Hybride Technologies, ILM Form Strategic Alliance

Hybride strengthens its position on the visual effects market by announcing its partnership with visual effects giant Industrial Light & Magic.

PIEDMONT, QC -- Hybride Technologies, a division of Ubisoft, has announced the signing of a strategic alliance with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading visual effects facility in the world, serving the motion picture, commercial production and attraction industries. ILM has created visual effects for over 300 feature films, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as other blockbuster franchises such as Transformers, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jurassic Park, Avengers and Iron Man.

The relationship between Hybride and ILM began in 2013 while working on Pacific Rim. Since then, in conjunction with ILM, Hybride has contributed visual effects on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Unbroken, Tomorrowland and Jurassic World. More recently, the studio was entrusted by ILM to craft seamless visual effects for several sequences for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects and won the British Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

“Over these few years, we’ve developed a great connection with the team at ILM and it’s exactly for that reason that they’ve decided to entrust Hybride as their partner in Quebec,” said Pierre Raymond, President and Head of Operations at Hybride. “This alliance is a huge vote of confidence that will allow us to consolidate our position in the VFX industry and inevitably strengthen our recruitment capacity. Hybride is extremely proud to partner up with the visual effects giant which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year”.

Founded in 1991, Hybride was the first digital visual effects company in Quebec. Since then, it has produced high-end feature film visual effects for several mega-productions and currently employs over 100 team members in its studio located in Piedmont, Quebec. In order to increase its production capacity to service the new alliance with ILM, Hybride has expanded its operations to Montreal with the opening of a new creative space located in the same building as Ubisoft on St-Laurent Street.

"In recent years, Montreal has become an international visual effects hub with a world-class talent base," continued Raymond. "Having offices in Montreal instantly gives us access to additional resources. For Hybride, this represents an increased capacity to take on additional workloads all the while maintaining the level of quality for which Hybride is recognized.”

“In our search to collaborate with the industry’s best talent, Hybride has consistently risen to the top, proving time and again their ability to execute visual effects work for us at the highest level,” noted Gretchen Libby, ILM Executive in Charge, Global Studio. “ILM places a high value on innovation, creativity and technological expertise, as does Hybride. Today’s announcement is the result of this shared vision.’’

“It is the talent and ingenuity of our artists that have made Hybride into one of the most respected Canadian companies in Hollywood. The alliance with ILM will strengthen the relationship between both studios and will allow Hybride to continue its growth while also guaranteeing the studio’s participation on upcoming Hollywood blockbusters,” concluded Raymond.

Source: Hybride Technologies