The Golden Panda Awards is co-organized by Sichuan TV festival, Cartoon Commission of China TV Artists Association and SIGGRAPH (Beijing) chapter, and is held during Sichuan TV festival, the biggest and most important state-level TV festival in China. For 2005, Sichuan TV festival set up its first international animation film award, the "Golden Panda" award, which is selecting works from all over around the world.

Representatives from local and overseas broadcasters (networks), TV & Internet program producers, distributors, agencies, film production companies, advertising companies, etc will be gathered at this event, with opportunities to expand their business. TV programs scheduled to be released and distributed in 2005-2006 will be presented and traded at this market.

For more details, visit www.sctvf-programmarket.com.cn.

Organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) is Asia's leading international film and television market. Running in conjunction with the Entertainment Expo, from March 20-27, FILMART, now in its ninth year, provides a business-to-business platform where movie and television professionals, producers and distributors from around the world show products, network and negotiate deals. FILMART will take place at the Convention and Exhibition Centre. For more information, visit www.hkfilmart.com/hkfilmart.

The annual CASBAA Convention is Asia's premiere broadcasting event. Bringing together broadcast execs and technology specialists from across Asia, it is the only convention that gives attendees first hand depth case studies and analysis from the people and industries who matter in the are of broadcasting, both regionally and globally. The event will take place across a four day program, featuring high powered debates including a forum dedicated to the opportunities and challenges in China and India, an exclusive technology demo area showcasing the best up and coming technologies and dedicated networking events each night including the CASBAA TV Advertising Awards. For more information, visit www.casbaaconvention.com.

NATURE’S TOOLBOX : call for entries

ART WORKS FOR CHANGE INVITES VIDEO ARTISTS TO SUBMIT SHORT VIDEO ARTWORK
FOR CONSIDERATION FOR EXHIBITION IN CHINA AND JAPAN, 2010

Art Works for Change (www.artworksforchange.org), in cooperation with the United Nations Environ-
ment Programme is pleased to announce a call for entries for “Nature’s Toolbox,” an art installation to
be exhibited at the United Nations Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, from July 4-31, 2010. In addition, the
work may be shown in Nagoya, Japan, as part of the United Nations COP10 meeting on biodiversity in
October 2010.

We will be creating a multi-screen digital media installation addressing the theme of urban biomimicry
and biodiversity, incorporating state-of-the-art technologies.


WHAT IS BIOMIMICRY?

Biomimicry (from “bios,” meaning life, and “mimesis,” meaning
to imitate) is a new discipline that studies nature’s best ideas and
imitates these designs and processes to solve human design prob-
lems. Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example.
Think of it as “innovation inspired by nature.”

The core idea is that nature, imaginative by necessity, has already
solved many of the problems humans are grappling with. Animals,
plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. They have
found what works, what is appropriate, and most important, what
lasts here on Earth. This is the real significance of biomimicry:
Over the past 3.8 billion years, nature’s designs provide the secret
to survival for humans and other species.

http://biomimicryinstitute.org/about-us/what-is-biomimicry.html


VIDEO CRITERIA
1. Up to 3 minutes in duration.
2. Visually compelling video artwork
3. Tell a simple story about an urban creature (a plant, animal, microbe, fungus, insect) and show
 how it teaches us lessons for solving humans’ pressing problems — environmental, social, food,
 shelter, water, etc. Include an urban context.
4. The story can be reality-based, visionary or science fiction
5. We want to stress the importance of what we lose if these “critters” disappear
6. Animation and entertainment are encouraged
7. We discourage the usage of words or language. Music or abstract sound is acceptable.

For guidance, visit the website of the Biomimicry Institute (http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/) or their
Ask Nature database (http://www.AskNature.org/), which provides hundreds of examples of how nature
inspires design solutions.

For more information on Art Works for Change and its programs, visit www.artworksforchange.org

The Montezuma International Film Festival is a new event celebrating every genre of international cinema during a five day span of free film screenings, lectures, art presentations, live music, street parties, beach parties, after-parties and explorations of the amazing landscapes of Montezuma, Costa Rica. For more information, visit www.montezumafilmfestival.com/.

Zagreb: 17th World Festival of Animated Films is an ASIFA sanctioned competitive festival. The festival was formed in 1969 to encouraging creativity, which eschews pre-set patterns and ideas/notions/conceptions, and finds new ways of exploring the possibilities of film animation. Awards with cash prizes will be given as follows: grand prize, best first production, best student film, plus five special prizes and three special distinctions. For more information, visit www.animafest.hr.

Zagreb is perhaps the hidden gem that has survived through some terribly tough times and blows. Borivoj "Bordo" Dovnikovic supplies us with a history and look at Zagreb today. Click here!

Zlin Festival is one of the oldest festivals dedicated to films for children and youth. Films compete in six sections - film for children, for youth, animated film, European debuts, student films and films from Visegrad countries. The project is supported by the Czech Parliament and Ministry of Culture, the EU Media Programme and the International Visegrad Fund. Festival is held under the auspices the Czech UNESCO Commission and the Czech UNICEF Commission. For more information, visit www.zlinfest.cz.

Anifest 2005 is a celebration of animation in all forms. The festival accepts feature-length films, shorts, TV films, TV serials, video clips, advertisements, introductory spots and student films. Festival prizes will be awarded by two international professional juries. For more information, contact the festival at Corona s.r.o. - AniFest 2004, Jindricha Plachty 28, 150 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic; tel: + 420 257 324 507; fax: + 420 257 324 508; e-mail: info@anifest.cz; or Web: www.anifest.cz.

AniFest 2007 returns for its 6th edition, celebrating the work of international animation. The festival includes seven film categories: feature-length film, short film, TV film and serial, videoclip, advertisement, introductory spot, student film and film made by children. For more information, visit www.anifest.cz.

The International Festival of Animated Films AniFest has announced the format for the competition of the festival's 7th edition, which will be held May 7-13, 2008 in Trebon, Southern Bohemia. Those who participated in the festival in recent years will notice some minor changes in both the structure and the names of the competition categories. Also new to the festival is a non-competition presentation of Czech, Slovak and Austrian films with active participation by the authors. This will take place under the title "CAS Presentation" as part of ProfiForum. AniFest, the only competition festival in the Czech Republic dedicated exclusively to animated film, has become synonymous with a nearly week-long animation marathon that presents the best of Czech and international animation. At this year's festival, you will be able to see both hot new films and some unique archival animation. Aside from the films, the professional audience and the professional public will surely be interested in the content of the festival's ProfiForum program. This year's edition brings with it a new feature that will become an annual tradition, the "CAS Presentation" -- a comprehensive presentation of Czech, Slovak and Austrian animated production from the past two years. All writers, producers and distributors of animated film are cordially invited to participate. Both the presentation and the subsequent discussion will be moderated by professionals from the ranks of prominent film theorists and filmmakers, and participation in the program is not subject to selection by any committee. Other programs within ProfiForum that are currently under preparation include: AniDesign (an educational program focusing on computer animation, connected with workshops, presentations and seminars); Meeting the Visegrad Countries (screenings and workshops by young writers from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic); Produced by... (a presentation by prominent animation studios and an opportunity to meet their writers and see their works); and an international competition of flipbooks created by children (a flipbook is a series of cartoons drawn in a notebook, which, as you flip through the pages, appears to move). More information is available at www.anifest.cz.