On February 11, 2009 at 7 p.m., the Kinetic Cinema screening at Chez Bushwick will feature a wide-variety of dance and movement animation videos. Curated by Doug Fox, blogger and founder of Great Dance, the program will show how directors, artists, choreographers and dancers have used different animation styles and techniques to capture, illustrate and transform human movement. The program will feature 15 clips from video and film animations, theatrical movie releases, TV commercials, music videos, performances and installations, and student projects. Among the highlighted animation techniques will include hand-drawn 2D animation, 3D animation, live-action and computer graphics, stop-motion, rotoscoping, motion graphics, real-time performance animation, machinima and other animation styles. This program builds on Fox's online guide to "50 Dance and Movement Animations," which he published in January 2009 on GreatDance.com. He has interviewed many of the artists, animators, directors, choreographers and dancers who participated in the production of the videos which will be screened and he will share insights from these conversations during the Q&A section of the program. Date/Time: February 11, 2009 7-9 p.m. Tickets: $10 at the door, no reservations. Location: Chez Bushwick, 304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11, Brooklyn, NY 11206. Phone: 718.418.4405 Web: www.chezbushwick.net Trains: L to Morgan Street Directions: Exit back of the train. Turn LEFT outside the station. Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street. The screening portion of the program will be just over an hour and discussion will follow. The following dance animation videos will be screened: BALLET DANCER WARM-UPS (2007) -- 1:13 minutes 2D animator Susan Chien, for a life-drawing class at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, created a hand-drawn animation with a stop-motion feel that captures the movements of a human model. BODY NAVIGATION (2008) -- 8:08 minutes Recoil Performance Group's dance installation with real-time, interactive graphics, premiered in Copenhagen as part of Danish Dance Theatre's LABYRINTH. Choreography by Tina Tarpgaard, and visual and interaction design by Ole Kristensen and Jonas Jongejan. Chandon -- AFTER PARTY (2007) -- 34 seconds A combination of live action and computer graphics were used in this TV commercial featuring a Tango-dancing wireframe couple constructed from a champagne bottle cap. Produced by advertising agency Dentsu America. CSI: NY -- "SECOND LIFE Virtual Experience" (2007) -- 1:47 minutes Nightclub dancing scene from CSI: NY. Machinima pioneers ILL Clan produced the in-world animations for CBS where a killer is tracked in the SECOND LIFE virtual world. EN TUS BRAZOS (2006) -- 5:20 minutes A 3D narrative-based animation about a tragic accident that befalls a great Tango dancer of the 1920s. Direction and animation: François-Xavier Goby, Matthieu Landour and Edouard Jouret. FEET OF SONG (1988) -- 5:27 minutes Inspired by African music and art, U.K.-based 2D animator and dancer Erica Russell, who grew-up in South Africa, explores rhythms, colors and moving forms. GHOSTCATCHING (1999) -- 7:10 minutes Digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar composed this 3D animation based on the captured movement and sound phrases of choreographer Bill T. Jones. This art installation premiered at The Cooper Union School of Art. HUMAN SKATEBOARD (2007) -- 32 seconds A stop-motion TV commercial created for Sneaux Shoes by animation and video production company PES. Sneaux fans are encouraged to create and share their own stop-motion skateboarding adventures. ILLUMINATED (2007) -- 4:13 minutes Animator Kevin Abbott modeled a 3D metallic character that moves to the motion-captured sequence of dancer David Curwen. Created and performed at Western Michigan University. "Joinville Dance Festival Promotion" (2008) -- 30 seconds 3D animated video promotion for dance festival in Brazil. Design and characters inspired by illustrations of dance steps in teaching magazines. Direction: Frederico Freire, animation: Magno Borgo. KINETICS (2008) -- 2:53 minutes Chicago-based visual designer Nicholas Schrunk produced this video that features the interplay of motion graphics and the break dancing of Damion "Daylight" Day, recorded with a high-speed video camera. MR.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF 05) is North America's oldest and largest animation festival. The festival is broken up into four umbrella categories. The first is for animated feature films. The New Media Competition covers Animation Short Made for the Internet, Internet series, interactive animation and "Machinima," films made with videogame software. Commissioned Films Competition covers educational, scientific or industrial film, advertising film, station-program identification, music video, television special, television pilot, television series for adults and television series for children. Independent Short Films Competition covers narrative short film under 35 minutes, non-narrative short film under 35 minutes, first film and films made for children. Founded in 1976, and held biennially ever since, the OIAF attracts international animators, producers, broadcasters, and enthusiasts to Ottawa to view films entered in and out of competition, and attend special screenings and workshops that ponder the current state and future of animation. For more information, visit www.animationfestival.ca or www.awn.com/ottawa, e-mail info@animationfestival.ca or call (613) 232-8769.

Created in 1998, Forum Brasil is Latin America's leading TV programming trade show. Representatives from more than 20 countries use the forum as a marketplace to find great products, share experiences, get new information, analyze local markets, and engage in profitable business networking. Forum Brazil features: * International seminar with top-tier names in programming and production * 30-minute sessions with channel executives from Brazil and other countries detailing their acquisition policies * Pitching of animation, documentary, series and feature projects * Screenings of programs and pilots via a fully automated system * Great networking, acquisitions, co-production and distribution opportunities Broadcasters, pay-TV channels, distributors and independent producers from Brazil, other Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe have made Forum Brasil a regular fixture of their business schedule. For additional information, visit www.forumbrasiltv.com.br.

School of Visual Arts (SVA) presents a conversation with stop-motion animators the Brothers Quay titled "The Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets" as part of the Art in the First Person lecture series. Moderated by SVA faculty member Thyrza Goodeve, the Quay Brothers will discuss their work in film and theater including their forthcoming feature SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS. The event will take place on Thursday, April 2 at 6:30pm in the Visual Arts Theater (333 West 23 Street) and is free and open to the public. "The Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets" is co-presented by the BFA Fine Arts, BFA Visual and Critical Studies and MFA Art Criticism and Writing Departments at SVA. Visit www.sva.edu for more information. American identical twins working in London, the Brothers Quay find their inspiration in Eastern European literature and classical music and art. Their work is distinguished by its dark humor and an uncanny feeling for color and texture. Masters of miniaturization, they turn their tiny sets into unforgettable worlds suggestive of long-repressed childhood dreams. According to THE NEW YORK TIMES, the primary work of the Quay Brothers "is the arcane and highly specialized art of puppet animation. Yet what they accomplish in the nightmarish shorts for which they are best known is closer to the medieval practice of alchemy than to any identifiable modern pursuit." Born in Pennsylvania in 1947, Stephen and Timothy Quay studied illustration in Philadelphia before attending the Royal College of Art in London. They began making animated shorts in the 1970s and are best known for their classic 1986 film STREET OF CROCODILES, which filmmaker Terry Gilliam selected as one of the ten best animated films of all time. Their recent work includes IN ABSENTIA, an award-winning collaboration with Karlheinz Stockhausen; four short films made in collaboration with composer Steve Martland for a live event at the Tate Modern in London; and THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES, their second full-length feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2005. The Brothers Quay have directed music videos for His Name is Alive, Michael Penn, Sparklehorse, 16 Horsepower, and Peter Gabriel (contributing to his celebrated "Sledgehammer" video), and have also directed commercials for, among others, MTV, Nikon, Murphy's beer and Slurpee. The Quay Brothers' work also includes set design for theater and opera, including their 1998 Tony-nominated work for the acclaimed Broadway revival of Ionesco's THE CHAIRS.

Teenage filmmakers screen a series of animated and live-action works made in various Community Arts Partnership programs under the direction of CalArts instructors led by Nancy Buchanan, Reggie Coleman, Ruben Esqueda, Leo F. Hobaica Jr., Brooke Keesling, Cynthia Overman, Chris Peters and Trixie Sweetvittles. Funded by The JL Foundation. Coproduced by the Community Arts Partnership with Banning

SIGGRAPH Asia 2008, the first non-North American venue for a SIGGRAPH conference, to take place Dec. 10-13 at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Center, Singapore, is anticipating 6,000 participants and some 80 exhibiting companies and country pavilions. SIGGRAPH Asia committee overview: * Conference Advisory Group Chair - Alyn Rockwood, VP of ACM SIGGRAPH (US) * Conference Chair - Lee Yong Tsui, associate professor at the Nanyang Technological University's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (Singapore) * Associate Chair - John C. Finnegan (US) * Technical Papers - Kurt Akeley (US) * Sketches & Posters - Diego Gutierrez (Spain) * Courses - Matt Adcock (Australia) * Art Gallery & Emerging Technologies - Tomoe Moriyama (Japan) * Computer Animation Festival - Jinny Choo (Korea) * Educators program - Mark Chavez (Singapore) * Exhibition - Caleb Cheong (Singapore) Program highlights: * Technical Papers The SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 Technical Papers Programme will continue the tradition of excellence in computer graphics and interactive techniques that SIGGRAPH is known for and extend this world-class experience to Asia. We invite submissions of high-quality papers that will set the standard in the field and stimulate future trends. Accepted papers will be presented at SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 and published as a special issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics. The deadline for submission to the SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 Technical Papers Programme is May 28, 2008. * Sketches and Posters Take part in a dynamic forum as authors sketch out and discuss their works with a passionate audience. Check out the posters depicting graphical summaries of new ideas that come with a scheduled discussion session. * Courses International experts will be presenting instructional sessions on the latest and best practices in computer graphics and interactive techniques. * Art Gallery This is a showcase for innovative works, including hybrid formats such as text-literature collaboration and zero gravity space art, all of which will serve to provoke and challenge the audience's intellect. * Computer Animation Festival This is a celebration of the best in world-class digital animation. With submitted works from around the world, in genres that extends to machinima, gaming and scientific visualization, it's a feast for both the eye and the mind. * Educators program To equip educators with the tools to guide the next generation of computer graphics professionals, this program will present innovative approaches to creative instruction in a series of panels, demos and informal discussions. * Emerging Technologies Demos and installations of new computer graphics and interactive technologies such as haptic interfaces and robotics will be on display. * Exhibition Be the first to see and evaluate next generation CG & interactive technologies. Immerse yourself in an environment of new ideas, trends & concepts. * Exhibitor Tech Talk Gain insights before deciding on which new technology to align with an existing business. * Job Fair This is where the biggest and the brightest flock together and a chance meeting may lead to a dream career. For more information about SIGGRAPH Asia, visit www.siggraph.org/asia2008.

Puppet building, puppet animation fundamentals, and a "how to" intro to independent stop motion. Sunday, April 26th, 2009. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the TAIS Studio, 60 Atlantic Avenue $35 members, $50 non-members (Pre-registration required). To register, contact the TAIS office at tais@bellnet.ca or by calling 416-533-7889.

Sponsored by GarageGames, the fourth annual Independent Games is a fun, informal and informative gathering of independent game developers featuring a keynote address, "The State of the Revolution," by Mark Frohnmayer. IGC provides connections and content for programmers, artists and indie entrepreneurs. Speakers include Melv May on 2D game design, Ill Clan on machinima, John Welsh and Dave Nixon on the casual gaming industry, Thomas Buscaglia on legal issues, Ageia on the future of game physics, Ryan Gordon on Mac OS X game development, Microsoft on Xbox development and many more industry veterans. IGC 2005 presents a great platform for the independent game development community to show off their creations, while learning about next-generation technologies and helpful topics for game developers spread out over five different breakout tracks. The breakout tracks cover topics such as animation and lighting for artists, marketing and legal issues for the business side of gaming, and development techniques from seasoned game programmers. Early registration is online and costs $195 for a three-day pass, including sessions, t-shirt, food, LAN parties and beverage of choice ("beer") for those registering before Sept. 16. Space is limited, so reservations will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registrations after Sept. 16 will be $250. More information is available at www.indiegamescon.com.

The American International Toy Fair is the largest toy trade show in the Western Hemisphere. More than 1,500 manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents from 30 countries showcase their toy and entertainment products. From classic toys to interactive entertainment and everything in between, it has it all. Products include action figures and dolls, games and puzzles, bicycles, tricycles and ride-ons, radio-controlled vehicles, infant and preschool toys, cars, trucks and trains, puppets and plush, computer software and videogames, playground and sporting equipment, Halloween and Christmas items, books, stationery, party supplies, and much more. More information can be found at www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Toy_Fair.

Design Festa is a biannual international art event, started in 1994. It is open to all artists from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent freely. 7,000 artists working in a variety of mediums will be present, turning the two day event into artistic chaos. There will be booth areas(2,600 booths), an outdoor live-show stage, an indoor stage, a mini-theater space and a restaurant and cafe/bar area, all for your enjoyment during these two days filled with art, energy, excitement and discovery.