The fourth BlizzCon gaming convention will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment's WORLD OF WARCRAFT, STARCRAFT and DIABLO universes. In response to the festival's increasing popularity, this year's event has been expanded from three convention halls to four. BlizzCon will offer a wide variety of activities throughout the two-day event. In addition to serving as a gathering place for Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, attendees will be able to enjoy: -- Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games -- Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers -- Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents -- Community contests with great prizes -- Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment's game universes -- A silent auction Further details, including ticket availability and pricing, will be announced on the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, as the event draws closer. To keep pace with the continued growth of WORLD OF WARCRAFT as well as development on other Blizzard Entertainment games, the company is currently hiring for numerous open positions. More information on available career opportunities can be found at www.blizzard.com/jobs.

**FREE EVENT** COMICS LUMINARIES JOE QUESADA, CHIP KIDD, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, DANNY FINGEROTH, HEIDI MacDONALD TO SPEAK AT NEW YORK’S BRYANT PARK, WEDS AUG 19, 12:30 PM.

As part of the Bryant Park Word-for-Word author series, key figures from comics will speak at “COMICS: FROM EVERY ANGLE."

Join moderator DANNY FINGEROTH as he and JOE QUESADA, CHIP KIDD, DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, and HEIDI MacDONALD discuss how comics have become an important part of high and low culture.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009
12:30pm – 1:45pm

PANELISTS:
JOE QUESADA, Editor-in-Chief, Marvel Comics

CHIP KIDD, Author and designer: BAT-MANGA!: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN

DAVID MAZZUCCHELLI, Comics writer and artist: BATMAN: YEAR ONE; CITY OF GLASS; ASTERIOS POLYP

HEIDI MacDONALD, Co-editor, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY COMICS WEEK; Blogger: THE BEAT, the News Blog of Comics Culture; editor: THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY

MODERATOR:
DANNY FINGEROTH Longtime Marvel writer and editor. Author of SUPERMAN ON THE COUCH (Continuum) and THE ROUGH GUIDE TO GRAPHIC NOVELS (Penguin).

LOCATION:
BRYANT PARK READING ROOM is on the 42nd Street side of the park—under the trees—between the back of the New York Public Library and 6th Ave. Look for the burgundy and white umbrellas.

RAIN VENUE:
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

Influential animator and visual effects artist Adam Beckett will be celebrated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a special program entitled "Infinite Animation: The Work of Adam Beckett," on Monday, August 17, at 8 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The evening will include a screening of "Life in the Atom," a short film that Beckett left unfinished when he died at the age of 29. Presented by the Academy's Science and Technology Council and hosted by visual effects artist Richard Winn Taylor and Beckett biographer Pamela Turner, the program also will feature screenings of six more of Beckett's films and an onstage panel discussion with his colleagues and friends. Scheduled guests include Oscar-winning visual effects artists David Berry and Richard Edlund, animator Chris Cassady, and filmmakers Beth Block, Roberta Friedman and Pat O'Neill. The films to be screened are "Dear Janice" (1972), "Heavy-Light" (1973), "Evolution of the Red Star" (1973), "Flesh Flows" (1974), "Sausage City" (1974) and "Kitsch in Synch" (1975), all of which have been recently restored by the Academy Film Archive and the iotaCenter. Beckett (1950-1979) was well known for his unique use of the optical printer in conjunction with the animation stand. His technical achievements can be seen in his highly experimental art films as well as such commercial films as "Star Wars" (1977), for which he was recruited to head the rotoscope and animation department, and the horror film "Piranha" (1978), on which he worked as an animator. Beckett completed the films to be screened while he was still a student in Jules Engel's then-newly-formed experimental animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. His work, which has been described as "a masterful visual universe," had a great impact on his peers and won awards at numerous film festivals. In 1974, Beckett started his own studio, Infinite Animation, which he continued to run while simultaneously pursuing his MFA and teaching at CalArts. Tragically, he died in a fire in 1979. This program is presented in conjunction with the iotaCenter. Tickets to "Infinite Animation: The Work of Adam Beckett" are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets are available for purchase by mail, at the Academy box office (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or online at www.oscars.org. Doors open one hour prior to the event. All seating is unreserved. The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

GDC will bring to Europe its renowned conference content quality and its access to the industry leaders driving innovation in games across the globe, in an effort to engender learning, networking and inspiration. Presenting GDC Europe at gamescom, the leading European consumer and industry show, will allow the conference to address the development community at a central location in the heart of Europe which will command the critical mass of the European games sector. The new arrangement will also enjoy the advantage of a local leadership that truly understands the needs of its market as well as the ability to navigate the region and offer a stage to present the largest professionals-only event in Europe.

More information on GDC Europe will be unveiled soon. In the meantime, please refer to http://www.gdceurope.com.

The largest annual international animation festival held in India. Competitive categories for animation shorts. 1. Student Films 2. Independent professional films 3. Commissioned films 4. Films made by teachers/trainers.

Pre-selection jury of professional animators select films for screening and voting by the audience at a live session during the festival. No entry fee. DVD format only, duration in all categories should be under 10 mins.

Lecture sessions, interactive demonstrations, behind the scenes, technology updates feature at the festival. Sessions include storytelling, acting, pre-production, special effects, open source solutions, voice casting and much more. Complete details are available at the TASI website.

This is a non-commercial event. No soliciting, marketing or publicity is allowed at the festival. This event is driven by a passion for exchange of knowledge.

The second annual Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles (DFFLA), the only dedicated film festival in the historic core of the Entertainment Capital of the World, will be held August, 12-22, 2009. The festival doubles in size to 10 days from last year's inaugural event with a series of film screenings of Hollywood, independent and classic films, lectures, panel discussions, exhibits, and parties and receptions, all celebrating downtown L.A.'s renaissance. Filmmakers may submit films for screening consideration beginning today and until the final deadline of July 15. Feature narrative and documentary films, as well as short films are eligible for consideration. Additional information about submissions can be found on the festival's website: www.dffla.com. The 2009 Downtown Film Festival is being presented by the AT&T Center, arts>Brookfield Properties and the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live!, with additional sponsors to be announced in the coming weeks. The festival will be headquartered at LBA Realty's AT&T Center (formerly, the Transamerica Center) in downtown L.A.'s exciting South Park district. In addition to providing the festival's main screening venue, (a newly renovated 500-seat theater with state-of-the-art video projection equipment), the AT&T Center will be the location of the festival's 5,000-square-foot Cinema Lounge, located on the southwest corner of the AT&T Center at Olive and 12th St. The Cinema Lounge at the AT&T Center will be a beehive of activity during the festival that will include nightly parties and receptions, panel discussions and art exhibitions as well housing the festival box office. The GRAMMY Museum, located at L.A. Live!, will partner with the festival to present a series of music documentary films and live musical performances at The Museum. Roger M. Mayer will serve once again as the festival's programming director. In addition to the aforementioned programming, the festival will premiere a variety of Hollywood and independently produced feature films, documentaries and shorts. Special programming will include a film series spotlighting American-Latino filmmakers, a screening paying homage to downtown L.A.'s Silent Era history, and a showcase of movies by filmmakers living in Downtown L.A. For more information, visit the festival's website: www.dffla.com.

Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival (SICAF) is calling for entries. The fesvial is one of the acknowledged international animation festivals in Asia, accredited by ASIFA International. This year, SICAF is celebrating its 13th edition, with more than 1,500 expected entries from Asia, Europe, the Americas and beyond.

Official site: www.sicaf.org.

Anim!Arte is an international film festival of animation movies with focus in the student public. It has as objective to stimulate the culture, as soon as the professional artistic grown, of the Animation Business in Brazil. This has been instrumental in the production of animation movies, mainly among students.

During the event, competitive film festivals of movies made by students assemblage prizes for the winners. Although, there is a parallel film festival with professional moviemakers, Brazilian and international, that complete this group of selected movies.

In the competitive student’s animation film festival, there are three categories for brazilian students: basic education, highschool and college students. But, for international students, there is only one category in the competition. The best international animation done by a student (outside Brazil) wins the original Animarte´s Tropical Trophy.

The election is constructed by two juries’: the professional one, and the popular. The professional jury is composed by teachers, visual art professionals, drawers, animation moviemakers, filmmakers and journalists. Otherwise, the popular jury is composed by the spectators, who vote on the films in the festival.

Usually, the program also has lectures with professionals of the animation and of the audiovisual business, besides expositions and workshops of animation.

In its past editions, the festival already had received animations made by studen

The "real" physics behind some of Hollywood's most famous action, science fiction and superhero scenes will be revealed when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents "When Worlds Collide: The Science of Movies," on Thursday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Presented by the Academy's Science and Technology Council, the program will be hosted by author Adam Weiner (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! THE PHYSICS OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIES) and will feature film clips and in-depth conversation with Oscar-winning visual effects artists Robert Legato ("Titanic") and Scott Stokdyk ("Spider-Man 2"), Oscar-nominated visual effects artists Shane Mahan ("Iron Man") and Matt Sweeney ("Apollo 13"), and stunt coordinator and second unit director Dan Bradley ("The Bourne Ultimatum"). Physics concepts will be used to analyze scenes from several films, including "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Speed," "Apollo 13," "Titanic," "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Spider-Man 3" and "The Dark Knight." Weiner currently writes about science and popular culture for Popular Science magazine online and teaches physics at The Bishop's School, a private high school in La Jolla, California. Established in 2003 by the Academy's Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities and preserves the history of science and technology of motion pictures. Tickets to "When Worlds Collide: The Science of Movies" are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets are available for purchase by mail, at the Academy box office (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), or online at www.oscars.org. Doors open one hour prior to the event. All seating is unreserved. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

Anticipation, The 67th World Science Fiction Convention, has added Ralph Bakshi as Artist Guest of Honor. Bakshi's career spans five decades, during which he has created memorable and groundbreaking films including WIZARDS, FIRE AND ICE and the first film adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. In addition, he has worked on and directed a variety of television shows including ROCKET ROBIN HOOD, SPIDERMAN, THE MIGHTY HEROES and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE. The newest guest of honor joins those announced in September 2007: Neil Gaiman, Elisabeth Vonarburg, Tom Doherty, David Hartwell and Taral Wayne. Author Julie Czerneda will be Master of Ceremonies. The 67th World Science Fiction Convention, known as Anticipation, will take place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from Thursday, August 6 through Monday, August 10, 2009. More information about Anticipation, including current membership rates, is available at www.anticipationsf.ca.