Oscar-worthy special effects: from Verona to Rome, there’s a school that leads to Hollywood

Among the Side Academy faculty is Sarah Arduini, key artist of today’s box office record-breaking “The Lion King.” Also at the forefront of computer graphics are Turin, Abruzzo and Sicily by Thomas Bendinelli

A growing industry

Cinema, advertising, gaming but also automotive and several other production sectors. If until a few years ago those who wanted to train in computer graphics had to go abroad, today in Italy there are several centers where to train for all the professionals in the world of animation and special effects. From Rome to Turin via Milan and Verona where, at the Side Academy, teachers include Sarah Arduini, key artist of The Lion King today’s box office record.

Graphics of the future in Verona

Special graphic effects and 3D graphics of the future are born in Verona, at the Side Academy. Starting next October, in fact, the first three-year course specializing in Cgi, that area of graphic programming intended to create digital special effects, kicks off. For the uninitiated: these are the cartoons of U.S. colossals, from Disney to Marvel. The lecturers are specialists in the field, such as Sarah Arduini, who has worked in the most prestigious visual effects companies in London, winning with her team the Oscar for best VFX for the Disney film Jungle Book. The lecturer, moreover, is at the center of the film news these days: in fact, she served as “key artist” for the Moving Picture Company, which is responsible for the special effects of The Lion King, already a box-office record.