CVMP, the European Conference on Visual Media Production (www.cvmp-conference.org), is now announcing its call for submissions. The conference takes place on 12th and 13th November 2009 at the BFI Southbank, London. Now in the sixth year of CVMP, a new management team is injecting fresh momentum to this unique event, which brings together practitioners in media production from the film, broadcast and games industries with leading academics and researchers in imaging and graphics. The two-day conference will provide a dynamic forum for the exchange of knowledge between researchers and media industry specialists working at the cutting-edge of visual media production and delivery. CVMP has traditionally been held at the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology), but has a new, larger venue for 2009, and a dedicated team that will develop and expand the event and associated activities. The conference chairman is Dr Oliver Grau, lead technologist at BBC Research & Development, with Adrian Hilton, from University of Surrey, the programme chair. The CVMP organising committee is comprised of Bill Collis, CEO at The Foundry, Simon Robinson chief scientist at The Foundry, Anil Kokaram of Trinity College, Ireland, Tom Evans of Wavecrest Systems Ltd, and Dr Graham Thomas, principal research engineer at BBC Research & Development. Conference secretary is Abi Bowman, project manager at The Foundry. This year, the latest research developments will be presented together with real-world, industry applications, combining to deliver a unique melting pot of ideas and experience. The event promises to be fascinating and informative, with a lineup that already includes Matt Welford, head of compositing at Weta Digital (THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN, KING KONG, THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy), Professor Marc Pollefeys from ETHZ and Dr Toni Mateos of Barcelona Media. Special sessions this year are 'Advanced Technology in Post Production', and 'Capturing 3D Worlds'. CVMP will also address the increasing demand for 3D stereoscopic content and delivery for emerging platforms such as e-cinema, high-resolution home displays and interactive media, which are all fuelling the development of new technology and approaches. The 'Call for Papers' is now live at www.cvmp-conference.org for those who would like to submit papers on innovative research and practical applications related to media production, along with a comprehensive list of suggested topics. Registration for CVMP 2009, (Full rate: GBP 300 / Retired/Student rate GBP 150) is also live on the CVMP website. The Best papers from CVMP 2008 will be published in a special issue of JVRB (Journal of Virtual Reality and Broadcasting) and the conference proceedings will be published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

The Holland Animation Film Festival is from now on an annual event and the 13th edition of the festival will take place November 4-8, 2009.

Submit your film for this festival edition for the following competitions:

-- Competition for Independent Animated Shorts in the categories narrative and non-narrative
-- Competition for Applied Animation in the categories commercials, educational films, music videos and leaders

The entry forms for these competitions are available at www.haff.nl. Through this entry forms, Dutch productions for both competitions (as well independent and applied) can also apply for the Competition for Best Dutch Animation. A prize will be awarded by the audience.

Deadline for all entries: July 1, 2009.

Holland Animation Film Festival is a unique five-day international meeting place for all professionals, animation lovers, producers, students, upcoming talents and all interested audiences. Featuring retrospectives, thematic programs, master classes, talk shows, exhibitions, installations, SFX/VFX and much more.

ANIMA'09 will take place in the city of Cordoba, Argentina, from October 8 through 10, 2009. The festival is organized by the Centro Experimental de Animacion and the Secretaria de Extension Universitaria, National University of Cordoba. This fifth edition of the ANIMA will be dedicated to exploring the concept of Identity Traits. Therefore, we open the following: -- Call for entries, for short and feature animation films of every genre and topic. Special interest is granted to those films where the filmmaker's expressive intention stands out from marketing requirements; and also to school productions. Participation is open for animation movies from all over the world - produced for theatrical screenings, television, video or the Internet - with special interest in those from Latin America. -- Call for papers and multimedia presentations on the concept "Identity Traits" No Entry Fee Call for entries has been extended until July 17, 2009 Deadlines: July 3, 2009 (Film, video and television animation entries) July 3, 2009 (Papers and Multimedia presentation entries) July 17, 2009 (Internet animation entries) Rules and Entry Form are available at the festival's website, http://www.animafestival.com.ar The festival will also hold a series of non-competitive screenings, seminars, workshops, specialized forums, retrospectives, and a meeting point.

eDIT The Filmmaker's Festival is an international platform for filmmakers from all production disciplines to meet and share ideas to make them better filmmakers. The goal is to advance the specific parts of the production process with a common purpose of creating better storytelling through understanding. Extraordinary worldwide filmmakers present their work to educate, entertain and inspire their fellow artists in a warm and personal state of the art environment. Industrial Light & Magic will present the Visual Effects of STAR TREK and TERMINATOR SALVATION at eDIT 12. Filmmaker's Festival at October 4-6, 2009.

5D|09 The Immersive Design Conference will take place October 1-3, 2009 on the campus of California State University, Long Beach, co-produced by the Art Directors Guild and the University Art Museum.

Last year’s event, which united 1,000 diversified entertainment industry professionals and students, explored the latest ideas in the practice of immersive design from such speakers as Henry Jenkins (MIT), Gore Verbinski (director), Paola Antonelli (MOMA), Mike Benson (ABC Ent.) and Sebastian Sylwan (Autodesk), among others.

For more information about 5D visit: www.5dconference.com.

Don’t miss out on attending the GPU Technology Conference, taking place Sept. 30 – Oct. 2 in San Jose, CA. Hosted by NVIDIA, this conference is sure to be the most significant event in 2009 dedicated to application development on the GPU.

This one-of-a-kind event will allow developers, engineers, researchers, and business executives to see first-hand how GPUs are being utilized to solve the world’s most important computing challenges. The conference will feature senior programmers, researchers and thought-leaders from across a vast range of fields presenting a multitude of technical sessions, tutorials, panels, showcases and moderated roundtables on everything from interactive ray tracing and 3D digital entertainment, to seismic processing and computational finance. To view the schedule, visit: https://nvidiagtc.wingateweb.com/scheduler/schedule/eventDayView.jsp or follow @nvidiadeveloper on Twitter.

A wide range of NVIDIA customers and partners will be attending the conference, including:

•Adobe
•Allegorithmic
•Apple Inc.
•Autodesk
•BorisFX
•Chevron
•Harvard University
•Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
•Lucasfilm
•Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab
•mental images
•Oak Ridge National Laboratory
•RTT USA
•Schlumberger
•The Portland Group
•Tokyo Institute of Technology
•University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
•Walt Disney Animation Studios

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, from 1-2:30 p.m., hear th

Delcam will hold its 2009 ArtCAM User Group Meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Kansas City, from 30th September to 2nd October. The event will open with a special networking evening at Hallmark Cards, one of the largest ArtCAM users in North America. This will be followed by two days of workshops on the latest versions of the software. In today's economy, everyone is looking for ways to be more competitive and more profitable. With this in mind, Delcam has decided to focus on ways of improving skill level and productivity at the meeting. The first day will be a general session covering core modelling functionality, 2D & 3D design styles, tips and tricks and what's to come in the 2010 version of ArtCAM. "Already used by many signmakers, cabinet-makers, and furniture manufacturers, this new version is set to further increase the use of ArtCAM in the three-dimensional world," said Ed Powell, ArtCAM Product Manager. ArtCAM 2010 will include a new modernised graphical user interface, direct interactivity and improvements to the core performance by utilizing GPU Acceleration and CPU multi-threading. As with previous versions, ArtCAM development continues to be designed around simplifying the workflow so that even beginners to CNC technology can start using the program as quickly as possible. More advanced users will appreciate the direct 3D interaction and the ability to customise their favourite toolsets. The use of multi-threading will enhance the toolpath calculation performance making ArtCAM even faster and more efficient. In addition toolpath strategies can now be associated with vector layers, making it easier to machine complicated nested patterns. The second day will be focused to specific industries and the related software. "We believe the second day split is the best way for our delegates to effectively make use of the time they have available," said Mary Shaw, Delcam Marketing Manager. "This year during this time we will be looking at the most practical combination of techniques and ideas to transform and improve what you can do with ArtCAM." "Both new and experienced users are often amazed how much they can learn by attending the User Group and learning from real world experience and expertise that is available," added Ms. Shaw. "As well as learning from the Delcam ArtCAM team, probably the best reason to attend a User Group is to meet other users of ArtCAM and learn from them." Like the online forum, the User Group is an opportunity to catch up with friends, find out about other equipment and materials and be inspired by the different uses and applications on show from ArtCAM customers. "Delegates will learn a lot about what is possible for them to achieve and be motivated when they return to their businesses to make ArtCAM an even more productive part of it," said Ms. Shaw. Once again, there will be a design competition in conjunction with the User Group. "We will once again be opening up the floor to our users to show us some of the excellent projects they've been working on," explained Ms. Shaw. Categories will be judged based on industry and product type with the prizes and winners being announced during the User Group. Entries for the competition can be submitted at www.artcam.com/promos/ug2009/index.htm For more information on the ArtCAM User Meeting, call the Delcam North American office at 1 877 335 2261 or email Jackie at jackie@delcam.com.

Celeste Prize is a unique international contemporary arts competition in which artists decide who wins the 40,000 Euro (US$50,000) award money. The 46 finalists are chosen by a panel of international art critics: Mark Gisbourne, Adrienne Goehler, Victoria Lu, Claudio Sinatti and a panel of consultants with experience in audiovisual performance. These 46 finalists themselves choose the ultimate winners in each category. Exhibition and awards ceremony to be held in Berlin, Germany, September 2009. Artists may enter work in Video, Animation, Performance, Live Media, Live Audio Video Performance, Painting, Photography, Installation, Sculpture, or DJ/VJ Set. Awards: Photography & Digital Graphics Prize: 8,000 Euro (US$10,000) Video & Animation Prize: 8,000 Euro (US$10,000) Installation & Sculpture Prize: 8,000 Euro (US$10,000) Live Media Prize: 8,000 Euro (US$10,000) Painting Prize: 8,000 Euro (US$10,000) Entry fee: 80 Euro (US$100) Deadline: June 30 2009 Register & apply online at http://www.celesteprize.com. Celeste Prize is organized by the non-profit cultural association Associazione Culturale L'Albero Celeste.

The Jamaica Digital Arts Festival was formed to create a new opportunity to unleash and showcase some of the nation's productive energy and to develop a critical mass across all social divides to push this creativity for societal benefit. This festival is intended to kick-start national interest in a cultural industry based on the creation of digital arts products. This year, the opportunities for learning will be even bigger and better than 2007. Seminars will be delivered by experts from Jamaica and the Caribbean in cutting edge areas such as: Jamaica and the animation industry -- what prospects; A close look at the RED Camera Technology and Fine Art; The Future of Digital Sound Reproduction; Your Digital Camera and you and much more. Categories will be as follows: * Short video/films - up to 15 minutes. May be narrative, dramatic or animation * Long video/films - 15 minutes & over. May be narrative, dramatic or animation * Web design * Digital art - 3D art, animation, VR, games, etc. * Photography * Music Entries must have a development related focus in one of the following areas: * Tourism / Hospitality / Entertainment & Music / Community Development / Agriculture / Education & Training Within the categories there will be two classes -- professionals and students/hobbyists. Admission Free, See You There!

The First Annual Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival runs September 18 through 20, 2009. The complete festival schedule will be announced in August. Tickets will be made available online as well as in designated ticket venues. For more information on the festival, including descriptions of films and events, please visit www.mifff.org. MIFFF produces the Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival, the premier Pacific Northwest weekend-long event devoted towards independent and international genre film making. The event was created to offer exposure to films that traditionally are overlooked by the festival circuit from genres including animation, fantasy, horror, and science fiction. The festival will feature an amazing selection of fantastic cinema from around the globe -- with the possibility of artists presenting the works themselves. U.S. and world premieres will play alongside global festival favorites and select retrospective titles. MIFFF is registered as a Washington State non-profit. MIFFF's mission is to create experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary genre movies from across the globe.