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.

At fmx/09, international speakers will provide an insight into the creation, production and distribution of digital entertainment and discuss innovative approaches in the industry and research. Numerous panels, workshops and presentations draw a discerning audience, two-thirds of whom are professionals while one-third is made up of students.

In an open atmosphere and in casual encounters. top names of the industry present their latest achievements, hard- and software companies demonstrate their innovations, recruiters search for new talent and schools and universities feature their programs and graduates. fmx/09 takes place in Stuttgart, Germany, from May 5-8, 2009.

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/.

The 16th Stuttgart International Festival Of Animated Film is open for submissions. The International Competition, Young Animation, Tricks For Kids animated series and AniMovie are due December 1, 2008. Categories for Under Commission films and for the German Animation Acreenplay award are due January 15, 2009. 50,000 viewers, 1,500 professional visitors, 500 films! Together with fmx -- a conference for experts and interested people dealing with animation, visual effects and digital post production -- and its 6,000 accredited guests, the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film has emerged as one of the most important events and meeting platforms for animated film around the globe. Thus the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film offers an ideal forum for filmmakers and producers to present their work to a wide audience. The festival awards more than 52,500 Euros in total for cash prizes in the altogether six competition categories, which, in 2009 will again be accompanied by an exciting and comprehensive supporting program. The now-established business platform Animation Production Day (APD) -- held in cooperation with Michael Schmetz Mediaconsult -- will be entering its fourth round. The Animation Coproduction Forum Eastern Europe -- held in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Foundation -- will take place for the second time. You are invited to submit films produced after October 1, 2007, for one of the following competition categories. Make sure to adhere to the above mentioned submission deadlines as well as the rules and regulations for entries. --International Competition --Young Animation (International competition for student films) --Tricks for Kids (International competition for children's films) --AniMovie (International feature film competition) --Animated Series (International competition for TV series) --Under Commission (International competition for commissioned films) You can download all submission forms, rules and regulations as well as the call for entries for the German Animation Screenplay Award at www.itfs.de. For further information contact Andrea Bauer at bauer@festival-gmbh.de. Online submissions can be made at www.reelport.com as of October 1, 2008.

In 2005 Filmfest Dresden enters its 17th year. Focusing on short films, the festival promotes a film category which is mostly disregarded by cinemas and television. Since its beginning in 1989, Filmfest Dresden has developed into one of the major short film festivals in Germany - and with a total amount of