ASIFA-Hollywood is presenting a "Best of Ottawa Festival" screening. Ottawa Festival director Chris Robinson will present some of the highlights of the festival.

With the highly anticipated Disney/Pixar film UP opening this weekend, Gallery Nucleus in Los Angeles is presenting a rare behind-the-scenes look at the production of the film with special guest artist Ronnie del Carmen. The artist, who served as story supervisor and lead story artist, will be on hand to present a plethora of process images and answer questions from the public. In addition to his major contributions to the film, Del Carmen is also the director of the animated short DUG'S SPECIAL MISSION, which will accompany the DVD release of UP and provide the back-story for the talking dog character. Expanding on his integral role, Del Carmen was also asked to illustrate the new book release MY NAME IS DUG. You can read more about the release at the following link: http://www.ronniedelcarmen.com/blog1/2009/03/up-my-name-is-dug.html At the closure of the Artist Panel, Ronnie del Carmen will be on hand to sign the newly released THE ART OF UP and MY NAME IS DUG books. Event details: Date: Saturday, May 30 Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public Venue: Gallery Nucleus 210 E Main St Alhambra CA 91801

Moral Punch hosts two weekly life drawing workshops every Sunday from 9am-1pm and 2pm-6pm. Each workshop will feature two costumed models set against a wild and fantastic backdrop of video projections, funky music, fine refreshments and a stunning art show. Ticket sales and more information available online at www.moralpunch.com This week's theme: "Super Models and Masked Villains" The forces of good and evil clash in a timeless battle of dynamic poses. Sunday March 9, 2008 9am - 1pm and 2pm - 6pm 7600 Melrose Ave. (upstairs) W. Hollywood, CA 90046 $10 reserved $15 at the door Reserve your space online at www.moralpunch.com

The DH Institute of Media Arts is hosting a "Sketch Tour" instructed by Glenn Vilppu. Vilppu is an instructor at Disney and Warner Bros. Feature Animation, as well as the American Animation Institute, UCLA, DreamWorks and Rhythm & Hues. For more information contact dhima:Tel(323)904-1135 Fax:(323)904-1162 E-mail:info@dhima.com Date: Thursday, January 22nd from 12pm to 3pm Meeting place: dhima | dh institute of media arts 5657 Wilshire Blvd. Ste 470 Tour fee: $35 / person Glenn Vilppu's Bio:http://www.artistravel.com/Glenn_Vilppu.htm

The American Cinematheque

Illustrative responses to world events, large scale and small, have an effect both visceral and intimate. "Picturing Politics" explores the current state of political and social visual commentary. The Illustration Program of Parsons The New School for Design and the Department of Politics of The New School for Social Research jointly present an afternoon of reflections on the intersection of art and politics.

Guests include Daniel Dayan, leading media and politics analyst from France and visiting professor in the Department of Politics at the New School for Social Research, Steven Heller, author and former New York Times art director, Professor Joshua Brown, Executive Director, American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at CUNY, Rutu Modan, Eisner award-winning graphic novelist from Israel, Peter Kuper, graphic novelist and co-editor of WW 3 magazine, Steve Brodner, satiric visual commentator, Luba Lukova, political poster artist and Anton Kannemeyer, South African artist and creator of visual narratives. A book signing will follow the symposium.

Additionally, an exhibition of illustrated covers for DER SPIEGEL magazine is on view at Parsons Illustration, 2 West 13th Street, 8th floor, from November 14-30. There will be a reception in honor on November 14 at 6 p.m.

"Picturing Politics"
November 15, 2008, 1-5:30 p.m.
The New School, Tishman Auditorium
Johnson/Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street
Free and open to the public

The November installment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Monday Nights with Oscar" series will focus on the genre of animated films, examining the various techniques of animation, how they are used in film and how those uses have changed over the years. "Oscars and Animation" will be presented at 7:30 pm in the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International. The evening will be moderated by Michael Sporn, who received an Academy Award nomination for his 1984 Animated Short Film DR. DE SOTO. Jimmy Picker, who produced the 1983 Oscar-winning Animated Short Film SUNDAE IN NEW YORK, will be in attendance, as will Frank Mouris, whose 1973 short FRANK FILM won the Oscar in the same category. Both of these films will be featured during the program. Five styles of animation

Schools get ready for lift off... Mission to Titan starts in September! You are challenged to dream up and develop a story about your own mission to Titan. You can design your own spacecraft, build characters and crew members, create alien worlds and creatures, and tell the story of your mission in a short animation. The animation you create must not be longer than five minutes, so you have to think about how to tell your story in a comprehensive but concise way. You don't have to cover the whole journey in your animation, and can concentrate on an interesting episode if you prefer. The most important factor is that your story is imaginative and gripping, and that you manage to tell it in moving images which give us a glimpse of what it looked like and what happened to you on Titan. Completely Online: Pupils create artwork, collaborate and animate live in FluxTime Studio, the online animation environment for children from 4 to 14 years. Competition Terms: 1) The competition is for primary and secondary schools only. 2)Participating pupils must be 4 to 14 years old. 3) Schools can send in up to three animation clips per key stage. 4) A jury will select three winning animation clips per key stage. 5) Winners will receive one year free school membership. 6) The best animations will be shown in an online exhibition. For more information visit http://www.fluxtime.com/titan.php

MISSING PERSONS, a new 3D animated feature film by directors Dan & Matt O'Donnell, will premiere on Friday, March 1st at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA. The film will be projected digitally from a Panasonic state-of-the-art theatrical digital projector. Screening details and tickets available at http://www.cinequest.org

Screening dates:
Friday, March 1 - Camera 3 Cinema
Saturday, March 2 - San Jose Repertory Theater

Tickets: http://opal.he.net/cgi-bin/suid/~cquest/cq/event.cgi?event=Missing_Persons

Synopsis:
An chronicle of the intersecting lives of four lost souls in the 60th Police Precinct of Coney Island, NY. Lonely Missing Persons detective John Funn hitches his wagon to the rising star of a strange young cop named Snookie. Computo, a World War II Army surplus robot, and Crazy Legs, an horrifically injured streetfighter, eke out a desperate living hawking mislabelled narcotics while patiently awaiting happier times. Woven throughout is the story of a bizarre Missing Persons case involving a mysterious half-drowned man living one foot below the surface of the Atlantic ocean.

MISSING PERSONS is an entirely CGI-generated film, rendered in "toon-style" 3D using custom software. (RT: 86 mins.)

The 9th edition of International Short Film Festival "Leuven Kort" is a celebration of short cinema. The festival holds an international competition for live-action short films and a non-competitive program for digifilm and music videos. Two prizes will be awarded in the live-action competition: the "Prize of the Audience" and the "Prize of the Jury.