“Animated Films from Germany”, a new touring exhibition and film show has opened its world tour in Israel. After a month at The Israel Cartoon Museum, Holon, the exhibition is about to move on to Ankara, Turkey, where it will open on May 26.

A Million Movies a Minute, an independent distributor specializing in short documentaries, has announced its newest release, ANIMATING REALITY.

Philips and ad agency DDB approached RSA Films to commission five films under the banner Parallel Lines. 45 RSA Directors submitted concepts surrounding a single script supplied by the agency. From those, five diverse concepts were chosen for production; the result is a testament to both directorial interpretation and social media promotion.

Author, animator, and 80's cartoon voice reenactor, The Definitive Tim Finn, stops by to discuss coffee-table books, animation based on colors, and 3D Chess. Joel and Alan then engage Tim in a very brief but colossal battle of capitalism in FFAF's newest radio game, "Two Minute Monopoly". All is then put classier when the beautiful, the insightful, and the ever effervescent Lorelei Pepi reveals her unorthodox recipe for Italian Wedding Soup, her thoughts on animation and art, and why FFAF's other newest radio game, "Brain Cloning", is a good excuse to beat up on Joel's face.

Honayn's Shoe, an animated tale about a lost nomad’s search in the desert, with his camel, for his lost shoe, was named Best Animation at this year’s African Movie Academy Awards.

Runaway, Cordell Barker’s tale about a driverless train filled with happy passengers careening towards an unknown fate, picked up the prize for Best Animated Short at the 2010 Genie Awards.

How hard will you work to get the Princess? Dan the Man goes as far as his pixels will carry him, destroying robots, even getting a day job. But is fantasy better than reality, what do you do with a rescued Princess?

This program features stop-motion, hand-drawn, rotoscope and computer-generated animation by some of the most innovative makers in the field. From experimental masters Martha Colburn, Lewis Klahr and Kerry Laitala to anti-auteurs Bruce Alcock, Jonas Odell and Kelly Sears, up-and-comers Rodrigo Blass and Chris Perry and the Academy Award–winning work of H5, this program is packed to the hilt with frame-by-frame goodness.

Voice on the Line
Supposedly the word “hello” was invented for the telephone. If only this was true, it might begin to describe this strange conspiratorial nugget. (Kelly Sears, USA, 8 min) In GGA competition.

Alma
Alma skips through snow-covered streets. A strange doll beckons from an antique toy shop Alma enters. (Rodrigo Blass, USA, 6 min) In GGA competition.

Logorama
This brilliant satire of our brand-washed consumer culture won this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. (H5, France, 16 min) In GGA competition.

Tussilago
This nonfiction interview proves that the only way to be a criminal is to be like Tussilago. Do it right in front of the people you are wronging like it’s all kosher. Balls! Oh, but don’t get caught. (Jonas Odell, Sweden, 14 min) In GGA competition.

Electric Literature
A short poem set to images in motion in that charmed and lugubrious, slightly scary way that is Martha Colburn’s signature. (Martha Colburn, USA, 2 min)

Incident at Tower 37
Forget about making a mountain out of a molehill. This short does just the opposite in water. (Chris Perry, USA, 11 min) In GGA competition.

Vive la Rose
This short film is so beautiful that you’ll almost forget to wonder how it was made. (Bruce Alcock, Canada, 6 min) In GGA competition.

Wednesday Morning TWO AM
One of Lewis Klahr’s series of couplets for which a classic song receives two distinct interpretations via his Lichtenstein-echoing animation. (Lewis Klahr, USA, 7 min) In GGA competition.

Afterimage
The latest installment in Kerry Laitala’s synaesthetic stereoscopic chromadepth 3-D series. Glasses provided at the door! (Kerry Laitala, USA, 13 min) In GGA competition.

—Sean Uyehara

Additional Showtimes are:

Sun., Apr 25 / 6:30 PM / Kabuki / 1881 Post St., San Francisco

Featuring an announced program packed with conferences, presentations, exhibitions and 6 days filled with screenings of the world’s best animation, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival celebrates its 50th Anniversary from June 7-12 in Annecy, France.

The 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (April 22–May 6) is proud to present the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award to Academy Award–nominated short filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt for his unique contributions to animation. Over a long career, Hertzfeldt has remained fiercely independent by sticking to short format and challenging the boundaries of his craft. The popularity of his work is unprecedented in the world of short animation and his films are frequently referenced in pop culture. Hertzfeldt will be presented with the award and participate in an onstage interview at Life, Death and Very Large Utensils, 7:30 pm, Friday, April 23 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. A collection of short films, past and present, including I am so proud of you, Intermission in the Third Dimension and a few surprise selections are set to follow.

Beginning next week, Cartoon Brew TV will be showing a film series celebrating the “Modern Art of Gene Deitch.”

Direct Before You Shoot:  Storyboarding for Film and Television
Live webinar with David Russell   -   April 24-25, 2010

Learn how to design powerful and dynamic film imagery that connects with its intended audiences, utilizing techniques painstakingly developed by cinematic masters. This two-day on-line Master Class is an expert analysis of visual planning and directing through the process of storyboarding.  It is designed for professionals and students in the areas of film and animation directing, storyboarding, pre-visualization and editing. It offers a practical set of techniques that can strengthen each filmmaker’s storytelling ability. 

The lecturer, David Russell, is an authority on the subject of visual storytelling.  In close collaboration with celebrated directors including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Tim Burton and Peter Weir, he has created key sequences for over 100 film and television productions, including Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, The Color Purple, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Thin Red Line, Moulin Rouge, Master and Commander, and the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

The Master Class is structured to include exercises, and offers a Certificate of Completion to the participants.  For more details about the event and the lecturer, you may visit our website

www.directbeforeyoushoot.com  

Contact us for special student and group discounts.  

webinardr@yahoo.com 

Every year fans and industry insiders alike wonder whether Comic-Con’s days in San Diego are numbered. VARIETY reports that San Diego has made a big move to keep the Con right where it is.

Multi award-winning studio Aardman Animations has scooped up a brace of awards at the eighth British Animation Awards held tonight at the BFI Southbank.

North America's largest animation event, the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is now accepting film submissions for the 2010 edition.

The Forum des images, in Paris, in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), will celebrate the work and artistic contribution of animation filmmaker Jacques Drouin on April 13 and 14.

The best of everything our industry has to offer, and then some, comes together every May at this powerhouse event in Stuttgart.

The best of everything our industry has to offer, and then some, comes together every May at this powerhouse event in Stuttgart.

The new conference chair walks us through SIGGRAPH 2010 in L.A.

The CalArts School of Film/Video presents Showcase 2010, a festival of year-end screenings of  student work.

A showing of selected films produced by students in CalArts groundbreaking Experimental Animation program, including computer-generated 2D and  3D animation as well as stop-motion and other techniques.

Screening is free and open to the public. For further information, please call the CalArts School of Film/Video at (661) 253-7825. 

Screening location:

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

Leonard H. Goldenson Theater

5220 Lankershim Boulevard

North Hollywood, CA  91601