Program

11:30 - 12:30 Registration, mingling and coffee/tea

Tancred opens 12:00 and there is free seating.

12:30 - 12:40 Welcome and brief Digital Storytelling Retrospective

Presented by co-founders and 
co-directors Kim Baumann Larsen and Angela Amoroso

12:45 - 13:10 “The History of Norwegian VFX — from Rookies to Oscar Nomination”


Presented by Associate Professor Morten Moen (Kristiania University 
College, Oslo)

Norwegian visual effects has travelled a remarkable distance in a short time — from the miniature craft of Sofies verden and the first digital effects of the early 2000s, to an industry whose work earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects with Sinners in 2025. This talk traces that journey through the films, the studios, and the artists who made it happen. A story about passion, growth, and how a small industry punched well above its weight.

13:15 - 13:20 “Where It Began" — Norwegian VFX at Digital Storytelling, 2006–2016”


Curated and presented by NVF chair and CEO Stephanie Erso (Vespertine FX, Oslo).

A short compiled reel of Norwegian VFX presented at Digital Storytelling and created in collaboration with the Norwegian VFX Association, participating VFX studios and production companies.

13:20 - 13:30 Short break — leg stretch

13:30 - 13:55 “Building Worlds from Real”

Eric Hanson 
(Blueplanet VR, Los Angeles) in conversation with Tahir Tanis (Creative 
Director for ARC Raiders, Embark Studios, Stockholm).

How do you build a world that feels genuinely lived-in — one players believe in before they can say why? In this fireside conversation, Digital Storytelling co-founder Eric Hanson, a leading figure in photogrammetry and real-world environment capture, sits down with Tahir Tanis, the creative director behind ARC Raiders. Together they trace how the game's richly detailed world was grounded in real places, real objects and real reference — from decaying mid-century technology and the crowded arcades of a subterranean city, to the machines, characters and threats that inhabit it. Tanis shares how the invented is made to feel real: the capture, the reference, and the art direction behind one of the most immersive game worlds of recent years.

13:55 - 14:15 Break

14:15 - 14:40 “The Invisible Art — From Render Wrangler to Ryan Coogler” (working title)

Espen Nordahl, Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award 
winning VFX Supervisor and Head of VFX (Storm Studios, Oslo).

The best visual effects disappear into the film. Espen Nordahl, Head of VFX at Storm Studios, has built a career around making that happen; most recently earning an Academy Award nomination for Sinners, a production that treated the camera, the location, and the practical set as the foundation for every digital decision. In this talk he examines the craft behind invisible VFX: how grounding digital work in real photography produces better stories, and what that means in practice across a decade of international productions.

14:45 - 15:10 International speaker

To be announced shortly.

15:15 - 16:00 International keynote 


To be announced shortly

16:00 - 16:10 Short break — leg stretch

16:10 - 16:15 “How Far We've Come — Norwegian VFX, 2016–2026” (showreel)

16:15 - 16:55 “The Artist and the New Machine - a Conversation and Audience Q&A” 


Panel moderator (to be announced) in conversation with keynote speaker, international speaker, Espen Nordahl, and Theodor Groeneboom (Rebel Unit, Bergen)

In 2006, when Digital Storytelling first gathered, the tools were the obstacle; the talent was here, but the means to compete were not. Twenty years on, the tools are within everyone's reach, and a different question has taken their place: not what we are able to make, but what we ought to, and how much of the making should still pass through the hands of an artist. To close the day, Theodor Groeneboom sits down with a few of the people who live inside that question; supervisors and artists who answer it not in the abstract but shot by shot, decision by decision, on real productions. Together they'll talk about where craft, authorship and the new machine actually meet in the work, and then hand the conversation over to the room. We don't pretend to know where all of this leads. But there are few better places to wonder about it than among the people already at work building what comes next.

16:55 - 17:00 Closing Remarks and Thanks from all three co-founders

17:00 - 20:00 Lemongrass Reception


The seminar closes with the 20th anniversary reception at Lemongrass, on the ground floor of Cinemateket: mingling, networking, and a few short speeches, with finger food, cake, and a celebratory drink. A cash bar runs through the evening.

Every paid ticket also enters the prize draw. The headline prize is a one-year Houdini FX licence from SideFX valued at $5,269. Chaos contribute a one-year V-Ray Premium licence and a one-year V-Ray Solo licence. Prizes are drawn at the reception, and you must be present to win.

20:00 Event ends