The worldwide Internet audience has decided in a public voting about the winners of the Bitfilm Awards. More than 750 films from 51 countries have applied for the prizes in seven categories.

The winners are:

T-Com 3D Space Award
VERSUS by François Caffiaux, Romain Noel and Thomas Salas (France)

Adobe FX Mix Award
TRAVEL DIARY by Keng-Ming Liu (Taiwan/U.S.)

MTV Flash Award
BLOW by Hermes Mangialardo (Italy)

Hamburg Machinima Award

Joe Strike takes the pitch, looking at the production of IDT Ent.’s first theatrical animated feature, Everyone’s Hero.

Steve Sullivan, director of R&D at Industrial Light & Magic, tells Barbara Robertson about the new interactive previs system ILM is developing.

Edinburgh-based Strange Co. have released the first part of BLOODSPELL, a computer-animated feature film. Using computer games technology and machinima, a new way of making animated films, the studio was able to complete the film in under three years, with a mostly volunteer staff and a budget of less than 5,000 pounds.

Alain Bielik rides along with the visual effects artists on The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift for a trip to a virtual Japan.

The Sex in Video Games Conference: Exploring the Business of Digital Erotic Entertainment will be held at the Lodge at Union Square, Kensington Park Hotel in San Francisco, California. The conference is the first of its type and will be an annual event. This unique conference will focus on the design, development, and technology of sex in video games from a national as well as international perspective. In addition, this conference will also have a strong focus on business matchmaking and networking. During the conference's two-day run, it will feature numerous lectures and keynotes, a machinima art show (erotic art and movies derived from video games) as well as panel discussions with leaders in video game and adult video game development. Sheri Graner Ray will give the keynote. Graner Ray is an accomplished game designer with 16 years experience in the videogame industry and is the author of GENDER INCLUSIVE GAME DESIGN: EXPANDING THE MARKET. For more information, visit www.sexinvideogames.com.

Animation studio ILL Clan and 3D objects provider TurboSquid have partnered up to present TRASH TALK, which employs the use of machinima in the production of the latest talk show host to grace computer and iPod screens. This animated 3D game character wannabe named ILL Will, a cross between Jay Leno and Duke Nukem, reports on the latest gaming news and talks trash each week on the Internet with his sidekick, a missile named Mal Content.

fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content from May 3-6, 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany, announces its prizes. With more than 5,000 international visitors – 40% more than last year – fmx/06 included 350 speakers from all over the world presented more than 300 lectures, demos, workshops and screenings about creation, production and distribution in all forms of digital content.

fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, will take place May 3-6, 2006, in Stuttgart, Germany.

7th International Bitfilm Festival for Digital Film
Hamburg, Germany
November 2006
Deadline: June 1, 2006