This special media event puts the spotlight on the soundtrack. First held in 1998, it has featured creatives working at the highest levels of media and the arts including Walter Murch, Ren Klyce, Lynne Ramsay, Graham Hartstone, Christina Kubisch, Ken Loach, Carter Burwell, Tom Holman, Lucrecia Martel, Gabriel Yared, Richard Leacock, the Brothers Quay, Manfred Eicher and many others. This year's program features director Mike Figgis, multi-talented composer and dj Nitin Sawhney, documentary directors Kim Longinotto, Gideon Koppel and Michael Grigsby, and US avant garde filmmaker Phil Solomon. Three gifted sound designers -- Pat Jackson, Steve Munro and Daniel Deshays -- will explore film sound design in detail. They will be joined by sound artists Akio Suzuki - speaking with composer and writer David Toop - and Hildegard Westerkamp; neurologists Tim Griffiths and Lauren Stewart in discussion with Peter Howell (member of the former BBC Radiophonic Workshop), radio producer Piers Plowright and film educators Roger Crittenden and Stephen Deutsch. Peter Strickland will reflect on the production of the soundtrack for his first feature, KATALIN VARGA, whose sound team won "Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Sound Design" at the Berlin Film Festival. And Chris Petit, director of RADIO ON and a speaker at the 2005 SOS, will close out the event with a personal perspective on the use of song and music with image. This is a special opportunity to tune yourself in to how soundtracks are created and, more importantly, how they affect your audience. The SOS has gained a worldwide reputation by raising the profile of creative screen sound production. It now attracts an international audience of leading sound and music practitioners from over twenty-five countries who are drawn to its distinctive program revealing the soundtrack from unexpected perspectives. It is a truly international meeting - the only event of its kind in the world. Biographies of all the speakers can be found on the website, http://www.schoolofsound.co.uk/. Registrations are still being accepted. Contact them to assure your place before sending payment. For information about the program, fees and registering: www.schoolofsound.co.uk, sos@schoolofsound.co.uk, +44 (0)20 7724 6616.

The Los Angeles Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH presents the one night only event: "When Real is Not Enough". This presentation is the third in an ongoing series of panel discussions that examine where the race to photorealistic, realtime graphics and immersive experience is headed in our lifetime and beyond. This incarnation will focus on the creation of virtual humans.

DAY/DATE/TIME:
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
6:30 - 7:30 Social Hour
7:30 - 9:30 Program

LOCATION:
UCLA Design | Media Arts EDA Space
The Broad Art Center
UCLA Main Campus
Los Angeles, 90095-1456

PRESENTERS (subject to change):

Patrick Kenny - Virtual Human Research Scientist
USC Institute for Creative Technologies (Bio: http://la.siggraph.org/biography/kenny-patrick)

Diane Piepol (and WRINE producer) - Project Director, USC Institute for Creative Technologies
LA ACM SIGGRAPH Chapter Chair (Bio: http://la.siggraph.org/biography/piepol-diane)

Oleg Alexander - Lead Technical Artist, Image Metrics (Bio: http://la.siggraph.org/biography/alexander-oleg)

The South Beach International Animation Festival is seeking submissions for this annual event. From April 2-5, 2009 the festival will screen world and U.S. animated films including student and professional works of all varieties. Categories include advertising, new media, "Toons After Dark" and "Boomers" for animators over 50 and doing animation for the first time.

Screened at the Miami Beach Cinematheque on historic South Beach and various venues around Miami schedules include programs for both general and late night audiences. The festival has four days of screenings, public events including discussions, receptions, exhibits and demonstrations. This year the festival will include other art forms including comics, illustration, character and toy design, gaming, anime, motion graphics and gallery art.

Audiences and artist will be able to meet and mingle to discuss the works and the making of these films. The competitive event is open to all animated films regardless of technique, length or production date. SBIAF is the first film festival to offer a risk free entrance fee. If a film is not selected for festival screening the entire fee will be returned to the artist.

Animation legend John Canemaker will attend the next South Beach International Animation Film Festival. Canemaker is an independent animator and animation historian whose creative work has won international honors.

His Academy Award-winning film, THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION (2004), marks a personal and professional breakthrough in its treatment of a troubled father/son relationship, based on his own life.

He recently co-produced and directed animation sequences for CHUCK JONES: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD, a 26-minute documentary that premieres on Turner Classic Movies on March 24, 2009 at 8 p.m. EST.

MIPTV is the global content market for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment across all platforms. It provides a unique opportunity to meet the key decision-makers and discover future brands on a global level.

The KLDW Festival is the first mega Creative Event of its kind to be organized in Kuala Lumpur. To be making its inaugural mark in KL soon, KLDW 2009 promises a wide mix of creative thoughts and eclectic ideas, of imaginative programs and inspiring showcases, plus loads more under one grand event of "Show + Shine", to showcase what we don't have, and to enhance what we do have.

The contest is open to all forms of animation, from traditional techniques like hand-drawing to cutting-edge digital methods. 2D, 3D, rotoscoping, stop-motion and flip book. The winning animated film will get $2,500, be featured on TAC.tv and have the chance for broadcast on Super Channel. The past two contests have yielded some amazing animation: Elohim Sanchez was awarded $2,500 for his film, L'INTERPRETATION DES REVES OU LES AVENTURES DU ROBOT BLEU and most recently, David Wesch of Vancouver won first prize for his short, BLIND DATE. SuperU's animation contests are being held on a quarterly basis and after the fourth competition an elite jury, including TAC.tv / Tetes a Claques creator Michel Beaudet, will award a prize to the best film from all four. Upload your film until 5 a.m. PST April 27, 2009. People can vote on all entries until 5 a.m. PST May 11, 2009. The winner will be announced on June 2, 2009. All filmmakers from the last contest are encouraged to enter but you must enter a different film this time. You may submit as many animated films as you like to this contest, however, you may not submit the same film(s) you submitted to the previous TAC.tv Animation Contest.

The Game Developers Conference (GDC), returns in 2009 to the Moscone Center in San Francisco with world-class programming for the art, science and business of developing digital entertainment. This year's conference produced by the Think Services Game Group features five days of top selected keynotes, sessions, panel discussions, and roundtables aimed at furthering the skills and opportunities for game developers and business. A new set of summits that encompass the expanding scope of the games industry are also included in the lineup as well as evening events aimed at promoting learning, networking and inspiration. Registration and conference information is available online at the official GDC website, www.gdconf.com. The conference takes place from March 23-27, 2009. GDC continues to serve as a forum addressing the most current game development methods, trends, technologies and issues facing the community with session tracks focusing on game audio, business management, design, production, and visual art. The conference will continue to offer core educational one and two day tutorials and sponsored developer days. The slate of new specialized summits added to this year's lineup includes the AI Summit -- focusing on the increasing importance of cutting-edge artificial intelligence in video games -- and the Localization Summit—focusing on the importance of developers learning to adjust to the linguistic and cultural differences between a constantly expanding set of national audiences. The entire GDC Summit Lineup for 2009 now includes: --AI Summit --Casual Games Summit --Game Outsourcing Summit --GDC Mobile --Independent Games Summit --IGDA Education Summit --Localization Summit --Serious Games Summit --Worlds in Motion Summit The enhanced myGDC online networking tool for the Game Developers Conference allows users to create customized profiles, save and share personalized schedules and discuss session topics in myGDC forums. The aim of this tool is to reconcile the increasing scope of the conference with the limited time of the attendee. myGDC is also introducing the new myGDC Vault, a virtual hub with video, audio and other premier content from GDC. All GDC09 registrants gain lifetime access to the myGDC community of more than 5,000 designers, programmers, publishers and game professionals. The week-long event will continue to feature popular GDC mainstays, like the GDC Expo, GDC Career Pavilion, the 11th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF), the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, and the Game Career Seminar. GDC will also play host to a number of networking events for publishers and developers of all platforms, including serious, casual and mobile companies, these events include the annual GDC Booth Crawl, Suite Night, Game Connection and the GDC World Mixer. Additional details, prices and registration for attendee passes, and information on the GDC advisory board are available now at www.gdconf.com.

The Media Summit New York, the definitive international conference for media, entertainment, advertising and technology leaders, will be held March 18-19, 2009, at The McGraw-Hill Companies' headquarters, 1221 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. The sixth annual event will draw 1,000+ attendees for two days of discussion on "Global Media + Technology Innovation = Communications Revolution." 150+ panelists include representatives from print/broadcast media; advertising/marketing; broadband, cable and wireless; news and entertainment; technology; and finance. The cost to register per attendee is $875 prior to March 6, 2009, or $995 at the door. The event's March 19 keynote interview will feature Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation. BusinessWeek Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler will conduct the interview with Ballmer at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, March 19. Companies or individuals interested in participating in the 2009 Media Summit New York can learn more about the event, view the agenda, and purchase tickets by visiting http://www.media-summit.com/.

The Tokyo International Anime Fair 2009 (TAF2009) will be held Wednesday, March 18 to Saturday, March 21 at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. The eighth anniversary of this event is one of the world's largest anime exhibitions. Featuring extensive programs, TAF has been drawing international attention as the leading anime festival. Online pre-registration for buyers will start January 15, 2009 at http://www.tokyoanime.jp/en/. During the event, they offer business matching space for free of charge to assist buyers in finding new business opportunities. Questions or concerns: tokyo-animefair@jtbcom.co.jp.

Boinx Software will offer free interactive web seminars and FAQ sessions to help users get the most out of BoinxTV, FotoMagico and other Boinx Software products. Beginners and pros alike can talk directly with product managers and developers to ask them questions and learn about advanced techniques to make their own workflow more efficient and productive. It's easy for everyone with Internet access to tune into a Boinx "Live-Webinar" from their computer at home, or at the office, to follow the activities on the presenter's desktop. The next two Live-Webinars from Boinx take place on March 10 and 11. To participate in a Boinx Live-Webinar, click on the big "Join Webinar" button on the Boinx Webinars webpage (http://boinx.com/webinars) and follow the instructions to set up an account. Give feedback, raise your virtual hand to ask your questions via audio, and chat with other users during the live presentation. All Live-Webinars will be recorded for later distribution and are free of charge for all attendees (data rate fees from your local Internet provider may apply). Scheduled Live Webinars: March 10, 2009, 5pm UTC (5 p.m. GMT, 1 p.m. ET; 10 a.m. PT) "The Magic of FotoMagico" Meet the developers of FotoMagico and get some valuable hints and tips to make your slideshows even more compelling. March 10, 2009, 11pm UTC (11pm GMT, 7 p.m. ET; 4 p.m. PT; March 11, 8 a.m. Tokyo) "The Secrets of BoinxTV" The first half hour of the free BoinxTV webinar is dedicated to beginners, the second half hour is for experienced users.