Tuesday, September 5

The Silicon Pulp Animation Gallery will present Atomic Sushi, a major exhibition of artworks from Japanese animated films and TV series. The exhibition will include pre-production illustrations, storyboards, original hand-painted cels and backgrounds. A comprehensive catalogue covering the history, themes and artists will also be published to coincide with the exhibition. Also, the Dendy Cinemas are holding a "Japanime Festival" from Wednesday, September 6 - Sunday, September 10 as part of the Sydney Olympic Arts Festival. Silicon Pulp will exhibit original artworks from a selection of the films screened at the festival.

Created 15 years ago, the Hiroshima Festival celebrates peace through the art of animation. This year's event will feature special programs on the work of Tadahito Mochinaga; Turkish animation; a screening of LOTUS LATERN; and a retrospective of Feodor Khitruk. Seminars on the creation of animation will be led by world-renowned artists B

The Edinburgh Multimedia and Animation Festival (EMAF) is set to coincide with the International Arts Festival which sees over 300,000 visitors. The event includes the participation of artists, companies, studios and universities worldwide. EMAF will feature conferences and workshops about the many technical advances in the animation and multimedia industry. Recruiters will be on hand for students and animators to meet. The festival is being sponsored by Digital Design Research Centre.

The Chicago Underground Film Festival is designed to showcase the defiantly independent filmmaker. The festival's mission is to promote films and videos that dissent radically in form, technique or content from the "indie" mainstream presenting works that challenge and transcend commercial expectations. The festival will award cash prizes to films and videos selected by the jury as best in these categories: Feature, Short, Documentary, Animation, Experimental, Audience Choice and "made in Chicago." The Chicago Underground Film Fund has been established to provide completion funds for films that are in keeping with the festival's defiantly independent and deliberately scandalous spirit. Recipients are awarded grants of US$500-$2,000 in cash and services. The festival screening committee will select the films and videos. Notification of entries making the festival will be before July 1, 2000. Screening dates and times will be announced by July 15.

The Crested Butte Reel Festival is a competitive short film festival with an animation, experimental and student category. The shorts must be under 40 minutes. There are cash awards, unusual "trophies" and industry exposure. The festival also presents filmmakers' panels and a director's workshop. Entry fees: regular entries, $30; student entries $20.

The renowned layout, background artist and color designer Maurice Noble will be holding a design seminar. Starting at the Disney Studios in 1931, he worked on SILLY SYMPHONIES, THE OLD MILL, SNOW WHITE, BAMBI, FANTASIA and DUMBO. His work at Warner Bros. Studios is legendary, designing the backgrounds for classic cartoons such as "What's Opera Doc" and "Duck Amuck" (both in the National Archives!), "Duck Dodgers," the ROAD RUNNER cartoons, and contributing to the feature film, THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET. Continuing his work with Chuck Jones at MGM, he also worked on HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, HORTON HEARS A WHO, THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH and the Academy Award-winning short, THE DOT AND THE LINE, which he designed and co-directed. The price for the class is US$350.

Read Karl Cohen's Animation World Magazine interview with Maurice Noble and find out why he's the "Old Rebel."

The Hollywood Film Festival is currently accepting entries for its 4th annual festival.
Both short and long-form animated films are being accepted for the animation
category. Foreign language films must have subtitles. Entry fee for animation shorts:
$35 per film.

Rushes Post-production facility is hosting the second Rushes Soho Shorts Festival to showcase short film art. The festival screens 53 films in free screenings held in cafes, bars and cinemas across Soho. On August 3, the festival will hand out their awards. The five categories in this year's festival are: The Switch2.net Short Film Award for the best short film submitted by a professional filmmaker; The Sony ProMedia Newcomer Award; The Avid Softimage Titles & Idents Award; The Wam!Net Animated Short Award; and The Innovation TK Music Video Award. This year's list of judges include: Laurence Kaye (head of film, TV & multimedia, Universal Music Publishing Group), Eva Tarr Kirkhope (Metro Cinemas Ltd.), David Sin (director ICA Projects), Ken Ingles (director Film House, Edinburgh), Robert Campbell (Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R), Mike Cannaris (Mcasso Music), Dave Knight (Promo News), Trevor Beattie (TBWA), Adam Perry (Channel 5 Television), Gub Neal (head of Drama Channel 4 Television), Roger Shannon (BFI), Roger White (Music for Films), Patrick Uden (Uden Associates), John Hegarty (Bartle Bogle Hegarty), Ian Williamson & Jonathan Burley (HHCL), Clare Wilford and Bob Dorman (CGI Magazine). New to the festival this year will be a short filmmaking seminar held in conjunction with the New Producers Alliance on August 1. On-line screenings of selected films will air on Switch2.net.

Friday, July 28