The 12th annual Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop is a four-day festival featuring more than 125 films, including features, documentaries, shorts and animation. The Frank Warner Workshop brings Academy Award-winning, industry professionals to Sedona to teach, inspire and share their knowledge with the next generation of filmmakers. Students get an once-in-a-lifetime chance to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the industry

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.

The International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart is a biannual event. This competitive festival promotes artistic animated shorts. The International Competition will feature about 50 films; "Tricks for Kids," the Children

For the first time, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will include "The Comix Strip," an entire section of the popular event dedicated to showcasing comics, graphic novels and manga. "The Comix Strip" will feature booths from prominent comic book publishers, retailers, and distributors as well as the inimitable writers and artists who create these hip and unique works. Comix Strip-related programming will include a special Festival panel to be hosted by LOS ANGELES TIMES pop culture writer, Geoff Boucher, entitled "Comics: Superheroes of the Page and Screen." Panelists include Jeph Loeb, co-executive producer of the smash TV hit HEROES and writer for some of the industry's most well-known characters, including Spider-Man, Hulk, Captain America and Wolverine; Mike Mignola, creator of HELLBOY; and Steve Niles, creator of the 30 DAYS OF NIGHT graphic novel franchise. Other panels include "Reading Manga: A Japanese Phenomenon Comes to America," and "Graphic Novels: Every Picture Tells a Story." Additional comic book luminaries are slated to participate in autograph sessions at booths throughout the weekend. Image Comics, Boom! Studios, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Animation Magazine, and Animal Army Comics are among the list of exhibitors. More than140,000 attendees are expected this year, as the festival brings together a cool, eclectic and family-friendly line-up of talent, storytellers, celebrities, musical performances and literary giants. The Festival will be held April 26 and 27 on the UCLA campus. General event information can be found at http://latimesfestivalofbooks.com/ or by calling 1-800-LA TIMES, ext. 7BOOK. Admission is free, but tickets are required to attend author/panel discussions and lectures. Because seating at these events is limited, tickets will be made available for a $.75 per ticket fee at Ticketmaster.com and through select Ticketmaster locations in Southern California beginning at Noon on April 20 and until capacity has been reached.

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 International Animated Film Festival "The Magical Nights" will show the treasures of animated films to audiences, screening short and feature animated films not viewed on TV and in theaters. The event will feature an international short films competition, feature films competition, special programs, young audience programs, animated film methods lessons, introduction workshops to animation, teacher's day, theater administrator's day and education day. For more information contact Fabrice de la Rosa at: tel.: +33 0556517660; fax: +33 0556511286; e-mail: contact@lesnuitsmagiques.fr or Web: http://www.lesnuitsmagiques.fr.

The 16th Annual Digital Hollywood Spring is a leading conference for the entertainment, media and technology executives. The event will feature special events, exhibits, sponsorships and speaking engagements. More than 300 industry speakers will be participating in the event. For more information, call (212) 352-9720 or visit www.digitalhollywood.com.

Organized by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC), the 16th Annual Kid Power! conference will be held June 8-10, 2009 at the Disney Yacht & Beach Club in Orlando, FL. This industry-leading forum for Marketing and Brand Strategists explores the latest trends, case studies and research in how to reach kids, the whole family and "whole child".

Changing government regulations that dictate the "how" and "what" of marketing to kids, the public backlash against product initiatives and the increasing placement in alternative mediums adds to the complexity that marketers face and has driven more relationship-oriented trends in marketing. The 16th Annual Kid Power! features innovators in the "kid space" including The National Football League, LEGO, Boy Scouts of America, Scholastic, Tween Brands, MyYearbook and more. Participants will stay ahead of these ever-changing trends by:

-- Understanding who their target audience is and how to reach them in an engaging, constructive way
-- Learning new research on connecting with moms, dads, grandparents and other family members
-- Exploring new technologies, like social networking & mobile marketing, and how to use them successfully
-- Using partnerships for targeted marketing to reduce marketing spend in the current economy

The audience for this event includes Kid, Youth and Family Brands and professionals involved in Strategy & Trend Analysis, Branding, Marketing & Advertising, Merchandising, Web & Media, Agencies and Licensors.

For additional information, visit www.kidpowerx.com, follow Kid Power on Twitter at www.twitter.com/KidPowerX, or contact Abby Lombardi at +1 212-885-2660 or abby.lombardi@iqpc.com.

The Independent Arts Festival offers space to exhibit, show and perform any form of creativity especially those in the independent scene. The event is focused to up and coming young artists who have never exhibited their art before. The festival also invites international, independent and professional artists to share their artwork. The motto of the event is: "Art is not boring." The festival also wants to give attention to the comic and zine scene. The event will feature a reading corner where visitors will be able to read comics and zines, and give comic artists and zine publishers the possibility to come and show or sell their products. For more information visit www.sztuka-fabryka.be/festival/.