The World of Comedy International Film Festival has put out a call for feature film and shorts entries for its third annual event in Toronto Feb. 9-13, 2005. In addition to the film competition, the 2004 festival will host a series of workshops and panels to foster the further development of those interested in comedy filmmaking.

The festival is looking for submissions for both features and shorts in the following categories: narrative, animation, mockumentary, experimental and documentaries about comedy and/or personalities involved in comedic filmmaking. The early deadline for submissions is September 30, 2004 and the final deadline is October 29, 2004. For further information go to www.worldcomedyfilmfest.com.

The World of Comedy International Film Festival is a non-profit organization created to celebrate the artistry and power of comedy films.

The World Science Fiction Convention is the pre-eminent gathering of professionals and fans of all forms of science fiction in the World. This 64th installment will include hundreds of speakers, panel discussions, workshops, and seminars covering SF and Fantasy in films, TV, and literature, as well as science and space, costuming, etc. There will also be a special 40th anniversary celebration of Star Trek with actors, writers, and behind-the-scenes technicians from all of the incarnations of the series. Exhibits include a 300 table dealers area, a 20,000 sq. ft. art show, and tens of thousands of feet of exhibits ranging from props and FX miniatures from Star Trek and other SF films and shows, a display of matte and production art, customized vehicles, robots, '50s robot, rocket, and raygun toys, and lots more. Also, the Hugo Awards will be presented at the convention. The World Science Fiction Convention only gets to Southern California once every 10 years or so.

Founded in August 1961, WorldFest is the third oldest competitive International film festival in North America. It gave first honors and awards to Spielberg, George Lucas, Randall Kleiser, Ridley Scott, Ang Lee, The Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriguez and many more. It screens 50-60 new features and around 100 new shorts, in 35mm and digital video DLP projection in a large commercial theater complex. The event provides great networking as more than 450 international filmmakers attend, and the general audience exceeds 25,000 at the 10-day event. There is an awards gala, parties, Texas BBQ, regatta on the bay, VIP tour of NASA, Festival Club (no stinkin' badges required) and six professional production seminars. For more information, visit http://www.filmfestivalspro.com/bulletin/03/oct/houston.shtml.

The Worldwide Short Film Festival is fast becoming one of the world's premier short film festivals, presenting the finest short films from around the world and attracting buyers and distributors. Highlights of this year's event include: a Spotlight on Mexico; Classic Silent Shorts; Animators Perspective program; Midnight Mania, Celebrity Shorts, Award-Winners from around the world; More than $40,000 in cash and prizes; and Short Films, BIG IDEAS: A Symposium on the Art and Commerce of Short Filmmaking. The event is accredited by the Academy Awards. For more information, visit www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com.

The Wrexham Science Film Festival is looking for short films between 30 seconds and 10 minutes based on the theme of science. The deadline for entering your short films is the 20th March 2007. To find out more information about the film festival and the Wrexham Science Festival please visit http://www.scifilm.co.uk

The Science Festival is the very last event of an 8 day science festival where Cosgrovehall Films, Hot Animations and Mackinnon & Saunders will be exhibiting and running seminars during the 8 day festival. There could be some fantastic opportunities for film makers and animators who enter the Science Film Festival as your shorts films will be seen be a whole range of industry professionals and also some great opportunities for networking and finding those valuable leads and contacts. You can enter as many films as you like, so longs they relate to science in one way or another. You can download a submission form from http://www.scifilm.co.uk

The Los Angreles Chapter meeting of SIGGRAPH will feature "making of" presentations of the visual effects in X2: X-MEN UNITED , as well as a special screening of the movie at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Academy of Motion Picture Artists & Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. Artists from Cinesite and Rhythm & Hues will be on hand to discuss the creation of innovative effects from Nightcrawler's teleportation to Storm's tornados. Event is sponsored by Side Effects Software, whose Houdini 3D software was used extensively throughout the film. Speakers scheduled to appear: Doug Bloom Tornado Effects Lead Rhythm & Hues Mike O'Neal Lead Effects Animator Rhythm & Hues Greg Anderson CG Supervisor Cinesite Arnon Manor CG Supervisor Cinesite Craig "X-Ray" Halpern CG Effects TD Cinesite Meeting is free for members and $10 for non-members. For more information visit: www.la.siggraph.org

Sin City now has its own convention dedicated to the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, imaginative art in all its guises and influence on technology. From rockets-to-the-moon to your garage band podcast, traditional art to CGI and digital graphics, movie magic, independent film to imaginative literature old and new. Robert J. Sawyer is the author guest of honor and internationally known master of gothic art Brom is the artist guest of honor. Oscar-winning vfx technician Joe Viskocil will be the media guest of honor.

Check out demonstrations of the leading software and pick up pointers from the pros. There will be movies, panels and demonstrations, things to buy and things to try and parties.

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The next meeting of the Los Angeles XSI user group will take place at Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood. Blur Studio will show their short film GENTELMEN'S DUEL. In addition, Andrew Jones from Pixel Liberation Front will discuss linear lighting. Technology and production issues will also be tackled. Beer, drinks and pizza will be served and door prizes will be given away. Gnomon School of Visual Effects is located at 1015 North Cahuenga, Hollywood, California 90038. Door open at 7:00 pm with the presentations beginning at 7:30 pm. For additional information, visit www.xsila.com/.

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.

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.