Annies Call for Entries, MAF goes hybrid, SIGGRAPH Asia and more

13th Bay Area International Children's Film Festival: This is a wrap

BAICFF presented a fabulous program of films in collaboration with the Dublin Festival of Curiosity, as well as special events, conferences and premieres over four days of virtual celebration. This year's festival hosted more than 40 films from around the world, including works from Australia, Canada, France, Finland, UK, Taiwan, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, India, the Russian Federation, Iran, Mexico, Spain, Kazakhstan and the United States, under the banner of "Back to community, back to nature". 2021 Children's Choice Award Winner was Umbrellas, a 2D short film by José Prats and Álvaro Robles produced by Moukda (France).

VIEW Conference 2021: tickets on sale and other speakers announced

Early Bird registration is open until August 31 at https://viewconference.it/pages/registration for the online and in-person event in Turin, Italy, scheduled for October 17-22. They join the first series of speakers previously announced:

• Michael Giacchino, Composer
• Chris Miller, Writer / Producer / Director, Sony Pictures Animation
• Phil Lord, Writer / Producer / Director, Sony Pictures Animation
• Tim Miller, Director, Love, Death + Robots
• Kirk DeMicco, director / co-writer, live, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
• Michael Rianda, director, co-writer, The Mitchells against the machines
• Elaine Bogan, Co-director, Indomitable Spirit, DreamWorks
• Peter Ramsey, Co-director, Spider-Man in the Spider's Verse
• Everett Downing Jr., Co-director, love for hair
• Mark Small, Vice President, General Manager, Unreal Engine, Epic Games
• Sebastien Deguy, Vice President of 3D and Immersive, Adobe
• Jennifer Miller, Executive producer, Love, Death + Robots
• Lindsey Olivares, Set designer, The Mitchells against the machines
• Celine Desrumaux, Set designer, Beyond the Moon
• Carlos Zaragoza, Set designer, live, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
• Karl Herbst, Visual Effects Supervisor, live, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
• Kevin Webb, In charge of character animation, live, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
• Mike Lasker, Visual Effects Supervisor, The Mitchells against the machines, Sony Pictures Animation / Netflix
• Marlon West, Visual Effects Supervisor, IwajuDisney Animation Studios
• Peter Hirschman, Director, Respawn Entertainment
• Antonio Giacchino, director, Colette

NFB Animation 'Meneath' makes its world premiere at TIFF

The National Film Board of Canada premiered a trio of powerful films by indigenous and female writers in Toronto, including Terril Calder's stop-motion short. Meneath: the hidden island of ethics - a directorial tour-de-force that brings to light a disturbingly familiar but hopeful world and illuminates the prejudices of colonial systems.

The film dives deeply into the innate contrast between the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, pride and envy) and the seven sacred teachings (love, respect, wisdom, courage, truth, honesty and humility), as embodied in the life of a precocious Métis child. Convinced that she is dirty and doomed to hell, Baby Girl receives teachings that fill her with strength and pride and affirm a path to healing.

Every day is free Comic day at the Tapastry

Tapas is celebrating Free Comic Book Day (Saturday 14th August) with some reading tips from its community of creators, Tapastry: https://tapas.io/collection/free-comic-book-day. The Tapastry Creator Community is made up of a rapidly growing group of professionals, as well as emerging artists and writers, united by their love of storytelling and the joy of creating, with projects by alumni including Magical Boy, The Beginning After the End, The Witch's Throne, Whispers of the True King e Lost and found. Tapastry offers many events throughout the year to not only encourage more creators to bring their stories to the platform, but also to connect with readers.

Manchester Animation Festival announces hybrid edition for 2021

The UK's largest animation festival plans to return to its seventh year as a hybrid edition, taking place online from 1 to 30 November with live events and screenings from 14 to 19 November. The news comes along with a first look at the 2021 poster artwork, which was designed by award-winning animator Matthew Lee (Cabin pressure, Winner of the 2017 MAF Students Award; A lining, MAF 2019). More information at www.manchesteranimationfestival.co.uk; full schedule and TBA release dates in September.

“Even though the world is not quite back to normal yet, building on the successes of our 2020 Online Festival we hope to be able to provide a bigger and better experience that will please everyone! We have expanded our team and are hiring new relevant people to increase the festival's reach and support the business throughout the year ”. - Festival director Steve Henderson

“We are huge fans of Matthew's work here at MAF, so when he chose an artist with a connection to the Festival to plan our comeback he felt perfect. The team was looking forward to his next film, so we thought we'd commission it to be part of the 2021 Festival! " - Executive producer Jen Hall

SIGGRAPH Asia launches the first hybrid edition for 2021

The in-person event of the conference in Tokyo, Japan is confirmed for December 14-17 at the Tokyo International Forum. In view of the evolving COVID-19 situation, event organizers will also have a select range of conference programs accessible online with networking opportunities for international attendees who may not be able to travel. Some of the world's leading brands such as Adobe Research, Amazon Web Services, Autodesk, Bandai Namco, Digital Hollywood University, FORUM8, Imagica Group, Khronos Group, Pixar and SideFX have already confirmed their participation. Toru Katsumoto, Executive Vice President and CTO of Sony Group Corporation was confirmed as the keynote speaker at the event.

“The past 18 months have been a series of challenges and insights for all of us, and I think everyone is eager to film events in person this year. The safety of all attendees is our utmost concern, but with large scale events in Tokyo such as the Olympics taking place safely, it is assuring organizers and attendees that the local event will be able to pull it off. The only uncertainty right now is the number of international participants who can physically join us due to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, ”shared Shuzo John Shiota, president of the SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 conference.

“With this out of our control, we have decided to have a select range of programs accessible online for our international participants who may not be able to travel. With a team of very dedicated professionals working tirelessly hard, I am confident to bring forward an amazing hybrid edition for the community this December. We look forward to seeing you at the most anticipated meeting in the industry! "

49th Annie Awards Call for entries open

ASIFA-Hollywood will present awards in 36 categories including animated films, independent animated films, TV / media production, sponsored production, short films and student films, as well as career and honorary awards, in a ceremony on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at the Royce Hall of UCLA. This year's rule changes include the definition of episodes in the TV / Media categories; limits on the number of team members in the making, directing and student film categories; and clarification on the content of the clips. To review this year's rules and submit your designs, visit https://my.asifa-hollywood.org. Deadline: November 16, 2021, 17pm PST.

Registrations open for the New York Int'l Children's Film Festival

The Academy Award Qualification Party, the largest for children and teenagers in North America, celebrates 25 years in 2022. The early deadline is September 1, 2021; Regular deadline - 4th October 2021; Late (short films) - November 15th; Extended (short and feature films), December 1st.

Wizard World Events Join the FAN EXPO family

The Wizard World Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Portland, St. Louis and Cleveland cons will be renamed as FAN EXPO events in 2022, joining the world's largest comic book producer. (https://fanexpohq.com/home/events/)

Kids Kino Industry and Cinekid for Professionals join forces as LINK producers

The new program for emerging children's content producers is designed to stimulate the production of high-quality children's content and pan-European co-productions and will provide crucial follow-up both during and after the two major children's events this fall - Kids Kino Industry (September 27 to October 1; Warsaw), finishing at Cinekid for Professionals (October 19 to 22; Amsterdam). The 25 producers selected for the first edition were nominated by international partner organizations across Europe. (https://www.kidskinoindustry.pl/ | https://cinekid.nl/en/professionals)