Sue Loughlin joins Ciclope 2026 Grand Jury
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐บ-๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ถ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด 30 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ-๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ.
๐๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด, ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ, ๐๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช'๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐&๐๐, ๐๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ-๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐๐ญ๐ถ๐ฃ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ-๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฎ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐&๐๐, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐.
We spoke to her about what it means to join Ciclope's grand jury, her approach to judging, what she hopes to see in the work submitted, what role jurors have in shaping the direction of commercial creativity, and what craft means to her...
What does being invited to the Ciclope grand jury mean to you?
I'm delighted to be joining the Ciclope Grand Jury. It's a festival with real heritage, and a genuine commitment to inspirational creativity and craft, which are values that align closely with both my own and Jelly's. It's a wonderful opportunity, not only to immerse myself in some truly inspiring animation and storytelling, but also to connect with some of the leading creators working in the industry today.
What is your approach to judging? Are you led more by emotional impact, technical craft or something else?
I look for all of those things. Technical craft is very important, but also the thinking and ideas behind the choices that the creators make when deciding on the techniques and materials. The stories and the emotional connection to the audience is always important, the craft of revealing the story, how the film makers go from shot to shot but also how the technical side works in harmony with those stories. It's all of the elements together - emotional connection to audience, meaning and communication of intention.
What are you most looking forward to seeing in the judging process?
Original work and tangible craft! It's crucial that we keep showing up with craft and original ideas, especially right now in this AI era. We need to double down on using everything that makes us human.
[๐๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ, ๐-๐: ๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฅ, ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด]
What do you hope the shortlisted and winning work says about where the creative industry is right now, and is there a particular type of work you feel we need more of, culturally or creatively?
The shortlisted and winning work will have to have originality. I want to see the unexpected. I want to see human connection. Technically the work will need to be excellent, but I need more humanity overall. Having well-crafted, original work win, will show that the industry still appreciates and wants human thinking and human hands.
What responsibility do jurors have in shaping the direction of commercial creativity?
Itโs important to reward genuinely inspirational work that has its roots in human creativity and good. It's important that commercial work has integrity and isnโt just about banal selling and brand showmanship. Jurors need to ensure that true creativity and effort is rewarded. It's the inspiring work that's recognised, and it's the recognised work that inspires others.
Craft can mean many thingsโฆ How do you personally define great craft?
Great craft is both technical excellence and something more than art for its own sake. It's made in service of meaning, connection, and emotional impact, and it's made by people, by people who care.
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