NewTek Inc., manufacturer of video and 3D animation products, will offer free live demonstrations of its products at http://demo.newtek.com beginning on March 18 and 19. Produced and streamed using NewTek TriCaster portable live production systems, each session will be held every two weeks and will focus on one NewTek product line. Visit http://demo.newtek.com for session focus information, dates, start times and sign-up form. The products to kick off the NewTek DEMOS are: NewTek TriCaster (March 18, 3 p.m. EST): With TriCaster, anyone can produce network-style live video and distribute the event simultaneously to Web, video and projector. A single operator or small team can produce a live show while switching between as many as six cameras with two VCR's, multi-channel effects and NewTek's proprietary LiveSet virtual sets. TriCaster is used by sports organizations, government agencies, broadcasters, schools and others to provide a new level of extended programming and content to their audiences. NewTek 3PLAY (March 19, 3 p.m. EST): A multi-channel High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) instant replay and slow motion system that delivers simultaneous display, recording, and instant replay of up to three video streams and four digital or analog audio streams per input. 3PLAY supports both NTSC and PAL formats and can be connected to any production switcher. 3PLAY gives sports broadcasters, leagues, teams and schools an affordable option to deliver instant replay and slow motion for broadcasts, webcasts, arena scoreboard displays and more. The TriCaster family of products in NTSC is available in North America starting at $3,995. The TriCaster family of products is available in multi-standard internationally beginning at $5,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, visit www.NewTek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441, international callers dial +1-210-370-8000. NewTek 3PLAY is slated to ship at the end of Q1 2009. 3PLAY will be available in North America at $21,995, and internationally starting at $24,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, visit www.NewTek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441, international callers dial +1-210-370-8000.

Experimental animation was presented as fine art by its creators long before the art world acknowledged William Kentridge's work, the widely-accepted marker to distinguish animation a "legitimate" language in fine art. Looking beyond the constraining nomenclature of cartoon inherited from Sergei Eisenstein and forwarded by Gilles Deleuze and Rosalind Krauss, this panel visits an earlier history of art practice and critical thinking in experimental animation that was passed over by art history and then relegated to film history, where it was equally ignored. Considered neither art nor film, experimental animation dropped out of critical consideration entirely from its 1921 origins in the first experimental animation film, OPUS I by Walter Ruttmann, until the early 1970's with the writings of Louise O'Konor (on Viking Eggeling), Standish Lawder (on experimental film), William Moritz (on Oskar Fischinger), and Jeanpaul Goergen (on Walter Ruttman). With seminal texts by P. Adams Sitney, VISIONARY FILM: THE AMERICAN AVANT-GARDE (1974), and Cecile Starr and Robert Russett's EXPERIMENTAL ANIMATION: AN ILLUSTRATED ANTHOLOGY (1976), a nascent canon of critical art history in experimental animation was formed. The panel will take place on Friday, February 27 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in Concourse Meeting Room 408B, Level 2 in the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Offering an up close view of the latest in cinema, television, and related technologies, and insight into the ideas that will shape the industry's future, the Hollywood Post Alliance's 15th Annual HPA Technology Retreat will be held February 17-20 at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, California. The 4-Day Tech Retreat has become the premier event in the broadcast and post production industry, providing a forum for industry leaders and technologists to review new technology developments and exchange ideas in an environment unadulterated by sales and marketing hype. Featuring top executives and researchers from Hollywood studios, broadcast networks, manufacturers, artists, and even the military, the event draws from all over the world. Highlights of this year's event include a Super Session entitled "Insight/Foresight: Visions of the Future." Speakers will include Steve Weinstein, CEO of MovieLabs, the research organization established by the major Hollywood studios, who will discuss emerging technologies for the distribution and use of motion pictures. Other presentations at that session will cover the evolution of human perception and such seemingly impossible laboratory technologies as the ability to change focus after a scene is shot. The Technology Retreat this year will also feature special presentations from the BBC on the extraordinary sharpness of high frame rate viewing, from the European Broadcasting Union on the issue of concatenated-compression, and from a Bollywood lab on maintaining a cinematographer's desired look via online techniques. Warner Bros.' Wendy Aylsworth will moderate a session on new advances in stereoscopy, from shooting through transmission to display. Other presentations will cover such topics as the future of broadcasting, the quest for a new reference display, advanced processing hardware, software, and storage technologies, and spatial hearing. The program will also include two days of the famed Breakfast Roundtables, with no-holds-barred discussions of dozens of hot topics, from the impact of the current economic downturn on the digital-cinema rollout to the brand-new industry DVP initiative for file-based masters. The Demo Room, where Panasonic once introduced its variable-frame-rate digital camcorder technology (later sold as the Varicam) and Sony once introduced low-compression high-quality HDTV recording technology (later sold as HDCAM SR) each year features new technologies not shown before. Among this year's more-than-60 demonstrations are full-color, motion holography and a "telepresence" system that allows separated work collaborators to appear to be in the same room. A special post-retreat feature will be a presentation on the Metropolitan Opera's Emmy-award-winning Live Global Cinemacasts and how alternative content is providing new revenue streams for theaters and new outlets for content developers. In addition, on Tuesday morning, ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) will present a half-day summit on "Audio Loudness & Lip-Sync," and Charles Poynton, the person who came up with the 1080-line figure for HDTV, will hold a half-day workshop on the mathematics of HDTV and Digital Cinema. Registration and a complete program are available on the HPA's website at www.hpaonline.com. For additional assistance, please contact the Hollywood Post Alliance office at 213-614-0860. The Technology Retreat is sponsored by the Hollywood Post Alliance, serving the professional community of businesses and individuals who provide expertise, support, tools and the infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, television, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content.

The Canada International Film Festival brings the best of world cinema to Canada and plays an important role in maintaining and further enriching its film culture. The Canada International Film Festival has quickly carved out a name for itself among the top film festivals in Canada. It accepts films of any type, in any genre, from over 90 countries around the world. The festival is dedicated to the creation of opportunities for the artistic interaction and exchange among independent filmmakers and the film-going community.

This year IAF 5th will be held in the Pera Museum November 24-30, 2008. 5th Istanbul Animation and Visual Effects Short Film Competition applications are available until September 17. Competitors can apply by going to www.iafistanbul.com.

To check news of IAF 5th visit http://www.iafistanbul.com/index_en.php.

Held in Swansea, Wales, SAND is a U.K. conference event for CGI animation, digital content and creation, attracting visitors and speakers from around the world, holding sessions on computer games, procedural animation, films, post production techniques, TV commercials and motion capture. Now in its ninth year, the conference is organized by Swansea Metropolitan University in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government. SAND Business and SAND Papers: Monday, November 24 SAND Interactive (Games): Tuesday, November 25 SAND Games: Wednesday, November 26 SAND Film, TV & SFX: Thursday, November 27 SAND Film: Friday, November 28 This year, Double Negative, the SoHo effects studio that created many vfx sequences for HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY and THE DARK KNIGHT, will attend, as well as THE PEARCE SISTERS' award winning creator Luis Cook of Aardman Animations and Blitz Games (SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, AMERICAN IDOL). Tim Allen will be leading this year's "Claymation" workshop for clay and stop-frame animation on November 16. Allen is an experienced freelance stop motion animator working on many successful series and films including CREATURE COMFORTS USA, Tim Burton's CORPSE BRIDE and the Oscar winning PETER & THE WOLF. "Acting for Animators" guru, Ed Hooks, returns to lead this professional workshop on November 24 designed for animators, new media designers, games designers and teachers who want their characters to convince their audience. Hooks is a pioneer in acting training, designed specifically for animators, having taught at most major studios including DreamWorks/PDI, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Electronic Arts. Anime expert Jonathan Clements of Muramasa Industries discusses "Storylining in a Corporate Environment" on November 26. Aspiring writers, designers and animators are all welcome -- as in the real world, the workshop will comprise group efforts to reach saleable solutions. Clements is a scriptwriter for media as diverse as DOCTOR WHO on the radio, the computer game HALCYON Sun, and the Sci Fi channel show SAIKO EXCITING. Independent Animator Rick Villenueve's workshop "Animated Thought Showers" on November 27 provides a practical approach on how to develop and present animation concepts for specific medias, from television series to feature films, independent short films to interactive games. Villenueve's television & film work includes the BEATRIX POTTER series and FERNGULLY, THE LAST RAINFOREST. Escape Studios are holding the Maya Workshop on November 26 for intermediate/advanced level, covering specific aspects of the Autodesk Maya software package. Throughout the conference week there are also animation and live action screenings (Including Studio AKA's VARMINTS, PERSEPOLIS, as well as THE DARK KNIGHT), professional sector workshops and business seminars. The conference is open to the public and runs over five themed days held mostly at the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea. Visit www.smu.ac.uk/SAND to purchase tickets and for more information on the SAND 2008 program. Prices range from 10 pounds for a 1 Day Conference Pass to 80 pounds for a 5 Day Conference Pass.

Thousands of game fans and marketers will converge on the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Taking place November 22-23, VGXPO is an event that provides companies in video game, technology, sci-fi, comic book and related fields an opportunity to showcase products to gamers and pop-culture fans. For gamers, VGXPO gives them an opportunity to experience the newest games and technology; encounter game industry legends; compete in tournaments; rock out at music concerts; compete in cos-play contests; buy games; and meet with friends. Included in these events is the Intel Extreme Masters Continental Finals Americas gaming competition -- an event with $80,000 in prize money. The winners will compete against the world's best teams at the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals in 2009.

Your look into the future of imaging starts November 18 as the industry's most innovative minds from around the world meet for 6Sight 2008. As visual communication advances in new and previously unimaginable ways, 6Sight explores industry challenges, proposes dynamic solutions, and lets business leaders like you plan for new opportunities. The 6Sight Future of Imaging Conference examines how cutting-edge imaging technologies and the new ways they are being used are transforming people's lives in their personal, work and community spheres. It explores future directions for devices used to capture, display and manage digital still and video images, and the drivers and implications of the explosion of user-generated visual content. Innovative technologies and services are featured and demonstrated - often for the first time in a public setting. Senior executives from the imaging, technology and telecommunications industries; leading scientists; academics; investors; and others who are shaping the future of imaging share their perspective and knowledge in a dynamic and informal environment. One of technology's revolutionary voices, Guy Kawasaki kicks off 6Sight 2008 with the AIE Official Business Session Keynote Address. Kawasaki is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an "online magazine rack" of popular topics on the Web.

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

This gathering of VIEW Conference will take place November 11-14, with the theme of "Digital Transformations." Will Wright, the universally acclaimed creator of SIMCITY, THE SIMS, and SPORE, and Brad Lewis, producer of the Academy Award winning film RATATOUILLE and director of the upcoming Pixar film CARS 2, will both be speaking at VIEW Conference.

The VIEW Award is seeking applicants. The VIEW Award is seeking the best 3D Shorts, Best 3D Designs, Best Environmental Design/Best Digital Matte Painting, Best 3D Character, and Best Digital Visual Effects. The deadline to submit your work is October 15.

More information and application forms can be found at http://www.viewconference.it/2008contest.php. The program for the conference and festival are now available on the site.