From December 3-10, film fans flock to Leuven. For the 17th year straight, the International Short Film Festival Leuven offers a broad and very colorful selection of the best short film has to offer. Expect hundreds of new shorts, animation films, videos, documentaries and innovative cross-overs, selected out of thousands of international entries. The festival is a round-up of a great year in cinema, but also looks at the future. Besides being a platform for the short film medium, it also acts as a major talent hunt, where tomorrow’s filmmakers are able to present their first professional productions.

Festival Highlights

EUROPE IN SHORTS: Sundance, Clermont Ferrand, Regensburg, Hamburg, Locarno… our festival team travelled all over the world in search of the very best European short films. Once home, we go through over 2000 entries and select only forty, the cream of the crop of European shorts. The European competition shows films from over 17 countries.  In the non-competitive programmes dozens of new European shorts will be screened, in sections as "The Labo", "Short Films for Children", "Animation Nations" and "Finest Irish Shorts".MILESTONES IN SHORT FILM HISTORY: Milestones in Short Film History” is a collection of the most influential short films made throughout a century of cinematic history. It entails thirty movies produced between 1900 en 2000 that are typical of certain movements and evolutions in movie history or that introduced new techniques, procedures, styles, genres or directors. Together with the programma, the ISFFL presents a publication with the same title (Dutch-English) in witch all films are discussed.SHORT FILM COMPETITION:The ISFFL organises a Flemish and European Short Film Competition in which audience awards and jury awards are being granted. Besides the ISFFL awards the Flanders Audiovisual Fund grants 5 “Wildcards” for new Flemish film talent. The value of the prizes reaches almost 300.000 euro. The winners are announced at the award ceremony, on the last day of the festival, December 10thINDUSTRY ACTIVITIES: Each year, the International Short Film Festival welcomes countless young filmmakers and film professionals from all over the world. This edition boasts quite a few professional activities this year: an info session about Crowdfunding (organised by MEDIA Desk Flanders and SACD), a 2-day seminar about the Short Film in Flanders, a lecture by the Danish-American short film professor Richard Raskin “Story Design in Short fiction Film” and many more.

The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film was founded in 1982 and is one of the biggest and most important festivals of animation film worldwide. More than 50.000 spectators and 1.500 professionals are attending the festival. Over 50,000 euros prize money in total is awarded in seven competition categories. The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film works in close relation with fmx 2010, Europe’s biggest conference on animation, effects, games and interactive media.

The 17th International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart / Germany (4.-9. May 2010) invites international advertising agencies, filmmakers and production companies to submit their films to our international competition Under Commission until January 29th 2010. Under Commission is the competition for commissioned animations. Prizes are awarded in the categories animated music video, commercials and TV trailer. Any animated commissioned film of the categories commercial spot, music video and TV ident including computer generated animation and combinations of life action and animation completed after October 01, 2008 may participate. There is no entry fee.

Four films will be nominated in each category. The award ceremony will be taking place during the festival (4.-9. May 2010). The Art Directors Club of Germany ADC, the Art Directors Club of Europe ADC*E and the Art Directors Club New York are cooperation partners.

More information is available at our homepage. There you can also download the submission form, rules & regulations as well as the call for entries. Online submissions can be made at Reelport.

The 17th Woods Hole Film Festival is one of the premiere independent film festivals in New England and is dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers, with a special section for filmmakers from New England. Held each summer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the Woods Hole Film Festival is seeking film and screenplay entries. More information can be found at www.woodsholefilmfestival.org or by emailing info@woodsholefilmfestival.org.

Between May 3rd and 8th 2011 Stuttgart will once again become the centre of international animation films. For the 18th time, the Festival of Animated Film invites directors, production companies, distributors and international sales companies to present their animated films. The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) was founded in 1982 and is one of the largest and most important festivals for animated film worldwide. Prize money of 61,000 Euros is awarded in seven competition categories.

A pre-selection jury made up of renowned experts from the animated film industry has chosen a range of top-class films from all the entries. These include, for example, Oscar-winner “The Lost Thing” by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann and “Princess’ Painting” the newest film from Ludwigsburg’s Studio Soi nominated for the Oscar in 2011. Furthermore, the Festival’s supporting programme also glitters with Hollywood glamour. Ron Diamond, well-known producer and long-time member of the Academy, will be presenting his Oscar Show in the presence of several Oscar winners. The show will not only include films that have been nominated for or have won this famous award, but also animated film treasures which did not make it on to the shortlist despite being of excellent quality. .

In addition to the competitions with the newest films from all over the world, the supporting programme also includes exciting highlights such as school and studio presentations, showcases presenting famous animated artists, the ever popular Best-of-Animation-series and screenplay workshops with top-class personalities. With its enthusiastic audiences, unique location and numerous guests from all over the world, the Festival of Animated Film is now a permanent fixture on the international animation calendar and is an outstanding cultural event in Germany.

The upcoming Festival will be focussing on Switzerland. In recent years a flourishing animated film scene reflected in the Festival Fantoche in Baden, the Lucerne School of Art and Design and several studios, has developed and enjoys great international renown. In addition to the studio and school presentations, Swiss animation filmmakers and artists will be presenting their work – these include the well-known graphic designer Francois Chalet and the successful, young short film filmmaker Isabel Favez.

This year’s Festival places a particular focus on Egypt, too, which thanks to its current political situation is the topic of conversation at present. Egypt, in addition to South Africa, is the only African country with an animated film industry worth mentioning. Animated film enjoys a long tradition here and dates back to the late thirties of the last century. Thus the "Mish Mish Efendi" films produced by the Jewish Frenkel brothers by order of the Egyptian government were the first truly "African" animated films. The Festival of Animated film is dedicating a whole programme to these pioneers. Another item in the programme is a Retrospective, which provides an insight into the diverse history of Egyptian animated film from its beginnings to the present day. The ASIFA Egypt has also called upon African filmmakers to submit films which deal with the current political situation in northern Africa and the Arab region which will then be screened at the Festival. Mohamed Ghazala, managing director of ASIFA Egypt: "About animation on Revolution, actually ASIFA Egypt is working now on this topic among its members in Egypt and Tunisia and other Arab and African members. Hopefully it will be ready soon with an Arabian version of 'The Green Wave'.

The 18th annual Dusty Film and Animation Festival and Awards will showcase more than 100 films by students graduating from the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department at the School of Visual Arts. The program includes three days of screenings of short films, videos and animations; a screenwriters night, where professional actors read excerpts of screenplays by graduating seniors; and an awards ceremony and gala reception with notable presenters from the film industry.

Each year, outstanding achievements awards are presented in the following categories: screenwriting, cinematography, video, editing, directing, film, acting, traditional animation and stop-motion animation.

2007 Festival Schedule
* Tuesday, April 24: Screenwriters Night
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, 7:00 pm

* April 25 - 27: Screenings
Directors Guild Theater, 110 West 57 Street, 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

* Monday, April 30: Awards Ceremony
Directors Guild Theater, 110 West 57 Street, 6:30 pm

* Monday, April 30: Gala Reception
Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 118 West 57 Street, 8:30 - 10:30 pm

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.sva.edu.

Cine-X is the experimental segment of the Olympia Film Festival. The Olympia Film Festival is organized by the Olympia Film Society, a non-profit, independent, community-based organization showcasing screenings of independent, international and classic films year-round. Cine-X is looking for short experimental works. The entry fee is $10.

The 18th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference, held at Trinity University, has a theme

Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival, one of the UK's leading showcases and meeting points for emerging talent, returns to Bristol's harbourside from 18-23 September 2012. Join the festival for six days packed with screenings, workshops, networking, special guests and gala events, with a dazzling programme spanning film, visual art, animation, performance and music.

The full programme is now available online where you can also find delegate passes and tickets on sale. www.encounters-festival.org.uk

The Europa Cinema & TV - Viareggio Film Festival started in 1984 as a live-action, feature film festival. Since its 15th edition, EuropaCinema & TV has programmed animation to encourage its interaction with live-action cinema.
The festival features a selection of 12 European animated shorts; each of them is
programmed immediately before a feature film in competition. All works submitted must have their Italian premiere at the festival.

For the first time in festival's history animation is included in the competitive shorts section. Some 17 animated shorts, mainly from Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem, and Camera Obscura Art School, Tel Aviv, are competing. Special programs are dedicated to British animation. The festival also celebrates Aardman's 30th birthday with a compilation of over 100 commercials made at Aardman since 1984. Adding insight are 2 selections of British Animation Awards 2002 nominees. Program curated by Tsvika Oren.