The National Film Board of Canada is holding an open house of their new facilities. The event gives the public a chance to meet the filmmakers and staff. The NFB will feature screenings, studio tours and receptions on Monday from 2-6 pm and on Tuesday from 10 am - 5 pm. Screening facilities will be available for visitors to screen their own work as well.

Objectif Image Saint Gely presents the 15th annual Saint Gely Short Film Festival. The festival's categories are documentary, fictional-dramatic, animation and experimental. Past festival chairmen have been Jean Pierre Mocky in 1998 and Claude Pinoteau in 1999.

The Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival's goal is to highlight the work of talented burgeoning filmmakers. This year's event will feature a tribute to Canadian animation studio, International Rocketship. Three-days of the festival will be devoted to animation, including an intensive animation workshop. Over 130 features and shorts in narrative, animation, documentary and experimental will be screened at the 10-day festival.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has moved their awards to before the American Academy's Oscar ceremony. The British Academy offers a short animated film award. To be eligible the films must be completed between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000. Films to be completed after the October 31 deadline must contact Katie Hart at the Academy to set up a submission date.

The 4th Annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival is an event that embraces creative, strange and entertaining films. Feature films, short films, videos and documentaries are all accepted. All films must be independently produced with an Asian/Asian North American in a key creative role. The festival strongly encourages first-time and emerging directors to submit projects.

The 44th San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the Americas. Narrative features are eligible for participation only if the film has never been screened in the San Francisco Bay Area. A feature is over 60 minutes long and must have finished production within the past two years. First features by emerging filmmakers that do not have a U.S. distributor at the time of the festival are eligible for the festival's US$10,000 SKYY Prize for Outstanding Filmmaking. The SKYY Prize winner will be announced at the Festival's Awards Brunch on May 3, 2001. Last year's festival competition drew nearly 1600 entries from 58 countries. The competition is comprised of 29 categories in four divisions: Film & Video, for independently produced documentaries, short narratives, shorts for children and animation; Television, for current commercial, non-commercial and cable television production; New Visions, for experimental works that challenge the language of film and video and where personal expression and aesthetic exploration are the primary concerns; and Bay Area Film & Video, for works that reflect the rich selection of documentaries and shorts that have established Northern California as a major center for independent production.

The second Outer Limits Film and Video Series is a collaboratively organized series of short experimental, documentary, animation and independent narrative film and video, with an emphasis on work from the far geographic and cultural reaches. The 2001 series will focus on (but is not limited to) three areas of the global experience: global tourism and tourists; individualism, eccentrics and vernacular culture; and time and distance. Outer Limits is organized by Video Lounge, the New York Animation Festival and Perimeter Media + Culture Projects.

The Inaugural Durango Film Festival is a new festival dedicated to showcasing independent film work in various mediums. The festival will feature several receptions, screenings and educational events. Winners will be determined by the festival's jury. The mission of this new festival is to entertain and educate the community, and to encourage and empower artists, through a competitive showcase of diverse and provocative independent feature films, documentaries, shorts and new media works.

The 7th Annual Taos Talking Picture Festival showcases over 150 new independent films and videos, including features, documentaries, videos and shorts. Highlights include tributes, Hispanic and Native American programs, panel discussions, workshops and demonstrations focusing on the state of media. The Taos Land Grant Award gives 5 acres of land to be awarded to a filmmaker with a narrative, documentary or experimental film or video, 70 minutes or longer, which takes a fresh approach to storytelling and/or the cinematic medium. The town of Taos was originally established as an artists' colony.

The Sundance Film Festival is one of the premiere independent film festivals in the United States. From over 3,000 submissions, the selection board chooses over 100 feature-length films and 60 shorts for exhibition. The event attracts more than 20,000 people from around the world. The World Cinema program of the film festival presents new works by today's most innovative international filmmakers. Animation bad boy Bill Plympton will premiere his new feature MUTANT ALIENS at this year's Sundance Fest. This year's event will also feature a screening of online work from Mondo Media, Cartoon Network.com and Hypnotic.