* Monday, October 26. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
The Ideas in Animation series continues at Minna Street Gallery with two performances at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Nik Phelps and the Sprocket Ensemble, with guest musician Jana Herzen will perform live music to animated films by Meredith Root, Martha Colburn and Michael Rudnik. Admission is $10.00 general, $7.00 for students. For information and reservations call (415) 681-3189.
* Wednesday, October 21. Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.
* Saturday, October 24. New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Animazing Gallery hosts a "Nightmare Before Christmas" party, featuring the debut of a Jack Skellington lithograph signed by Tim Burton. Animazing is located at 415 West Broadway. For information, call (212) 226-7374.
* Saturday, October 24. New York City, New York, U.S.A.
The American Museum of the Moving Image hosts a talk and demonstration by Blue Sky|VIFX about the animated effects the studio produced for the new 3D Imax film, "T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous." The event begins at 12 noon, and is suitable for children ages nine and up. As a special treat, Chris Wedge will give a sneak preview from his soon-to-be-released animated short. For information, call (718) 784-4520.
* Saturday, October 24. Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.A.
Learning Tree University offers a class, "How to Get Hired in the Animation Industry," taught by industry recruiter Pamela Thompson, from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. For information and registration call (805) 497-2292.
* Sunday, October 25. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
The AFI Film Festival presents "Suspended Animation," a 90-minute program of stop-motion and computer-animated shorts, curated by Sojourn Pictures. Films include "Geri's Game," "Bingo" and "1001 Nights." The show takes place at Mann's Chinese Theater, 6925 Hollywood Blvd., starting at 2:30 p.m. For information and tickets, call (213) 520-2000.
The Sitges Fantasy Film Festival wrapped up on October 16 in Barcelona, Spain. The international jury for the "Anima't" animation festival within a festival was comprised of Jerry Beck (U.S.A.), Mercedes Gaspar (Spain) and Giorgio Valentini (Italy). They selected "Un Jour" by Marie Paccou (France) as Best Film, and gave an Honorable Mention to "Glassy Ocean" by Shigeru Tamura (Japan). In the main festival, Bill Plympton's film, "More Sex & Violence" won the "Best Short Film" award.
Animation historian Marcin Gizycki has begun production on a 30-minute documentary film about animator Jan Lenica, a Poland native whose credits include animated shorts such as Janko the Musician (1960), Labyrinth (1962), and several films with Walerian Borowczyk. After teaching in Kassel and Berlin, Germany for the past 20 years (and stints working in France and the United States), Lenica has returned to Poland where he is currently making a 30-minute film called Wyspa R.O. (The R.O. Island), with Studio Miniatur Filmowych.
* Wednesday, October 21. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
ASIFA-Hollywood presents An Evening With Art Leonardi hosted by Tom Sito. Leonardi was an animator on Friz Frelengs unit and has worked on Pink Panther, Tiny Toons and Shelley Duvalls Bedtime Stories. The event starts at 7 p.m. and admission is $5. Call (818) 842-8330.
* Thursday, October 15 - Sunday, October 25. Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
The 15th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), presents over 150 films and videos for children from 30 countries in a juried competition. For information call (773) 281-9075 or e-mail kidsfest@facets.org.
* Wednesday, October 14 - Thursday, October 15. Pasadena, California, U.S.A.
The D.Film Festival, a showcase for independent digital media, will have two shows during the DV Expo: one on Wednesday at 12 p.m. and the other on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.. For information visit www.dfilm.com.
* Thursday, October 15 - Saturday, October 17. Santa Cruz, California, U.S.A.
The D.Film Festival will have a show at UC Santa Cruzs Kresge Town Hall. For information visit www.dfilm.com or call (831) 459-2159.
* Wednesday, October 14. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
The University of Southern Californias (USC) Animation department presents a screening of abstract animated films by German artist, Bärbel Neubauer. The artist will be in attendance. A chronological selection of films will be screened, including her latest film, Firehouse. The screening will take place in the School of Cinema-Televisions George Lucas Building, room 108. For this special screening, the public is welcome to attend. No phone calls, please.
* Thursday, October 15. North Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
The Women In Animation Writers Group presents Collaborating With Musicians: From Scratch Tracks to Final Production, a panel discussion featuring Alex Rannie from The Simpsons and Bambi Moe, vice president of music at Walt Disney TV Animation. Admission is $10 for members, $20 for non-members. The event takes place from 7-9 p.m. at Film Roman, 12020 Chandler Blvd., Suite 200, in North Hollywood. RSVP is essential. Call (818) 623-0020 or e-mail kellie-bea@women.in.animation.org.
* Thursday, October 15 - Friday, October 23. Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.
The Art Institute of Phoenix hosts an exhibit of comic art called A Sampling of Chaos. A reception will be held on October 15 from 6-8 p.m. For information call (800) 474-2479.
* Saturday, October 17. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
* Saturday, October 17. Irvine, California, U.S.A.
* Saturday, October 17. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The Association of Science and Technology Centers conference, ASTC '98, takes place at the Edmonton Science and Space Center. Boston-based animation studio FableVision will have a booth to introduce their new interactive media guru, Brad Larson. For information, visit www.astc.org.
* Saturday, October 17. Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston presents the premiere screening of Mary Kocols independent animated film, My Fathers Story. The screening takes place at 2 p.m., and general admission is $7 ($6 for students and members). For information about the film and future screenings, visit www.ne-arts.net/mkocol.
* Tuesday, October 20. Valencia, California, U.S.A.
California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) Animation department presents a screening of abstract animated films by German artist, Bärbel Neubauer. The artist will be in attendance. A chronological selection of films will be screened, including her latest film, Firehouse. The screening will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Bijou theater in the main Cal Arts building at 24700 McBean Parkway (McBean exit off 5 freeway). For information, call (805) 255-1050.
* Tuesday, October 13. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
The Goethe Institute of Los Angeles presents a screening of abstract animated films by German artist, Bärbel Neubauer. The artist will be in attendance and a wine reception will follow. A chronological selection of films will be screened, including her latest film, Firehouse. The Goethe Institute is located at 5750 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100. For information, call (213) 525-3388.
* Tuesday, October 13. New York City, New York, U.S.A.
* Sunday, October 11. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Griffith Place Entertainment presents Hollywood Shorts, a monthly film festival dedicated to introducing emerging directors/writers and producers to Los Angeles film community. This months animated film is Exo-Skeleton and companion cartoons, a 10-minute computer animation by Pyros Pictures. The screening will take place at The Joint, 8771 West Pico Boulevard (at Robertson) in West L.A. from 6 to 9 p.m. Guests must RSVP by October 10. Call (310) 358-7634.
* Saturday, October 10. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
The Mill Valley Film Festival presents an animation program including Dave Thomas A Dog Cartoon, Ryan McCullochs Without You, Frazier Bradshaws Baker, Paints, Cakes, Velvy Appletons Hervic in Cloudland, and Matt Broersma and Shari Rubins documentary on San Francisco independent animators, Meet the Mole People. For information and location, visit www.finc.org/mvff.
* Friday, October 9 - Sunday, October 11. Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
Anime Weekend Atlanta, the largest Japanese animation event in the Southeast U.S., takes place at the Marriott North-Central Hotel. Scheduled guests include Amy Howard, the voice of Nova on Star Blazers; George Lowe, the voice of Space Ghost and C. Martin Croker, the voice of Zorak and Moltar, from Cartoon Planet; Tim Eldred, artist and animator and Steve Bennett and Kuni Kimura from Studio Ironcat. For information visit www.anime.net/~awa/.
* Thursday, October 8, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Jeffrey Scott, Emmy-winning writer of over 450 animation scripts (Wacky World of Tex Avery, Dragon Tales), is scheduled as speaker for the Women In Animation Writers Seminar series. The event starts at 7:30 p.m. at Saban Entertainment. Admission is $5. Reservations are required. Call Jean Ann Wright at (818) 360-8321.
