The 8th Hollywood Film Festival is a celebration of the art of film. The event features a three-day Hollywood conference from Oct. 15-17, featuring networking with Hollywood pros. Each year top executives, producers, agents and others from such companies as Columbia/TriStar, Paramount, Walt Disney, Miramax, New Line, Fox Searchlight, the Samuel Goldwyn Co., NBC, Overseas Filmgroup, CAA, ICM, Metropolitan, William Morris, Writers & Artists, and many others, participate as panelists. HFF screens the finalist features, documentaries and shorts. Festival parties and special events include an Opening Night Premiere and a Closing Night Premiere. The Hollywood Movie Awards Ceremony takes place on the final day of the festival. The event also offers a screenwriting contest. For more information contact the Hollywood Film Festival at 433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600, Beverly Hills, California 90210, tel: (310) 288-1882, or visit www.hollywoodfilmfestival.com.

HypeFest is a unique festival that links independent ideas with commercial creativity, boasting an attendance of more than 1,000 filmgoers, which showcases more than 80 original short-subject works from filmmakers around the world. The weekend-long screenings and festivities conclude with an awards show. HypeFest is accepting short films (40 minutes or less), commercials, music videos and promos for competition screening. Early Entry Fee is $35; Student (w/ID): $20 with a deadline of February 16, 2003. For more information, visit www.hypefest.com.

AVIT is a community based and led organization dedicated to creating a place where artists, developers, educators and manufacturers from all around the world can come and share their knowledge with each other. AVIT aims to help those who are eager to learn about the tools and techniques available for live audio/video performance and to provide a platform for performance.

The objective is to bring together both established and up-and-coming artists within the field of live audio-visual arts and new media, thus creating a space to explore and share views and techniques. To further raise the profile of this new media to educators, curators and related industry leaders, to introduce the artists to the technology and the manufacturers and developers to the artists.

The Wednesday, April 14th program begins at 7:30 PM with a special Basque Cinema Night featuring the Los Angeles Premiere of ERE ERERA BALEIBU ICIK SUBUA ARUAREN, (1968-1970, 75 min, silent.) directed by Jos

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an exciting World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) open standard enabling high-quality, dynamic, interactive, stylable graphics to be delivered over the Web using accessible, human-readable XML. SVG can be delivered to mobile phones, PDAs, and desktop computers.

At the SVG Open 2004 Conference you will have the opportunity to learn about the SVG standard, how to use it to create effective and compelling Web content, techniques for developing SVG software solutions, and the latest developments from the W3C. You will meet the authors of the SVG specifications and the creators of SVG applications in person, and you will have the opportunity to provide your own input for future development. At the SVG Open 2004 Exhibition, you will get a chance to see the newest SVG applications and tools at work, and you will hear early announcements of upcoming SVG product releases. SVG Open 2004 courses will enlighten you on SVG, XML and related standards, graphic design and Web application design. Courses will be available at both introductory and advanced levels, in order to serve the needs of all conference attendees.

This month's CATNAP meeting features Jim Rohn, formerly of Midway Gaming, who will examine the development process for games. He will walk through the pre-visualization process from storyboard to 3D layout in Maya. The meeting begins at 1:00 pm with networking. Bring works for the open screening session as well as technical questions you may have. The new meeting location is the Illinois Institute of Art, 180 N. Wabash (corner Lake and Wabash), Room 234 in downtown Chicago.

iBreakfast will be tackling the issue of venture capital. Topics will include: how the venture capitalists view this market; how to get funded today; and how the Smart Money views the long-term prospects of the Tech/Digital Media economy. Moderated by Alan Brody, the panel will be comprised of Kay Koplovitz, the founder of USA Networks and the SCI Fl Channel and a principal at investment firm Koplovitz & Co.; Stephen Brotman, founder of Silicon Alley Venture Partners; and SALVATORE TIRABASSI, board member of Dolphin. The networking breakfast will run from 7:30 - 8:30 am with the presentations running from 8:30 - 10:00 am at 100 Park Ave. The discussion is $50 for members and $60 for non-members in advance. To register, visit http://www.etvworld.com/iBreakfast/Reg.htm. For more information, visit www.ibreakfast.com or call (212) 624-9110 or (800) 273-2832.

AVANCA

1st Annual Portfolios.com Awards Show will highlight the best advertising, graphic design, Web design, photography and illustration of 2003. An international panel of judges will judge online, and the Winners' Showcase will be announced and shown online. For more information, visit www.portfolios.com/award, e-mail customerservice@portfolios.com or call (800) 303-9277 ext. 261.

CgA World 2004 heralds India's first international show dedicated to computer graphics, animation and interactive techniques. CgA will be an international expo on the latest computer graphics and animation technology and solutions. The event hopes to pull a large gathering of 2D and 3D application tools, engineers and developers. STUDIO SYSTEMS, the magazine for special effects, graphics and animation, will be the organizer of CgA. The event will attract buyers from the entire spectrum of applications of graphics and 2D / 3D animation. The exhibits shall focus on all market segments, as in: simulations and scientific visualization for automotive, aviation, defense, space, etc., product design, engineering solutions, games, interactive techniques, cartoons, television, films, GIS and imaging. The trade show