Night three at BDF2026 ends on a high, swerving us into the genre of game-changing entertainment, for a season finale you won’t forget! From the very best in captivating practical effects, to brilliant & iconic poster art, to the most beloved puppetry & performance of the year… amaze amaze amaze!
Barrie Gower (Saving Private Ryan, Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Chernobyl) and his wife Sarah (Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Prince of Persia, X-Men First Class, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) together make up BGFX – an award winning & cutting edge Makeup Effects company providing photo-realistic characters for Film and Television. Travel behind the scenes of some of their most iconic work with founders Barrie & Sarah, whose careers have spanned over 20 years.
Deemed “Poster Girl” by Interview magazine, Akiko Stehrenberger is a 34-time CLIO award winning movie poster art director, illustrator and designer, who works with directors, movie studios, advertising and movie advertising agencies. Her iconic work sets the scene for some of the most lauded films of our times, and her clients include pretty much every film studio known to man.
James Ortiz is an American puppet designer, puppeteer, actor and director working in theatre, opera, and film. He won an Obie Award for puppet design for The Woodsman, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Puppet Design for the 2022 Broadway revival of The Skin of Our Teeth. Most recently he voiced and operated the puppet for the adorable fist-bumping ‘Rocky’ opposite Ryan Gosling (stealing every scene) in the film ‘Project Hail Mary’.
