Category: Event

In spite of battles in the Persian Gulf and concerns over a new Asian virus, most of the animation producers, distributors and broadcasters AWN polled are traveling over the next few days to attend the MIP-TV market in Cannes, France, which gets underway Monday, March 24. Iain Pelling, managing director of Cosgrove Hall Films, said, "It's a difficult time for everybody, but we have to carry on in as normal a way as possible. We will be going to MIP as usual.

As part of its Marc Davis Lecture on Animation series, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present "Frank and Ollie: Drawn Together," featuring Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in person, April 9, 2003 at 8:00 pm at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Leonard Maltin will moderate the discussion to honor the Disney animators who are famous members of the Nine Old Men. Scheduled to participate are Brad Bird (IRON GIANT, THE SIMPSONS), John Canemaker (BOTTOM'S DREAM, STREET FREAKS), Ron Clements (TREASURE PLANET, ALADDIN), Andy Gaskill (HERCULES, THE LION KING), John Lasseter (TOY STORY, MONSTERS, INC.), Glen Keane (TARZAN, POCAHONTAS) and Charles Solomon (veteran animation critic). The theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. For information call 310-247-3000, ext. 111. Tickets are $5 for the general public, $3 for students with current ID. The Marc Davis Lecture series was established to provide a forum for film animators and other experts in the craft to share their experiences, as well as to explore with colleagues the challenges of creating animation for the screen.

The Los Angeles Chapter of SIGGRAPH will download the secrets of successful interviewing, training, negotiation and job survival on March 11, from 7:30-9:00 pm at Bradley International Hall on the UCLA campus in Westwood, California. Moderator Pamela Kleibrink Thompson, recruiter/hiring strategist/career coach, will lead a discussion on how to make more money, work on better projects, transition to a new specialty and get your career on track.

British grandmasters of animation Ray Harryhausen, Oliver Postgate and Bob Godfrey are set to share the stage at the fourth annual Animated Encounters at the Watershed Media Center in Bristol, England May 9-10, 2003. Last year more than 5,000 attended the festival offering a mix of international and U.K. premieres, industry seminars and events. The audience will vote for their favorite film that will then become a nominee for the European Cartoon D'Or film award at Annecy.

The hot buzz at the Training Conference and Expo February 22-27, 2003 in Atlantas Georgia World Congress Center (www.trainingconference.com) was about graphics and animation, especially Flash (Macromedia had a monster presence at the show, as did Adobe). The huge show, which serves the nations $100-billion-plus training industry, featured seminars on using animation, gaming and simulation to train corporate executives, managers and sales forces more effectively than by traditional boring text-based training generated with tools such as Microsoft Word PowerPoint.

ANIMA 2003 has lined up an impressive array of animation guests, including Rintaro, director of METROPOLIS, at the bi-annual festival in Brussels, Belgium. Formerly the Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival, ANIMA 2003 features 150 to 200 films, plus premieres, original retrospectives, exhibitions and workshops (February 26 - March 9, 2003).

How do legal minds view the predicted demise of 35mm? The Film and TV Screen Entertainment Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Section of L.A. County Bar Association will explore this during its panel "Digital Delivery: Now Available at your Nearest Screen" Wednesday evening, February 26, 2003 at the Olympic Collection, 11301 Olympic Blvd., Suite 204, Century Ballroom in Los Angeles. Registration begins at 6:30 pm with dinner at 6:30 pm and the program at 7:00 pm. The panel of exhibition experts from distribution and new technologies will feature Bruce Eisen, EVP, CinemaNow, Inc.; Peter Sheil, GC, Movielink; Jay Swerdlow, EVP, Pacific Theaters; Steve Gilula, president of distribution Fox Searchlight and moderater David Bloom, reporter for "Variety." Registration is limited, call 213-896-6560.

The 5th edition of Cartoon Movie will be held March 13-15, 2003, in Potsdam, Germany. Organized by the European Association Cartoon in collaboration with NFP Teleart in Germany and with the support of the Media Programme of the European Union and Berlin-Brandenburg Filmboard, Cartoon Movie offers attending investors, producers and distributors a complete overview of European animation feature films at different stages of production.

Jon LeBrie, chief technology officer of Weta Digital, has been announced as keynote speaker of CMP Media's 17th annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), March 4 - 8, 2003, in San Jose, California. LeBrie is the principal architect of the digital infrastructure used to create the Academy Award-winning digital visual effects in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy.