Kathleen Kennedy, the Storytelling, Industrial Light and Magic

“There’s nothing I like more than to have one of our movies run, and then I go to the ladies’ room and listen to everybody talk about it. No one has any idea who I am. ”

Kathleen Kennedy

Going beyond your creative genius and vision, listening to your audience seems to be a secret skill a truly great produce can master; listening is what Kathleen Kennedy (the most powerful woman in Hollywood and producer of Star Wars) does. If you want to know more about her projects and understand the magic she brings in our lives, she will speak at Web Summit, the world’s largest technology event, in Lisbon this November. If you enjoyed E.T, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, you want to meet the producer and hear the eight-time Academy Award®nominee, the first woman to have received the Academy’s Thalberg Award, and the President of Lucasfilm. Kathleen Kennedy will be in conversation with Rob Bredow, Executive Director and Head of Industrial Light & Magic, the American motion picture visual effects company founded in May 1975 by George Lucas. Bredow is also a member of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The pair will address 70,000 attendees at Web Summit on the event’s Centre Stage, discussing the relationship of technology and storytelling, developments in film, Kennedy’s illustrious career; and what role Industrial Light & Magic, lead by Bredow, has played in pioneering technology to deliver one of the world’s most successful franchises, Star Wars, from 1975 to the hugely anticipated ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’, due for release this December.

In 2012, George Lucas handed over Lucasfilm to Kennedy to continue building the new era of Star Wars films, Star Wars trilogy: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker, and Rogue One and Solo. Kennedy also co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall, the production company behind classics like ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Men in Black’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. Her movies have made over $11bn in box offices worldwide, and include three of the highest-box office grossing films in motion picture history.

“When Vanity Fair describes you as the most powerful woman in Hollywood they do so with very good reason. In the case of Kennedy, her career speaks for itself.” – said Paddy Cosgrave, CEO and co-founder of Web Summit. “Rob Bredow is pioneering how stories are told through film and technology. We’re delighted to have these two forces that have worked alongside George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to Web Summit this year”. – Cosgrave continues.

About Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when Lucas began production of Star Wars.

About Web Summit

In the words of Inc. Magazine “Web Summit is the largest technology conference in the world”. Forbes says Web Summit is “the best tech conference on the planet”, Bloomberg calls it “Davos for geeks”, Politico “the Olympics of tech”, and the Guardian “Glastonbury for geeks”.

Whatever Web Summit is, it wouldn’t be possible without an incredible team of nearly 200 employees based in Dublin, Lisbon, Toronto and Hong Kong; including world class engineers, data scientists, designers, producers, marketers, salespeople and more. They’ve disrupted an old industry by building incredible software and designing mind-blowing events – revolutionising how people and ideas come together to change the world.

Now is the time to join one of the world’s largest gatherings of entrepreneurs, investors, multinationals and thought leaders

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Dr Marina Nani
Dr Marina Nani

Founder

Dr Nani is the Founder of Sovereign Magazine. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Sovereign's sister publication, Rich Woman Magazine. Passionately advocating for Social Edification, Dr Marina Nani is coining a new industry, MAKE THE NEWS ( MTN) with the aim to diagnose and close the achievement gap globally. Founder of RICH WOMAN SOCIETY™ Marina believes that there is a genius ( Stardust) in each individual, regardless past and present circumstances; "not recognising the talent in each individual, leaves our society at loss. Sharing the good news makes a significant difference on your perception about yourself, your industry and your community."

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