Who we are
Digital Storytelling is Oslo's longest running event for VFX artists, filmmakers, game developers, and technology innovators exploring the future of visual storytelling.
The idea was born in 2005 around a campfire in the California High Sierras. Norwegian architect Kim Baumann Larsen was attending VFX supervisor Eric Hanson's annual post-SIGGRAPH hike when the group began discussing how much they missed the defunct 3D Festival in Copenhagen. Could they create a new meeting place for filmmakers and CGI professionals in Oslo? Months later, Kim partnered with Angela Amoroso, then at Norwegian Film Development, to make it happen. The first Digital Storytelling seminar launched on April 5, 2006.
Over eleven editions, the event drew delegates and guests from across Europe, North America, and beyond — filmmakers, VFX artists, game designers, and researchers finding their way to Oslo to share what they were working on.
We hosted Oscar winners and industry pioneers including Robert Legato, Robert Stromberg, Paul Debevec, Michael Fink, and Jan Pinkava, alongside leading Scandinavian talent.
Our seminars, masterclasses, and workshops have become the Nordic region's essential gathering for professionals working at the cutting edge of film, VFX, games, and immersive technology.
Alongside the annual seminar, hands-on workshops brought senior Norwegian VFX professionals together with leading international instructors for practical training in compositing, digital set design, location data acquisition, and emerging production technologies.
The California High Sierras, where Digital Storytelling began. Photo: Eric Hanson
Our three founders
Kim Baumann Larsen
Co-founder, Digital Storytelling — Son, Norway
Kim is a Norwegian architect and creative technologist who has worked at the intersection of spatial design and digital media since the mid-1990s. A Fulbright Fellow from the College of Architecture at the University of Houston, he has founded three technology companies and served as Creative Director for VR at Pixotope Technologies. He has consulted on XR and spatial computing for organisations including IKEA, the Goethe-Institut, the Norwegian Film Institute, and Autodesk. As VFX Supervisor and co-founder of Placebo Effects, he led the visual effects work on two Norwegian Best Visual Effects Award-winning productions. He is CEO of Dimension Design and a speaker at universities and conferences worldwide.
Angela Amoroso
Co-founder and Producer, Digital Storytelling — Oslo, Norway
Originally from New York, Angela Amoroso is an award-winning writer and creative producer based in Oslo. She founded Seaside Scripts in 1995, working across film, television, and the arts. She has written and produced numerous culture and culinary television programmes. While working as Project Manager at Norwegian Film Development, she developed professional initiatives for the Norwegian film community, including the Digital Storytelling Seminar and Workshop Series. As co-founder of Digital Storytelling, she has been the organisational force behind every edition of the event since 2006.
Eric Hanson
Co-founder, Digital Storytelling — Los Angeles, U.S.A
Eric Hanson is a visual effects director, immersive media pioneer, and Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. His VFX work spans major feature films including The Day After Tomorrow, Cast Away, Fantasia 2000, and The Fifth Element, with tenures at Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks, Dream Quest Images, and Walt Disney Feature Animation. He subsequently pioneered volumetric 360 capture for immersive media, with projects for Björk, MoMA, artist Ai Weiwei, The New York Times, and cultural heritage organisations worldwide. He founded Blueplanet VR in 2019 to focus on nature and cultural heritage in VR. Mostly he wishes he could sleep more.
Keynote speakers, 2006–2016
2006 — ALEX MCDOWELL
Digital Sets and Environments for Film
Production Designer — Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Minority Report
2007 — ROBERT LEGATO
Digital Fiction: Innovative Filmmaking
Three-time Academy Award winner — Titanic, Hugo, The Jungle Book
2008 — SHILO T. MCCLEAN
Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects
Author, Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects (MIT Press)
2009 — MICHAEL FINK
Visual Effects and the Story World
Academy Award winner — The Golden Compass; VES Fellow
2010 — ROBERT STROMBERG
Visual Effects into New Dimensions
Two-time Academy Award winner — Avatar, Alice in Wonderland
2011 — PAUL DEBEVEC
World Building in a Digital Universe
Three Academy Sci-Tech Awards; VES Fellow
2012 — SEBASTIAN SYLWAN
The Art and Science of Visual Effects
Chief Technology Officer, Weta Digital; VES Fellow
2014 — THEODOR GROENEBOOM
Gravity masterclass
VES Award winner — Gravity; Guardians of the Galaxy
2014 — THEODOR GROENEBOOM & OTTO TORBJØRNSEN (in memoriam)
Guardians of the Galaxy masterclass
2016 — JAN PINKAVA
Universes of Virtual Reality
Oscar winner (Geri's Game, Pixar); Emmy Award winner; Google Spotlight Stories
2016 — SCOT STAFFORD
Universes of Virtual Reality
Emmy Award winner; Google Spotlight Stories
Digital Storytelling brought together more than 90 speakers across its eleven editions — practitioners, directors, game designers, and technologists from Norway, Scandinavia, and around the world.
In 2026, founders Kim Baumann Larsen, Angela Amoroso, and Eric Hanson invite you to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
Press
Digital Storytelling has been covered by Norwegian and international film and creative industry press across its eleven editions.
"VFX-bransjen må forbedres" — Rushprint, September 2009
"Digital Storytelling 2010: Robert Stromberg og Avatar" — Montages, June 2010
"Digital Seminar in Oslo with Avatar Oscar Winner" — Nordisk Film & TV Fond, March 2010
"For effektens skyld" — Kreativt Forum, February 2011
"VFX-guru: effektene skal tjene historien" — Rushprint, May 2012
"Intervju med Sebastian Sylwan fra Weta Digital" — Montages, May 2012
"Masterclass: Guardians of the Galaxy VFX" — Grafill, October 2014