Oscar winning animation director Chris Landreth is one of the true legends of the contemporary creative animation scene. Landreth has been at the absolute forefront of computer animation development for a decade. His films -- THE END, BINGO and RYAN -- represented groundbreaking leaps in pushing technology to its limits to show the breadth of what animation was capable of depicting on the screen. Landreth was nominated for an Academy Award for THE END, with RYAN winning the Oscar for Best Short Animation in 2005. This seminar presentation will go beyond Landreth's films and provide insight into his successful marriage of creativity and technology. Landreth will talk about "Psychorealism", the use of art and animation to depict the realism of one's emotional and spiritual state. He explores the "Uncanny Valley" (the "creepy" effect experienced when CGI characters are too realistic, leading to a feeling of revulsion in the viewer) and how his latest film THE SPINE attempts to avoid this problem. He also shows how his animators used a Method-acting approach to nick subtle gestures, ticks, and micro-expressions in their characters' faces and bodies, and explains how his crew balanced realism and stylization to create characters who are Uncanny in a positive way. Landreth's talk will be followed by a Q&A. University of Technology, Sydney Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, 3rd Floor, Lecture Theatre 322 702 - 730 Harris Street ( next to the ABC) Cost : Free 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Details: http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/ Transport UTS is only ten minutes walk from Central Station, Eddy Avenue and Railway Square bus stops. Parking is available for those with a disability or special need to drive: Peter Johnson Building, Basement Car Park, 702-730 Harris St. Ultimo.

ANIMATION CLUB!!! presents 'Secret Handshake', a monthly animation night at Loop Bar in Melbourne. Each month, animators from all around the world create a short animation upon a given topic which is then screened and voted upon by the audience. The winner receives fame and glory... and gets to choose the next month's topic. All animation styles are welcome - from hand-drawn, flash, claymation, stop motion, pixellation - or any combination of these. However - it MUST be animated! No live action allowed! The topic for July is CIRCUS and all films submitted will be show on the 28th July. See you there! For more info, check out our website at http://www.theanimationclub.com Secret Handshake Last Tuesday of every month Starts at 7.30pm & all submissions must be handed in by 7.15pm. Loop - 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne, Vic, 3000

With the program finalized, the UTS: Sydney International Animation Festival's co-director has given you five great reasons to attend: 1. THE SPINE by Oscar-winner Chris Landreth (Canada), where the brittle, complex collection of personalities within a counseling group populate a 'family' which critiques the lop-sided gifts and sacrifices of an unusual couple. (Winner: "Best Of Fest" Melbourne International Animation Festival) This is an exclusive chance for Sydney audiences to see this film. 2. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, by Don Hertzfeldt (USA): Bill's life and family history are filled with bad luck, illness and tragedy. And humour! The latest animated wonder from the frenetic pen of one of the animation world's stars. (Winner: "Audience Award -- Best In Program" Melbourne International Animation Festival) 3. LIFE WITHOUT GABRIEL FERRI by Estonian master Priit Parn: experience a dramatic story about love, locked doors, a faceless thief, a wounded stork, a lost laptop and the O'Key sisters who turn out to be virtual prostitutes. The pinpoint of light in the distance may just prove to be that of an approaching happy ending. (Exclusive to UTS: SIAF 09) 4. CHAINSAW, by Dennis Tupicoff (Australia). Frank and Ava Gardener "star" in a chainsaw safety film, and love the rodeo. But now, ten years later... Romance is like a chainsaw: a very dangerous beast indeed. (Grand Prix-Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2008; Grand Prix and Critics Prize-Huesca International Film Festival 2008; Nelvana Grand Prize and Best Narrative Short -- Ottawa International Animation festival; Finalist AFI and Dendy Awards) 5. Hear visiting guest Claire Kitson, former Commissioning Editor of Animation for the UK's Channel 4, as she presents some British gems and signs her latest book, BRITISH ANIMATION: THE CHANNEL 4 FACTOR. If that's not enough, visit www.siaf.uts.edu.au to see the full program.

Renowned as Sydney¹s first beachside cinema, Flickerfest kicks off the summer cinema season outdoors under the stars at Bondi Beach, screening the best short films from Australia and the world in a unique and relaxed summer environment. After our Sydney festival Flickerfest tours to 23 venues around Australia. Our Academy ® accredited short film competition and special showcases celebrate the latest in cutting edge shorts from around the world. Welcome to our world of shorts!

Flickerfest began as a small local festival at the Balmain High School in 1991. Over the last 17 years it has grown to become Australia's only competitive International Short Film Festival with entries coming from filmmakers across the globe.

Flickerfest is considered in International circles as the leading Australian competitive short film festival and increasingly filmmakers view it as one of the main festivals on the world circuit. To maintain this high standard each year the festival director visits festivals around the world seeking new films most of which have not been seen in Australia.

In 2003 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science elected to recognise Flickererfest as a qualifying festival for the Best Short film and Best Animation categories of the Academy Awards ®

The honour of Academy Award ® accreditation will guarantee Flickerfest's international profile for many years to come, whilst also ensuring greater opportunities for our Australian short film makers internationally.

Flickerfest's national tour has become a very important part of the festival and started in 1995. The tour takes the main competitive programmes and some Special sessions to many regional and metropolitan areas, which rarely have an opportunity to view this collection of the best of the world's short films. The difference between Flickerfest and other film festivals is that Flickerfest is acknowledged as a quality arts event. Each year we screen Academy Award nominated films plus many other internationally award-winning films.

Now in our 7th year, CSU Animation and Visual Effects are proud to present the Australian International Animation Festival 2010. The internationally renowned event has gone from strength to strength since its modest start in 2004 and this year has secured amazing exclusives from more than 2,200 submissions from over 40 countries. The range of styles, genres and techniques is testament to the vibrancy and relevance of creative animation and the premiere screening of this highly acclaimed collection is happening right here in Wagga Wagga!

The International Competition programs are made up of an eclectic mix of films and will give audiences a complete, up-to-date snapshot of the international creative animation scene. In addition to these there are programs that focus on digital animating, stop motion, and Australian made films. Rounding out the line-up are programs for younger audiences and even a “Late Night Bizarre” program for those whose tastes lurch to the truly odd and unfathomable.

A series of free talks and workshops given by filmmakers from Australia and overseas will provide those with questioning minds a chance to learn more about how and why these films get made. Buy a Full Festival Pass and you’ll save over 60%, guarantee seating, be in the running for unbelievable prizes, see bonus films, network with key people, be invited to the after-party which includes complimentary food & drinks, and then some...

Door-prizes include full commercial versions of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Mudbox worth over $7,000 in professional creative software!

Venue: Forum 6 Cinema
Date: Friday 14th – Sunday 16th May 2010
Cost: $12 Single Session or $35 Full Festival Pass
Only $5 for Kids Program

AIAF2010 Schedule

Friday 14th May
5:30pm - Doors Open
6:00pm - Official Opening & International Program #1
8:00pm - SIGGRAPH Wrap-Up

Saturday 15th May
2:00pm - Kids Screening (4-7 years old)
4:00pm - Animation 101 “Adventures In Ancient Animation”
5:00pm - Animation 102 “Blending Animation & Live Action”
6:00pm - Australian Panorama
8:00pm - International Program #2
9:30pm - Late Night Bizarre

Sunday 16th May
2:00pm - Kids Screening (4-7 years old) [Repeat]
4:00pm - Animation 103 “Lucy Izzard (UK) & Slinky Pics”
5:30pm - Animation 104 “Adobe CS5 in Action”
6:00pm - International Program #3
7:30pm - Digital Panorama

Important:
Please be aware that admission is restricted to 18+ (except for Kids & Official Opening /International Program #1). Film classification regulations in Australia require all films to either be formally classified or restricted to an audience of 18 years of age and over. Most festivals do not have the resources to do this and it for this reason alone that we are not able to admit any person under the age of 18 years to the main AIAF screenings.

Kids Program – Specifically programmed towards 4 – 7 year olds whilst still entertaining more mature patrons, this screening gives children the world’s best animation for a just $5! Pricing includes adults.

The workshops are free for anyone to attend but may contain mature content.

AEAF Awards 2010, 11 August 2010, Sydney

Seminars and screenings plus the AEAF Awards screening and presentation. 

The AEAF Awards Entry Form 

The Australian Effects & Animation Festival Awards - AEAF Awards - is an international competition and screening now in its 13th year and attracts entries from around the world. The Awards recognize and reward excellence and creativity in 10 categories of competition. 

Commercials Animation - Commercials VFX - Titles, Idents & Stings - Short Film - Student - Music Video - TV Series - Flash Animation - Feature Films Animation - Feature Films VFX

The AEAF Awards finalists and winners will be screened on 11 August 2010. 

The panel of judges will select the top ten entries in each category for screening and the top scoring entry will be named winner and receive the award.
The AEAF Awards are open to all digital content creators and motion graphics, digital video, animation and effects professionals and students.

Digital Media Online Festival For the first time, all entries will have the opportunity to be shown online at www.digitalmedia-world.com prior to judging by the panel.

If you want your peers in the filmmaking community to view your projects, and believe you deserve industry recognition, then enter your work now. If you choose, it will be shown online straightaway.

Previous winners of the AEAF Awards are among the world's premier post-production companies, effects houses and film studios. Past winners include: 

Weta Digital - Animal Logic - Industrial Light & Magic - Beeps - Complete Post - Digital Pictures - Fuel - Iloura - Rising Sun Pictures - Fin Design & Effects - Sony Pictures Imageworks - Passion Pictures - The Mill - Box Communications - John Rowe Animation - Framestore CFC - Nectarine - Bigfish Design - Pixar Animation Studios - Students from AFTRS - QUT - VCA - and many others. 

Don’t miss out on your chance to be involved in Australia’s leading competition for the creation of animation and effects and digital content creation. Make sure to enter your work in the AEAF Awards 2010. Simply fill in the Entry Form and send it to us with your entry, no later than 30 June 2010.

All finalists’ entries will be screened at the AEAF Awards night on 11 August 2010. Winning entries receive the specially commissioned Award and, most important, exposure through a screening of the entries, press coverage including the Showcase issue of Digital Media World Magazine and the recognition of the digital content creation, animation and VFX communities

Please see the Entry Form to enter online or download an entry form. We look forward to receiving your entry.

 

The 2011 Byron Bay International Film Festival  

FINAL ENTRY DEADLINE:  29/10/2010

REGULAR ENTRY DEADLINE: 29/09/2010 

5th Byron Bay International Film Festival March 4th to 13th 2011

The 2011 BBFF will screen for 10 days in beautiful sub-tropical Byron Bay, the first place in Australia to receive the sun, providing filmmakers with the opportunity to present their work at a truly distinctive film festival. Located just a short stroll from one of the world’s finest surf beaches, this Festival attracts International filmmakers, directors, producers, performers, cultural tourists and prominent members of Australia’s film industry, not to mention plenty of appreciative locals.

As animated and experimental films continue to grow in popularity so too does the awareness of these often overlooked genres.  BBFF is no exception to this and is an exciting avenue to showcase animated and experimental films in a world-class environment.  These genres of filmmaking are a major part of our program and always prove greatly popular with judges and audiences alike. 

If your film is 2D, 3D, Flash, Stop motion, Claymation, Traditional or Machinima it could win BBFF’s Best Animation Award.  If it’s quirky or unique, artistic, surreal, invoking, abstract, poetic or just plain strange maybe it’s a contender for the Best Experimental Film Award – or both!

The range of films we screen is diverse and dynamic – we particularly seek films which reflect the values held by our vibrant local community which may include: creativity and the arts; human rights, diversity and multiculturalism; the natural environment and environmental issues; indigenous culture; innovation; spirituality and healing; conscious thinking and positive living; music; humour; and surfing. Our programming, however, is not limited to these themes as our priority is transporting our audience and their imaginations to worlds outside of their own. 

BBFF is passionate about supporting independent filmmakers in all stages of their careers and we believe in creating positive opportunities wherever possible - showcasing the amazing works of talented creatives to an open, intelligent audience as well as some well connected, highly respected Judges. Our judging panels have included representatives from Australia’s top distribution companies including Lionsgate, Dendy Films, Paramount Pictures, the ABC, World Movies Channel, Rialto Distribution, Accent Film, Palace Films and many more.  

Contra Captain James T. Kirk, it is imagination, rather than space, which will forever remain the final frontier. And it is the science fiction and fantasy genres where imagination stretches to the furthest outposts of this frontier and beyond.

It is not surprising that filmmakers have embraced these speculative genres since the dawn of motion pictures, pushing the boundaries of imagination along with cinematic techniques to transport us from darkened cinemas to places alien, but uncannily familiar; to strange other realms that reveal unexpected insights into our own.

The mission of Fantastic Planet Film Festival is to seek out and encourage bold speculative films that explore other imagined worlds, universes, and realities – new celluloid glimpses of alternative futures, pasts, and presents - and to showcase this fantastic cargo of cinema to audiences in Sydney, Australia.

With the rest of the festival’s crew, I eagerly await submissions to the inaugural Fantastic Planet: Sydney International Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Festival.

Dean Bertram PhD
Festival Director

 

Fantastic Planet, Sydney Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival announces the first six feature films of this year’s program.
 
Festival director Dr. Dean Bertram is sure that “Sydney film fans are going to go crazy for the festival’s line-up this year. It covers an amazing gamut of genre films. Audiences will see a dark twist on the Santa legend, machete-wielding vigilantes, out-of-this-world conspiracies, a love-mad evil genius bent on world annihilation, cyber-Shakespeare, and Greek zombies. And that’s just from the first half dozen films that we’re announcing!”

The six feature films, all of which are Australian premieres, are: Robert Rodriguez’s (director of Sin City, Spy Kids, Grindhouse) highly anticipated, no-holds barred MACHETE; the Finnish dark fantasy and internet buzz sensation RARE EXPORTS, Australian Sci-fi come Shakespearean comedy MORTAL FOOLS; The X-Files meets The Blair Witch Project in the mind-bending conspiracy mock-doc LUNOPOLIS; a megalomaniacal super villain uses his evil powers for love in I HEART DOOMSDAY; and a frenetic-paced, gore-filled, zombie comedy from Greece EVIL IN THE TIME OF HEROES.

“I’m really proud of the scope of this year’s films”, adds Bertram’s co-director Lisa Mitchell. “The festival is showcasing an international program that ranges from amazingly creative independent films made by young filmmakers, to spectacular blockbusters. And I’m looking particularly forward to the Q&As and filmmaking forums, where the festival’s audience gets to interact with visiting filmmakers.”

The second annual Fantastic Planet Film Festival runs from October 29 to November 5, 2010 at Dendy Newtown Cinema and other Sydney venues.  

Entries are now being invited for AEAF Awards 2011. The AEAF Awards is an international competition and screening, now in its 15th year, and attracts entries from around the world.

 

 

The Awards recognize and reward excellence and creativity in 11 categories of competition. The AEAF Awards Entry Form

Commercials Animation - Commercials VFX - Feature Films Animation - Feature Films VFX - Titles, Idents & Stings - Short Film - Music Video - TV Series - Web Animation - Student

The AEAF Awards finalists and winners will be screened on 2 August 2011. 
A panel of judges will select the top ten entries in each category for screening, and the top scoring entry from each will be named category winner and receive the award.

Entrants to the AEAF Awards have the opportunity to show their projects in the  AEAF Online Festival. 

The AEAF Awards are open to all digital content creators and motion graphics, digital video, animation and effects professionals and students.

Previous winners of the AEAF Awards are among the world's premier post-production companies, effects houses and film studios. Past winners include: 

Passion Pictures - Weta Digital - Animal Logic - Industrial Light & Magic - Pixar Animation Studios - Complete Post - Digital Pictures - Fuel - Iloura - Fin Design & Effects - Sony Pictures Imageworks - The Mill - Framestore – MPC -  and many others. 

Please take time to fill in the Entry Form and send it to us with your entry. You are most welcome to enter any projects that were completed no later than 30 June 2011.

All finalists’ entries will be screened at the AEAF Awards night on 2  August 2011. Winning entries receive the specially commissioned Award and, most important, exposure through the screening of the entries, press coverage including the Showcase issue of Digital Media World Magazine and the recognition of the digital content creation, animation and VFX communities.

We look forward to receiving your entry.

The AEAF Awards Entry Form

Speaker Enquiries 

Sponsor Enquiries

The 2012 Byron Bay International Film Festival

FINAL ENTRY DEADLINE: 28/10/2011

REGULAR ENTRY DEADLINE: 28/09/2011

6th Byron Bay International Film Festival March 2nd to 11th 2012

For 10 days, the always beautiful Byron Bay will be the setting of the 2012 BBFF. The first place in Australia to see the sun, Byron Bay provides an exotically stunning backdrop for the festival, with world-class beaches only a short stroll from the venue. This is a one of a kind film festival and it's hard to imagine a better place for filmmakers to have the opportunity to present their work.

The world of animation and experimental film continues to expand. With the unstoppable evolution of technology new doors are continuing to open for the visually innovative. Embracing this progression, BBFF is an exciting avenue to showcase animated and experimental films in a world class environment. No longer among the fringe dwelling genres, they are now a significant part of the festivals broad program and are embraced by judges and audiences alike.

The BBFF's Best Animated Film Award could be where you are headed if your film is 2D, 3D, Flash, Stop motion, Claymation, Traditional or Machinima. Or does your film test the boundaries of conventional film making, or even trample all over them as it runs past without so much as a "how do you do?" Then maybe you could be in the running for the Best Experimental Film Award. You might even be up for both!

Byron Bay and the surrounding area is a place that holds certain ideals close to its heart: creativity and the arts; human rights, diversity and multiculturalism; the natural environment and environmental issues; indigenous culture; innovation; spirituality and healing; conscious thinking and positive living; music; humour; and surfing. We endeavour to show a range of films that reflect an understanding of these ideals. But that doesn't mean we are limited to these themes.

BBFF believes strongly in providing support for the independent filmmaker. Whether this is your first attempt at gaining exposure in film industry or you have been chipping away at it for many years, we want to give you a chance to make your mark. The films we showcase are viewed by a diverse, intelligent and most importantly open audience. While the judging panel has included some highly respected and well connect members of the Australian film industry. Including representative of top Australian distribution companies including Lionsgate, Dendy Films, Paramount Pictures, the ABC, World Movies Channel, Rialto Distribution, Accent Film, Palace Films and many more.  

There is a broad range of awards including Best Film, Documentary, Short Film, Drama, Cinematography, Surf Film, Environmental Film, Music Video, Best Young Australian Filmmaker (open to Australian Director’s and Producer’s under 25) among others. There is also a special award for best local film.  Filmmakers are encouraged to use the paperless entry system Withoutabox and further details can be found at www.bbff.com.au

Filmmaker Andy Mullins whose acclaimed short film Minnie Loves Junior had its Australian Premiere in Byron said “We have travelled all over the world with Minnie Loves Junior, and the program at Byron Bay was one of the best I have seen, let alone had the privilege of being a part of”.

The Byron Bay International Film Festival is open to films of all lengths and all genres. Films in competition must have been completed after Jan 1st 2009.