Our Leadership
PRESIDENT
Brian Horn - Cinematic Director, Blizzard Entertainment
Brian has directed award-winning cinematics for Diablo, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Starcraft, as well as supervised Blizzard’s stellar team of directors. Prior to directing, Brian helped create Blizzard’s animation editorial department, building off an Emmy-nominated editing career in television and film. Brian’s personal films have been screened at festivals all over and the music he does in his other spare time can be heard on TV shows worldwide.
VICE PRESIDENT (interim)
Emily Shinyi Hsu - Senior Producer, Epic Games
With over 15 years of Producing & Production Management experience in the entertainment industry at companies including Epic Games, Netflix Animation, Blizzard Entertainment, Pixar, LAIKA, and PDI/DreamWorks, Emily is fond of storytelling through all mediums and passionate about the power of animation, visual effects, games, and everything in-between in bringing any story from any genre to life… as well as the occasional spreadsheet to help take a team to the finish line.
EVENTS CHAIR
Marianne Hayden - Supervising Cinematic Animator, Skydance New Media
Marianne Hayden is the Lead Cinematics Animator at Skydance New Media, currently working on Marvel and Star Wars games. With over 15 years in the video game industry, including 13 years at Naughty Dog, she has notably contributed to video game IPs including Uncharted 2, 3, 4, The Lost Legacy, The Last of Us, and The Last of Us: Part II. An accomplished cinematic animator and animation leader, Marianne is also a frequent lecturer on the craft, culture, and future of game cinematics and the video game industry.
AWARDS CHAIR / SPONSORSHIPS CHAIR
Matthew Ward - Cinematics Director, Gearbox Entertainment
Matthew Ward is a filmmaker and cinematic director with over 25 years of experience in pre-viz, directing, and cinematography across film, music videos, and games. An inventor on two Walt Disney Pictures virtual-camera patents, he has helped shape pipelines for early virtual production on numerous feature films. Ward joined Bungie as Cinematic Director for the Destiny franchise, before later joining Gearbox Entertainment to help bridge film and game IPs with transmedia and cinematics content.
AWARDS SHOWRUNNER / COMMUNTIY CHAIR
Dziewanna Picazo - Production Manager, Image Engine
Dziewanna is a passionate gamer and VFX professional with over a decade of experience contributing to major productions at studios including Scanline VFX, Industrial Light & Magic, and Digital Domain. Their expertise spans motion capture, virtual production, performance capture, and voice acting, with a strong passion for cinematography and interactive storytelling. Dziewanna quickly became an invaluable part of the Society for Game Cinematics, rising from an early volunteer to one of the organization’s officers through their passion, leadership, and dedication to the community.
COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
Lina Song - Principal Animation Engineer, NVIDIA
Lina Song is a veteran animation engineer with 20 years of experience on franchises including Battlefield, Gears of War, Paragon, and Fortnite. During her 12 years at Epic Games, she led major animation technology initiatives including Control Rig, MetaHuman Creator, and the Facial Animation System. She also contributed to groundbreaking real-time projects including Hellblade: Senua Live, Siren, and LOTR Smaug VR. Lina is currently a Principal Animation Engineer at NVIDIA, working on Omniverse and advancing real-time 3D production and storytelling tools.
ACTIVE ADVISOR
Greg Mitchell - Cinematics Director
Greg Mitchell spent the last 15 years as Cinematic Director for the award-winning video game series, Gears of War. After previously working in television production, Greg ventured into video game cinematics in early 2005 and contributed to titles such as Mortal Kombat, Infinity Blade, Bulletstorm, Unreal Tournament, and Shadow Complex. Greg has held positions at Midway, Epic Games, Microsoft with The Coalition in Vancouver, B.C, and Bit Reactor. Most recently, Greg was the Awards Chair and chief architect of the 1st Annual Cinematic Awards.