AnimExplosion Festival is organized by the Animation Council of the Philippines, an organization composed of 18 animation studios based in the country. The festival will present a demonstration of clay, cut-out and puppet animation, simulation of animation production processes, an original character design competition, discussions on digital technologies in animation, sessions in character drawing, on the spot animated scene production to be participated by animation professionals, product launching and other sponsor presentations.

TOON-UP 2000 is your chance to participate in a master animation seminar conducted by Don Bluth. The presentation is a two-day experience, which will cover drawing, character development and design, storyboarding, acting, animation and directing. The event will start at 10 am and go until 3 pm. The seminar will include a buffet lunch on both days. The course is limited to 150 attendees. All interested artists, traditional 2D and CG/3D, are welcome.

PC Creator Studios is offering a public acting workshop under the supervision of acting-veteran Ed Hooks. Hooks has taught at Pacific Data Images during the making of the feature film ANTZ, Will Vinton Studios, Mondo Media, OddWorld Inhabitants as well as several film schools and colleges around the world. The class will feature topics such as character analysis, essential acting principles for animators, importance of empathy and how to achieve it in your work, power centers and Laban Movement Analysis.

The Art Gallery of Ontario and Puppets The Animation School are presenting a free symposium entitled "Creative Work in Digital Media." The event is geared toward students seeking careers in the digital arts. Guest presenters will include: Dar Lazdins of Puppets the Animation School; Mona Zaidi, a New Media Producer and Lead Interactive Game Designer at Nelvana Ltd.; Peter Hudecki, Senior Animator at Nelvana; Frank Falcone of Guru Productions; Kartz Ucci, an independent video/New Media artist; and Darren Cranford of Keyframe Digital Productions. The event will take place from 10 am - 1 pm.

The eMediatainmentWorld Conference and Exchange is a conference and market dedicated to media and entertainment on the Internet. This year's keynote speakers will be Richard J. Bressler, chairman and CEO of Time Warner Digital Media and Tom Rogers, chairman and CEO of PRIMEDIA Inc. The exchange floor will provide business professionals the chance to make deals and contacts. The event will feature panels and forums on various industry issues.

The 4th Annual Collectibles Business and Gift Executive Conference is a place for executives in the gifts and collectibles market to learn about the newest trends in the industry. The event will feature industry speakers and sales strategy workshops.

The ANIMATION MAGAZINE Animation Business Marketplace is dedicated to expanding opportunities for professionals working in animation and new media. The conference will have presentations to explain the art, technologies and challenges confronting the industry today. The event gives visitors a chance to interact with other people working in the booming sector of new media and animation.

The Virtual Reality Conference is geared to bring to light the advantages of virtual reality to a mass market. The conference will focus on the following: what are the uses of virtual reality?; what virtual reality products are currently being manufactured?; what are the key software and design issues within virtual reality?; how is virtual reality being deployed on the Internet?; what opportunities will digital TV offer deployment of virtual environments?; and what are the latest developments in virtual reality research? Speakers will include representatives from BBC Smart Venture, Durham University, Microsoft, ParallelGraphics and many more.

Gnomon School of Visual Effects is conducting three-weeks of one-day Maya workshops. Thirteen of the workshops cover capabilities in Alias|Wavefront's Maya, with the remaining two addressing 3D paint programs, StudioPaint3D and Deep Paint 3D. All of the courses will be held from 9 am to 4 pm. Each class will cost US$295. Darrin Krumweide, associate director of Gnomon, will host "Maya Live" on November 27, "Maya Cloth" on November 28, "Paint Effects" on November 29, "Maya Fur" on December 4, "StudioPaint3D" on December 5, "Deep Paint 3D" on December 6, "Polygon Modeling" on December 11, "Polygon Texturing" on December 12 and "Subdivision Surfaces" on December 13. Alex Alvarez, director and founder of Gnomon, will host "Inverse Kinematics: Arms & Legs" on November 30, "Constraints for Characters" on December 1, "Organic Modeling: Heads" on December 7, "Organic Modeling: Hands and Feet" on December 8, "Smooth Skinning with Wrap Deformers" on December 14 and "Trax: Non-Linear Animation" on December 15.

Cinemagic 2000, Northern Ireland's International Film Festival for Young People, is an international conference and fair exploring the nature of entertainment and education for young people in the digital age. Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of the Disney Corp., Myra Langdon Riesman, pioneer of original broadband Internet programming, and Chris Deering, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, Europe, head the list of speakers. Cinemagic 2000 will also feature an interactive fair, "Arena 21," which is a multimedia event that will feature the latest in digital technology, computer games and interactive entertainment from around the world. Visitors will be able to take part in interactive workshops, see the future in home cinema and integrated entertainment systems and have a preview of the latest technology, including a virtual classroom. The Cinemagic 2000 Film Festival will be showing seventy of the best films for young people from around the world during their ten day festival which includes lectures, outreach workshops and 6 masterclasses with some of the film industry's top professionals.