The 11th edition of Milano Film Festival will be held next September in Milan, at the Piccolo Teatro and Castello Sforzesco. The event features two International Competitions open to feature and short films of any genre, language, running time and format, provided that they have been produced after Jan. 1, 2005.

The festival stands out for its continuous and careful attention to young and talented filmmakers from all over the world that are able to experiment with genres, languages, techniques and formats and offer therefore an always wider view

AutoWeek Design Forum has leading design professionals share creative insights and industry trends with hundreds of automotive and non-automotive professionals and students. In a keynote address, John Lasseter will offer a behind-the-scenes look at THE INCREDIBLES and a sneak peek at Pixar's eagerly-anticipated CARS, scheduled for release in June 2006. The event takes place at the Riverview Ballroom, Cobo Conference/Exhibition Center and runs from 8:00 am - 8:30 pm. For more information, visit www.autoweek.com/designforum.

The 12th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books event celebrates and animates the written word through panel discussions, poetry readings, cooking demonstrations, book signings and music. The festival affords book lovers the chance to meet bestselling authors, publishers and other literary figures. The hundreds of exhibitor booths, stage events and popular children's characters keep it entertaining for all ages. Admission is free, but tickets are required to attend author-panel discussions and lectures because of limited seating. Free tickets will be available at all Ticketmaster locations in Southern California. The two-day takes place April 28, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and April 29, from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm, on UCLA's campus. General event information about the festival is available at www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks/ or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK.

The Slamdance Screenplay Competition accept screenplays in every genre, both feature and short length, on any topic from every country around the world. The grand prize is $7,000 and best short prize is $500. The Duke City Shootout Special Prize gives the winner a production package worth $50,000 for a short screenplay under 15 pages.

Flashforward presents the 12th Flash Film Festival, an online competition and live awards ceremony as part of the Flashforward Conference. The selected finalists come from Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, the U.K. and the United States. The Festival jury of 30 Flash artists and experts will choose the winners in each of the Festival's 15 categories, including Application, Art, Cartoon, Commerce, Educational, Experimental, Game, Motion Graphics, Navigation, Original Sound, Story, Technical Merit, 3D, Typography and Video. Voting for the People's Choice Award is open to the Internet public through June 28 on the Flashforward site at http://www.flashforwardconference.com/peopleschoiceform.asp. The results of this 16th award will also be announced July 8, the evening of the Flash Film Festival in New York City. For more information, visit http://www.flashforwardconference.com/, e-mail registration@flashforwardconference.com or call (877) 4-FLASH-4 (1-877-435-2744) in the U.S. and Canada or (805) 640-6679 outside the U.S. and Canada.

The 12th edition of Milano Film Festival collects and selects short and feature films from all over the world and is open to films of any genre, running time, language and format, provided that they have been produced after Jan. 1, 2006.

The call for entries for the State (T)error season is open to works of any language, format and length, produced even before Jan. 1, 2006. The submission deadline is May 31, 2007. Stories depicting crimes, injustice and massacres, committed under the banner of democracy, freedom, security or religion. Terrorism as a strategy of so-called democratic governments. A deliberate, organized, thoroughly planned terrorism consisting in warfare actions, ban on dissent and slanted news coverage. These are the main characteristics of this out-of-competition season, that the festival presents in 2007 for the third year in a row.

The film project will be further enhanced, as a result of a year of commitment in the search for and distribution of films from all over the world. Special consideration will be paid to filmmakers depicting unknown stories and cultures, to independent productions that are usually ignored by commercial circuits. In particular, the aim is to focus on those countries that manage to produce films despite their economic, political and social difficulties. Furthermore, larger participation of feature films will be encouraged.

For more information, visit www.milanofilmfestival.it.

Flashforward and the Flash Film Festival are the world's first and largest gathering of Flash users. The event has more than 70 confirmed speakers, which include digital and design visionaries Matthew Carter, legendary type designer; Stefan Sagmeister, renown graphic designer; Laurence Lessig, digital rights attorney; and Ze Frank, Website humorist and developer. Flashforward, created by lynda.com and United Digital Artists, and sponsored by Macromedia, the creator of the Flash application, is the world's premier Flash event, and has been attended by more than 20,000 Flash developers and designers. The San Francisco conference, the 13th Flash event in five years, features three jam-packed days of workshops, seminars, technology showcases, exhibitions, networking receptions and the Flash Film Festival, honoring the best Flash creations in 15 categories including animation, video, 3D, original sound and art. For more information, visit www.flashforwardconference.com.

The 14th Annual Slamdance Film Festival, scheduled to take place, January 17 - 25, 2008, in Park City, Utah, officially launched its Call for Entries today. "We are currently accepting short and feature film submissions in all genres for the 2008 edition of the festival. Submission forms, rules and regulations are available on the Slamdance web site - www.Slamdance.com. The early submission deadline is August 27, 2007, and includes a significant entry fee discount. The final submission deadline is Oct. 9.

The 2007 Festival received more than 3,500 submissions from all over the world, but only 20 features in the narrative and documentary feature categories combined screened in the main competition, which is strictly devoted to films without domestic theatrical distribution, from first-time feature directors, working with relatively low budgets. Slamdance has remained true to its founding mandate that it is a Festival "by filmmakers, for filmmakers," whereby the programming team is comprised of filmmakers, many of whom are Slamdance alumni.

Slamdance will screen about 100 films in total. All film selections will be posted on the 2007 Festival page during the second week of December. Presenting sponsors of the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival are Kodak and fox21. Additional sponsors will be announced as they are confirmed.

The Florida Motion Picture and Television Association (FMPTA) is hosting the Crystal Reel Awards (CRA). The Crystal Reel Awards have been compared to Florida

Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, one of the UK's leading showcases and meeting points for emerging talent, returns to Bristol's harbourside from 18-23 September 2012. Join the festival for six days packed with screenings, workshops, networking, special guests and gala events, with a dazzling programme spanning film, visual art, animation, performance and music.

The full programme is now available online where you can also find delegate passes and tickets on sale. www.encounters-festival.org.uk