The American Animation Institute's summer semester will run from June 2 to August 30. Registration for Animation Guild members begins May 8; registration for non-members begins May 12. The American Animation Institute was founded in 1980 by the Animation Guild and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, to further the art of the animated cartoon in the United States through educational and other activities. Classes are held at the Animation Guild in North Hollywood, CA on weekdays and weekday evenings plus one weekend class, one session per week for twelve weeks. The full catalog is available here. Instructors for the summer semester include Steve Brown, Nicole Duet, Karl Gnass and Will Weston. Classes offered include Storyboarding, Composition for Animation and Film, Life Drawing, Advanced Life Drawing, Animal Drawing at the Los Angeles Zoo and Page Museum, Head and Figure Painting, Painting the Still Life and Figure Drawing From Top To Bottom. Contact Lyn Mantta by e-mail or at 818-766-0521 if you have any questions.

Adult Swim and ROBOT CHICKEN creators and executive producers Seth Green and Matt Senreich are celebrating the release of the ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II DVD this summer by strapping on a pair of roller skates and living on a tour bus for two weeks just to bring ROBOT CHICKEN-style fun to the masses. Green and Senreich host the celebration throughout the nine-city roller rink tour across America, featuring performances by one of the hottest bands today, Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen recording group Gym Class Heroes, in addition to special ROBOT CHICKEN guests including the show's writers and producers, celebrity guest stars, ROBOT CHICKEN-themed activities and games and exclusive Adult Swim merchandise. Adult Swim's ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II Roller Skating Tour kicks off in Los Angeles August 1. A preview party, which is also open to the public, will take place on July 25 in San Diego with a guest DJ. "Our show is so much fun, we want to invite everyone to have fun with us," says Seth Green. "Grab your friends, your couple's skate partner and some kneepads. We're coming to your town! Or at least to a major market somewhat close to your town." "When Seth first pitched the idea of throwing roller skating parties around the country, I rolled my eyes and laughed at him," says Matthew Senreich. "I said, 'That's crazy talk.' Now that we're actually going to do it, I'm in awe of its absurdity and can't wait to attend. It fits with the randomness of our ROBOT CHICKEN show. Why not throw roller skating parties across the U.S.?" Adult Swim's ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II Roller Skating Tour schedule: * July 25, San Diego, Calif.: Skate San Diego-Preview party minus the band but with a guest DJ and extra Comic-Con awesomeness * August 1, Los Angeles, Calif.: Venue TBA * August 2, Las Vegas, Nev.: Rancho Crystal Palace Skating Center * August 4, Denver, Colo.: Skate City Westminster * August 6, Kansas City, Mo.: River Roll Skate Center * August 8, Indianapolis, Ind.: Skateland * August 10, Richmond, Va.: Roller Dome Skating * August 12, Philadelphia, Pa.: Jamz Roller Skating Center * August 14, New York: Venue TBA *Dates and times are subject to change. At each event, all ages are welcome, admission is free and doors open at 8 p.m. Patrons with an early entry-voucher will be admitted one hour earlier. Early-entry vouchers can be found in the new ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II DVD, which will arrive at retail on July 21. More information about the tour can be found at AdultSwimPresents.com. Building on its tremendous broadcast success, the highly anticipated DVD release of ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II features 15 minutes of never-before-seen footage. The sequel once again combines the satirical sensibilities of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich's Stoopid Monkey Productions Emmy Award-winning ROBOT CHICKEN with the unforgettable moments and favorite characters of the STAR WARS universe. Winner of three Annie Awards, including Best Animated Television Production, the ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS EPISODE II DVD includes both the original broadcast version and extended version of the special, along with more than 90 minutes of bonus features. In addition to the roller rink tour and new DVD, the final nine brand-new episodes of ROBOT CHICKEN's fourth season will premiere on Adult Swim beginning July 26 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Created by actor/producer Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, ROBOT CHICKEN uses stop-motion animation to bring pop-culture parodies to life in a modern take on the variety/sketch show format. The series is created in conjunction with ShadowMachine Films' Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico.

Chrysalis TV London presents: They Shoot Animators, Don't They? a marathon animation game where a group of six animators compete against each other to create a 1-3 minute animated film in a sleepless 72 hours. All the animations will be featured on the Channel 4 TV Website where viewers will be able to vote for their favorite. The winning animator will be awarded a top holiday and cash prize.

Asia

Now in its third year, the Mexico International Film Festival is committed to bringing the best independent cinema from around the world to Mexico in an effort to maintain and enrich the country’s film culture. The festival is held in the serene and beautiful town of Rosarito, situated on the Baja coast, where the sun shines all year with cooling sea breezes, glorious clear skies, and the crystal azure Pacific as a backdrop.

Enter web competition HAFFTube! For the second time the Holland Animation Film Festival presents an International competition for web animations. HAFFTube is our official channel within YouTube. That's where it all happens. Flash, Machinima, Brickfilms, this competition is open for all animation films available online! How does it work? Please read the regulations carefully and note that your film should be uploaded on YouTube before submitting the entry form. HAFF will rate the films that have been entered for competition. This starts from September 7th onward. When we have reached our set limit of 50 films, the official voting begins. Every week, films will be voted out by the HAFF-staff, to create possibilities for new entries. And so HAFFTube will gradually fill-up with animated films from all over the world. Deadline for entries is October 15, 2009. An International jury of filmmakers selects the winner out of the final 50 titles. The winner will be announced at the opening of the Holland Animation Film Festival 2009 on November 4th. Check http://www.youtube.com/hafftube for more details. Hope to see you at HAFFTube soon!

The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS), an organization that provides advocacy, education and community building awareness for the entertainment medium known as Machinima: the art or technique of filmmaking using real-time 3D virtual environments, has teamed up with NVIDIA

III ASTERFEST 2007

We have the pleasure to inform You that we are approaching the final stage of the preparations for the new, third edition of our new festival in the Macedonian country, as well as in the region and beyond, dedicated to the professional film (documentary and fiction) culture and emphasizing its affirmation, popularization and valorization towards the audience.
It is about the initiative for AsterFest, film and video festival, focusing on documentary, fiction (features or shorts) works of film authors who are coming from or living in Western Balkan region, neighbor countries and other related meridians.
We invited and receive films from several productions which submitted film-s for our forthcoming festival. It may be long or short-length film. We will present it into the programs: ASTERDOCS, BALKANS FICTION, NEuCOMERS, DOMA, HOMMAGES - focused on authors from southeastern European, EU countries and abroad.
We plan that the third edition of AsterFest 2007 will officially take place in the period 28-31 May on several locations in the Macedonian town of Strumica, where several other cultural areas will be renewed, related to the climate, ancient values and constant spiritual wideness, which have provided existence to this town for more then two millenniums. The concept is the projections to take place in an ambient, outdoor (in correlation with the summer sch

Design Festa is an international art event open to all artists from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent. Anyone who has original work can take part and express themselves through this freestyle event. There are no restrictions. Express your ideas at Design Festa for an opportunity at experimentation and the next step in your artistic lives. About 7,000 artists attended last time with more than 55,000 visitors.

2,600 booths will be set up in the event hall. This free-style exhibition is open to all mediums for exhibition, presentation and sale. There is also a dimmed lighting area for exhibiting work requiring low lighting. This space gives you the freedom to have an unprecedented style of exhibition, with multimedia work, light orientated art, performance, installation, space design and more.

Outdoor Live-show Stage:
Twenty bands will roll out performances ranging from rock to funk and jazz more.

Indoor Stage:
Fashion shows, performance, contemporary dance and more. All genres are welcome.

Mini-Theater Space:
Multimedia work and performance in the dimmed lighting area. Spotlight your independent work.

Digital Days is an interactive High Definition Digital showcase and forum featuring screenings, presentations and seminars. The audience onsite and connected virtually to our Quicktime Live Webcast and Video Chats, provides an interactive dialogue between filmmakers, industry professionals, students and the public. Presentations of theatrical features, HD natural history films and cutting-edge rock music videos provide a stimulating full-sensory experience. Explore from outer space to inner space from Antarctica to the oceans