Xilam Animation Bolsters Production Division

Xilam Animation has reorganized its production division, promoting Dorothée Lanchier to deputy managing director and Jean Cayrol to creative director, among other appointments.

Lanchier, currently chief operating officer, will now be responsible for developing and managing the implementation of Xilam’s entire creative and production strategy. She joined Xilam in 2017 after working at Moonscoop and Ellipsanime.

At Xilam, Lanchier has taken care of the executive production of several series, including season five of Oggy and the Cockroaches. She leads the production of all animation series, including Oggy Oggy and Lupin’s Tales and pilots Xilam’s three animation studios (Lyon, Angeoulême and Armada in Ho Chi Minh).

In his new role as creative director, Cayrol will be responsible for managing all artistic matters (development and production) for kids’ series produced by Xilam. Marc du Pontavice, CEO, will retain direct responsibility for special formats (notably, those unrelated to kids) and feature films.

Cayrol joined Xilam Animation as a layout supervisor on the feature film Go West, then on Oggy and the Cockroaches and The Daltons. Since 2011, he has co-directed two seasons of Floopaloo, where are you?, directed Paprika and created the graphic bible for Oggy Oggy.

Both Lanchier and Cayrol will report to du Pontavice.

In addition, Xilam has appointed Cécile Hergaux-Essame, currently head of the Cube Creative studio, as executive VP to oversee all of Xilam’s studios and to lead the supervising and coordinating of all of the group’s production resources. She will report to Lanchier.

Hergaux-Essame joined Cube Creative in 2014 as production manager and later became studio manager. She has overseen projects such as Kaeloo, Athleticus, Tangranimals, Pfffirates and Mush-Mush.

Valentin Moriceau, currently head of R&D at Cube Creative, has been appointed R&D executive VP of Xilam. He will head the research and technical development department and roll out the group’s visual innovation strategy by coordinating all of the studios’ technical teams. He will also report to Lanchier.

Moriceau joined Cube Creative in 2014 as a pipeline engineer. After spending a year at Unit Image as pipeline supervisor, he rejoined Cube in 2017 to take up the position of R&D manager. In 2018, a new pipeline was developed for Blender, the studio’s main software since.