Annual Conference of Digital Media/Animation for educators from all higher education institutes and professional training organizations, publishers and other related companies in China to discuss topics of education and training programs, textbooks, industry trends, police, theory and technology of the field.

Organizers:
Beijing Normal University Institute of Digital Media
Beijing University Department Digital Arts
Tsinghua University SJC New Media Center
Beijing Film Academy School of Animation
Beijing Broadcast Institute School of Animation
Zhejiang University National Key Lab of CG
ACM SIGGRAPH Beijing Chapter

AnimationHQ is excited to welcome accomplished voice actor, David Kaye. David has a long list of credits and is well known for such characters like Sesshomaru from INU YASHA, Professor Xavier in X-MEN: EVOLUTION, Spectral in REBOOT, Treize Khushrenada in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING, and of course Megatron in TRANSFORMERS: ARMADA, BEAST WARS, and BEAST MACHINES. That is just to name a few of the vast roles he has done. The chat will take place on Saturday, December 13th at 6 pm EST/3 pm PST. You can go to http://animationhq.net/v2/features/events.htm for more information on him and the directions on how to get to the chat room located towards the bottom of the page. Don't miss it!

The Toronto Animated Image Society will be hosting its annual Holiday Party. Everyone is invited to come and celebrate the season. Organizers are asking everyone to bring food and drink to share. TAIS Animators' Co-op is located at 37 Hanna Avenue, Suite 231, Toronto. Enter the building by door 5A, south side of building and walk up to the second floor. The party will run from 6:00 to 9:30 pm and admission is free. For more information, e-mail: Tais@bellnet.ca or visit http://www.awn.com/tais.

If you are a business development executive or deal with animation acquisitions we invite you to check this out!

The Film & TV Department - Embassy of France is bringing a collection of animation pilots and new programming in Los Angeles, December 11th, 2003 at the Goethe institut (5750 Wilshire Boulevard - Suite 100).
Find out what the top French animation companies have been producing and how to contact them and the creatives behind the shows.

The evening will start off with a screening at 7:00 pm. followed by a Q&A with Special Animation Guests from France. And then, a cocktail party following at 8:00 pm.

If this sounds like something you are interested in, please let us know as soon as possible by responding to sebastien.connan@diplomatie.fr with your complete contact information including mailing address and phone number.

Seats are limited and we are quickly assembling the guest list as the event is just around the corner. We hope to see you there!

Women in Animation is hosting an evening of Santa-Ria at WIA/LA's annual Christmas Party. The event offers a chance for schmoozing, networking and general catching-up, accompanied by an array of finger foods. A no-host bar will be available for libations and wassails. The event will take place at the Barsac Brasserie, 4212 Lankershim Blvd, beginning at 6:30 pm. Attendees must RSVP by December 5 by calling (310) 535-3838.

AnimationHQ is hosting a chat with talented and veteran animator, Heidi Guedel. She spent time at Disney, Don Bluth Productions and Warner Brothers. She has worked on many Feature Animation titles including The Secret of NIMH, The Fox and the Hound, An American Tail, and Quest for Camelot. In addition, she did character layout for Rough Draft Studios (Futurama), worked in multimedia at Vortex Media Arts, and worked on videogame animation for the classic 80's laserdisc games "Dragon's Lair" and "Space Ace". The chat will take place on Saturday, December 6th at 8 pm EST. You can go to http://animationhq.net/v2/features/events.htm for more information on him and the directions on how to get to the chat room located towards the bottom of the page. Don't miss it!

The International Festival of Cinema and Technology will showcase a wide variety of independent cinema including dramas, comedies, documentaries, features, experimental films and animation. As the International Festival of Cinema and Technology's goal is to screen a variety of films, which include new technologies, animated projects make up a large part of the line-up. The festival features more than 40 animated projects featuring a variety of new animations created using a variety of new software and incorporating new talents and rising stars in the animation industry. Animation segments at the festival include "The Character: Visionary Future," "The Inanimate- Animated!" "Animation's Focus on the Character," and "Focus on Time." The event will take place at the Remote Lounge Screening Room, 237 E. Bowery Street, starting at 6:00 pm. The final night of events will take place from 7:00 pm-11:00 pm at the Tribeca Grand "Grand Screen" located at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, Two Avenue of the Americas. Tickets are $10 for each evening. For more information, visit www.ifct.org or call (877) 277-2209.

On the occasion of Grant Munro's 80th birthday and the release of a new DVD, Cut-Up, The Films of Grant Munro, The Museum of Modern Art pays tribute to this seminal but under-recognized animator. Working from within the historic Animation Unit of the National Film Board of Canada from 1945 through the early 1970s, Munro directed, produced, shot, edited and even acted in some of the most significant hand-drawn and pixilated animation ever made. A frequent collaborator with Norman McLaren, Munro brought a wicked wit and sublime grace to the art. Grant Munro Rediscovered Retrospective program will feature two unreleased, recently re-edited films -- ON THE FARM (1951/2003) and SIX AND SEVEN-EIGHTHS (1959/2003) -- as well as George Dunning's THREE BLIND MICE (1945), Norman McLaren's NEIGHBORS (1952), Stanley Jackson's THE BALLOTT-O-MATIC (1953), Munro and McLaren's CANON (1964), Munro's TOYS (1966), Munro's BOO HOO (1975), and MCLAREN ON MCLAREN (1983). The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. For more info call: (212) 708-9847 or visit www.moma.org.

The JibJab Brothers will be holding a signing of their new children's book GRUMPY SANTA. The book will be available at any Barnes & Noble or Borders this Christmas. Gregg and Evan Spiridellis will be signing copies at the Toys R Us on 1514 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 at 4:00 pm. For more information, visit www.jibjab.com.

David Ehrlich (professor of animation history at Dartmouth) presents a fascinating look at Russian animation, focusing on the work of the great Fedor Khitruk: After a 1961 visit to the Zagreb Animation Studio, whose artists were tremendously influenced for example by UPA artist John Hubley, Fedor Khitruk enthusiastically returned to Moscow to direct work whose innovative graphics completly broke with classical Soyuzmultfilm technique. He pioneered a radical departure from Russian state-sanctioned Disneyesque kitch. David Ehrlich will feature a selection of Khitruk's greatest films (including "Story Of A Crime", "Man In A Frame", "The Island", as well as shorts by his proteges Yuri Norstein and Eduard Nazarov. (Total running time: approx. 75 min.)