX is bringing a splash of color to its facility, with industry veteran Jason Zukowski joining the 10-year-old postproduction company as sr. colorist. Zukowski worked as a DP, editor, and director before finding his professional niche in color. His career has included stops at Notch, Redlab and Studio Feather, where he contributed to award-winning campaigns for brands including Sapporo, Skittles, Huggies, and Land Rover.  Fort York VFX creative director and partner Mike Bishop said the company had been hoping to add color grading capabilities for some time but needed to find the right person to successfully expand its offering. Helping bring the launch to life is Pallavi Joshi-Firby whose two years at Fort York VFX as an executive producer thus far have familiarized her with the company’s culture and workflow. Her experience in color and VFX, drawn from her time at Alter Ego, Redlab and BBDO’s Ricochet, paired with her familiarity with Zukowski thanks to her time at Redlab, made her insight and guidance invaluable to Fort York’s diversification. The company is rounding out its color team with sr. color assistant Jose Torres, who has most recently been working as a freelance colorist, but got his start as a color and online assistant with Redlab....