Zlin Festival is one of the oldest festivals dedicated to films for children and youth. Films compete in six sections - film for children, for youth, animated film, European debuts, student films and films from Visegrad countries. The project is supported by the Czech Parliament and Ministry of Culture, the EU Media Programme and the International Visegrad Fund. Festival is held under the auspices the Czech UNESCO Commission and the Czech UNICEF Commission. For more information, visit www.zlinfest.cz.

From 6:00 - 9:00 pm, Gnomon School of Visual Effects welcomes back Pixologic for its first User Group Meeting since the release of ZBrush 3. Learn how two artists: Meats Meier and Ian Joyner use ZBrush to create models and illustration. In particular, Meier will be demonstrating his working processes when using ZBrush 3 for character creation and texturing and he'll show his efficient methods of base model creation using Zspheres. Then, he will take the sculpture all the way to a final model, ready to animate in an external 3D package. Ryan Kingslien will also talk in-depth about ZBrush 3 and what it's like to develop a next generation sculpting application. He'll demonstrate how to look at it, how to understand the brushes and what it means, as a developer, to be thinking about a users experience. The event will take place at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects - Stage 15, 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, California 90038. To RSVP to the free event, e-mail reserve@gnomon3d.com.

Zagreb: 18th World Festival of Animated Films is an ASIFA sanctioned competitive festival. The festival was formed in 1969 to encouraging creativity, which eschews pre-set patterns and ideas/notions/conceptions, and finds new ways of exploring the possibilities of film animation. Awards with cash prizes will be given as follows: grand prize, best first production, best student film, plus five special prizes and three special distinctions.

Deadline for films made in 2004 and 2005 is Dec. 15 2005. Deadline for films finished in January 2006 is Feb. 15, 2006. For more information, visit www.animafest.hr.

Corus Entertainment's YTV's interactive, entertainment-filled summer road show WOW! will be heading out for another exciting summer tour. Now in its 11th year, WOW! will be travelling to communities across the country, visiting major festivals and attractions from June 4 until Labour Day. This year the summer tour includes HASBRO's Camp NERF DART TAG Capture the Flag! After months of training to become NERF Operatives at CampNERF.ca, YTV viewers can now put their online skills into real-life action, when they get to test NERF DART TAG products in a live game of Capture the Flag. On site, the WOW! crew will be distributing collectible prizes from NERF to all NERF Operatives-in-Training. WOW! will also gets kids up and moving with action-packed Dunkaroos Slam Dunkers All Stars. This inflatable zone is the ultimate basketball experience as kids can practice dunks, shoot hoops and play three on three with their friends. New to the tour this year, is Dunks Bump, where kids must make their shots to stay in the game -- last one standing wins a Dunkaroos prize. Kids can also check out Dunkaroos Dish, Drive and Dunk at www.ytv.com/wow where kids can battle it out online in their own basketball tournaments. Travelling from coast to coast, the unmistakable WOW! vehicles don't go anywhere without the high energy road crew, who travel from event to event, interacting with Canadian kids along the way. WOW! vehicles feature the latest in multimedia technology including a massive 95" screen, giving kids and their families a sneak peek of upcoming YTV programming. WOW!'s first stop is on June 4 at the Clearmeadow School Fair in Newmarket, Ontario. For further information, including video blogs, tour dates and locations for WOW!, visit www.ytv.com/wow.

ASIFA-East President David Levy (animation director BLUES CLUES) will lead a panel discussion on the state of the industry and how best to navigate your career path in animation. Panelists include:

* Sue Perrotto (Animation director: BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, BILLY AND MANDY, MEGAS XLR, etc.)
* David Steinberg (Producer: Bluth & Disney)
* Craig Bartlett (Creator: HEY ARNOLD!)

Levy will be signing copies of his new book as well.

Starting at 7:00 pm, the event will take place at the Glendale Public Library, 222 East Harvard Street, Glendale California, USA. The event is $10 for the general public and free for ASIFA-Hollywood members. For more information, visit www.asifa-hollywood.org.

WICM (Women in Children

On Friday, Jan. 26, 7:30 pm at the Museum of the Moving Image, David B. Levy, author of YOUR CAREER IN ANIMATION: HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE will moderate a special industry panel. Speakers will include Traci Paige Johnson (BLUE'S CLUES co-creator), Alice Cahn (vp of programming, Cartoon Network), Ila Abramson (i spy recruiting) and Oscar nominees Michael Sporn and Bill Plympton. Book signing will follow the event. Admission is $10 per person, which includes museum admission. Arrive early and enjoy a day at the museum -- special half-price offer, two admissions for the same price of $10. Museum of the Moving Image is at 35th Ave. and 36th St. in Astoria, Queens (N or W subway). Please visit www.movingimage.us for details.

WiCM and co-sponsor ASIFA East are hosting an event featuring David B. Levy and his new book, YOUR CAREER IN ANIMATION: HOW TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE. Levy will moderate a panel that includes: * Linda Simensky, senior director of children's programming for PBS Kids * Tom Warburton, creator of Cartoon Network's CODENAME: KIDS NEXT DOOR * Elanna Allen, animation designer and creator * Bill Plympton, animator and creator of the Oscar nominated short GUARD DOG * Jackson Publick, creator of Adult Swim's VENTURE BROS. Topics will include: * Get the most out of school * Network effectively * Keep job skills marketable * Build a portfolio or reel * Cope with unemployment * Learn from on-the-job criticism * Pitch and sell a show of your own or go into business for yourself Starting at 6:30 pm, the event will take place at NYU Tisch, 721 Broadway, Lower Concourse, Room 006. Admission is $10 for WIA members. For more information, visit www.womeninchildrensmedia.org/events.htm.

Yaoi-Con is the only Western fan convention dedicated solely to the yaoi genre of Japanese anime and manga. The event will take place at the Marriott San Mateo-San Francisco Airport hotel in the South San Francisco Bay area. Created primarily by women for a largely female audience, yaoi is unique in its exploration of deep platonic bonds and romantic relationships between male characters. The intense and highly idealized examples of love and romance commonly found in yaoi works are a major factor in the genre's soaring popularity outside Japan, including the U.S. In its country of origin, many popular mainstream mangaka or manga artists had their start in the genre. Since its inception, Yaoi-Con has been committed to the promotion and celebration of this unique genre, inviting guests who represent the broad spectrum of art and stories available. This year, the convention welcomes veteran illustrator Mamiya Oki and novelist Tsubasa Kawahara as our guests of honor. These two have collaborated on the PLATONIC DANCE and JADOU novel series (the latter of which has also appeared in manga format). Oki is a celebrated illustrator whose work can also be seen in the LOCUS OF BLUE and RECORD OF THE DELFINIAN WAR novels. These two will be attending focus panels and autograph sessions during the convention. Yaoi-Con would also like to welcome several guests who will be appearing at the convention courtesy of their publishers. Digital Manga Press has invited manga artist Hinako Takanaga, author of the popular title LITTLE BUTTERFLIES, while Yaoi Press will be bringing the Italian duo Dany & Dany (Daniela Serri and Daniela Orr

X|Media|Lab is a one day international conference on creativity, business, and technology of new media content (general admission); followed by the 2-day X|Media|Lab, an elite hands-on workshop for comanpanies and project teams working on their own project ideas (selected projects only).

X|Media|Lab (and the Pro Day Conference) will take place June 15-17th at the Singapore Exhibition Centre alongside the huge Broadcast Asia trade show which also includes summits on Digital Broadcasting, Digital Cinema, Interactive Television, Mobile Content, Animation, Computer Graphics, and Games.

The theme for the first X|Media|Lab in Singapore is primarily for companies and project teams developing animation, graphics, and games projects. Eight projects will be selected to participate in the Lab.

X|Media|Lab focuses exclusively on helping create successful commercial media projects by working on the creative, technology, and business propositions and increasing the chance of the projects getting commercial funding, and succeeding in the marketplace.
Nominate your project team now for inclusion in the Lab and become part of an elite network of new media superstars.