Learn from the Best: Inside Aesthetica’s Masterclass Programme
At the heart of Aesthetica Film Festival is a belief that knowledge should be accessible to everyone. Our Masterclass Programme is designed to open opportunities to hear directly from some of the most exciting and influential voices working across the screen industries – from film and television to animation, visual effects, games and emerging technologies. Our programme brings together established practitioners, new talent and audiences, creating opportunities to ask questions, exchange ideas and learn from experience. Whether you are a filmmaker looking to understand how a production works, a writer developing your voice, an animator interested in new approaches, a student considering a career, or an established creative looking to expand your knowledge, the programme is a space to discover something new.
We believe that access to this kind of insight should not be limited by where you are in your career, what you have studied, or whether you have industry connections. Learning is a route into the screen industries, and sharing knowledge is one of the most powerful ways of opening them up. By bringing world-class speakers to the Festival, we aim to demystify the creative process and make the knowledge, expertise and experience of leading practitioners available to a broad audience.
The response demonstrates just how important this is. Last year, more than 6,000 people attended Aesthetica’s Masterclasses, creating a huge community of people coming together to learn, listen and connect. These sessions extend beyond the hour spent in the room. They can provide the starting point for conversations, collaborations and professional relationships, giving audiences the chance to meet people with shared interests and ambitions. For creatives, these encounters help build confidence, expand networks and provide a clearer understanding of the pathways into the industry. The Masterclass Programme is therefore about both knowledge and connection: learning from those who have made the work, while meeting the people who may become your future collaborators, colleagues, mentors and community.
Highlights from this year’s Masterclass Programme
This year’s festival programme continues that commitment to learning, bringing together leading practitioners from across the screen industries and offering a wide range of audiences the chance to go behind the scenes of some of the most exciting work being made today. Take a look at a selection of this year’s sessions:
VFX with Academy Award-winning Framestore
Framestore is an Academy Award-winning visual effects house that has worked on some of the biggest film releases of recent times including, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Wicked, Paddington in Peru and the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Virtual Production Supervisor Connor Ling and Realtime Supervisor Michael Zaman will take audiences deep into the creation of the 1,100 visual effects shots produced for Project Hail Mary. From Ryland Grace’s starship to Rocky, the film’s lovable alien, the session explores the artistry and technology behind the work, including Framestore’s distinctive approach to character animation – a joyful combination of CG and puppetry. It is an opportunity to understand how complex visual effects are conceived, developed and brought to life at the highest level of international filmmaking.
Driving Inclusion at ITV: Diversity, Equity and Representation
How do you turn a commitment to inclusion into meaningful industry change? In this session, Nahrein Kemp, DEI & Talent Lead at ITV, draws on more than 20 years of experience to explore how broadcasters can create lasting opportunities for underrepresented talent. Looking at initiatives including Amplify, Step Up 60 and Fresh Cuts – the BAFTA-nominated strand giving underrepresented creatives their first broadcast credits – the masterclass examines how these programmes and initiatives are built, what meaningful structural change looks like in practice, and what it takes to move from intention to measurable impact within a major broadcaster.
Making Puffin Rock: Crafting Animation for Young Audiences
The internationally loved animated series Puffin Rock offers a fascinating case study in creating television for younger audiences. Streamed on Netflix for more than 26.7 million hours in 2024 and now available on CBeebies, the series follows young puffin Oona and her brother Baba through stories of nature, friendship and family. Creative Director and Producer John McDaid of Dog Ears will explore the show’s distinctive visual language, gentle storytelling and production journey, as well as its roots in Kilkenny and Derry. The session offers insight into the craft of animation and the particular creative considerations involved in telling stories for children.
Neal Street Productions: Inside The Magic Faraway Tree
What does it take to bring a major film adaptation from page to screen? Drawing on Neal Street Productions’ recent feature adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree, this session brings together perspectives from across the filmmaking process. Chaired by Director Nick Brown, the panel features Producer Danny Perkins, former CEO of Studiocanal UK, Costume Designer Ann Maskrey and VFX Supervisor Ruslan Borysov. Together, they explore the many stages of production – from creative development and adaptation through to costume, visual effects and finance – revealing the collaborative work required to build a film world.
Writing the Future: Inside The Pitch’s £2,500 Writing Commission
How is AI changing human relationships and what stories can emerge from that question? This session explores The Pitch’s new paid writing commission, which will support five writers with £2,500 each to develop an original short-film screenplay. AI ethics researcher Nathan Mladin and industry guests will unpack the brief and consider how timeless stories about human nature can provide inspiration when thinking about the rapidly changing relationship between people and technology.
Celebrating 50 Years: Behind the Scenes at Aardman
Few animation studios have had an impact quite like Aardman, and 2026 marks its 50th anniversary. Founded in Bristol in 1976 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, the studio began with its first professional production and the creation of Morph, before becoming synonymous with stop-motion animation and characters loved around the world. Joining us at Aesthetica to celebrate five decades of creativity is Director and Creative Will Becher, who will take audiences behind the scenes of Aardman’s extraordinary legacy – from Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep to Feathers McGraw – exploring the craft, imagination and collaborative spirit behind its enduring.
Writing for Television: Neil Forsyth in Conversation
BAFTA and Royal Television Society Award-winning writer Neil Forsyth joins us for a dive into the craft of television drama. His recent work includes Netflix’s Legends, while previous credits include Guilt, The Gold and Eric, Ernie and Me. In conversation with writer Alex Mathias of the BBC Pilot Scheme, Forsyth will explore the process behind writing for television: developing characters, constructing drama, sustaining narrative across episodes and finding the ideas that make a series resonate.
Together, these sessions demonstrate the breadth of this year’s Masterclass Programme: from the smallest decisions in a screenplay to the creation of entire cinematic worlds; from stop-motion and animation to visual effects and virtual production; from television writing to inclusion, talent development and the future of storytelling.
Above all, this year’s programme is an invitation to keep learning. The screen industries are constantly changing, and so are the ways in which stories are conceived, financed, written, produced and experienced. By putting audiences directly in conversation with the people shaping that future of screen and media, Aesthetica Film Festival 2026 creates a space where knowledge can be shared openly, questions can be asked, networks can grow and new creative possibilities can begin.
Aesthetica Film Festival 2026 runs 4-8 November in York, UK.
Click here to book your festival pass.
Click here to download the Official Aesthetica Film Festival 2026 Programme.
