REAL STEEL will begin filming in Michigan this June, according to the DETROIT FREE PRESS.

ASIFA-Hollywood is proud to announce the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor, director, producer and one of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, William Shatner, will host the 37th Annual Annie Awards on Saturday, February 6, 2010, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA.

Change always accompanies the new year. And The Anime Beat is no different. That's right folks, I'm continuously expanding this little dog and pony show!

The International Animation Film Festival will take place in Annecy (Haute-Savoie, France) from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 June 2010.

On a parallel, the Mifa will be held from Wednesday 9 to Friday 11 June 2010.

As for the Creative Focus and the conferences, they will be held from Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 June 2010.

To celebrate its 50th anniversary the Festival will be reserving you an ­exceptional programme of retrospectives, exhibitions, great names from the industry, a special screening theatre... why not come along and ­discover it all for yourselves! It is likewise the perfect occasion to take a look behind the scenes of films and their production secrets.

The Festival: the world’s top reference for animation films

The world’s largest event entirely focused on animation, the Festival (founded in 1960) is a fun and friendly way to discover the latest in animation masterpieces, meet major players and young talents, check out new trends, and find ideal business partners, all in one place.

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The International Animation Film Market (Mifa)

The Mifa is held side by side with the Festival. With more than 3,000m² of exhibition space, it is the animated film industry’s foremost showcase in terms of co-producing, purchasing, selling, financing and distributing animation content for all broadcasting platforms.

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The Creative Focus

The Creative Focus is an incubator for projetcs and a privileged exchange forum for animation professionals and the talents of tomorrow.

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The Conferences

They help to better anticipate changes in the sector, from artistic, business and technological points of view. For 4 days running, the Annecy conferences serve as a forum for information, reflection and exchanges, furthering an understanding of challenges and deliberating on suitable practices.

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The Festival in a few figures

6,700 accredited professionals from 66 different countries
1,647 companies enrolled
350 exhibitors
230 international buyers
300 journalists
239 films in the official selection
525 films screened
9 theaters for 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. viewing
1 giant outdoor screen,
120,000 tickets sold throughout the week.

For AVATAR, PLF (Pixel Liberation Front) was charged with designing and animating the monitors and HUDs for the fleet of military aircraft, a handful of shots in the shack set and some set-extension composites. In all, they delivered more than 220 shots.

I Castelli Animati takes place about an hours drive from Rome, in the large and bustling ancient Roman town of Genzano on Lake Nemi. Narrow cobbled streets, ancient stucco buildings with red tile roofs, black iron gates, shuttered windows...this area has been a busy center since before the birth of Jesus.

Principal photography began today on Let Me In, writer/director Matt Reeves’ adaptation of Let the Right One In, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Tony Parker, a professional basketball player with the San Antonio Spurs, has signed on to a new French cartoon production called BASKETBALL ADVENTURES, Variety reports.

More sneak preview footage from James Cameron's 3-D epic, AVATAR, will screen at the 2009 Tokyo Film Festival.

Ted Thomas discusses the making of his new documentary, Walt & El Grupo, revealing a hidden chapter in the fabled life of Walt Disney.