Events: Conferences

The Dubai International Character & Licensing Fair -- Character Dubai brings together character and licensing professionals from around the globe. The region's largest character fair aims at attracting more than 250 professional companies, in addition to 10,000 trade visitors and dealers who will come together to exchange business ideas, network, and gain knowledge and expertise. The event will take place at the Dubai Int'l Convention and Exhibition Centre. For more information, visit www.character.ae.

An in-depth session comparing and contrasting the two approaches to stereoscopic 3-D visual effects--creating the effects in stereo or completing the FX in a traditional 2-D pipeline and transforming them, after the fact, into 3-D -- will be one of the highlights at the annual SMPTE 2008: Tech Conference & Expo. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH used both approaches, but produced most of the work in 3-D from the outset. The upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer produced Disney film, G-FORCE, is using the 2-D to 3-D approach, working with In-Three and Sony Pictures Imageworks.

The 15th Annual Austin Film Festival is dedicated to championing the work of aspiring and established filmmakers, defined as screenwriters, directors, editors, producers, actors and all artists who use the language of film to tell a story. The AFF furthers the art, craft and business of filmmaking by providing unique cultural events and services, enhancing public awareness and participation, and encouraging dynamic and long-lasting community partnerships. Short films screened in competition at the Austin Film Festival are eligible to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Limelight Networks will host its second annual rich media summit, the 2008 Digital Media Innovation Forum. The event will take place at the Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Phoenix on October 15-17, 2008.

With the theme "Innovation: From Creation to Consumption," the three-day event will feature senior-level executives from the content publishing, technology, and telecom sectors discussing the opportunities and challenges in building a scalable and profitable online business.

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM animated short, a stop-motion adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, directed by animation veteran Marc Lougee and exec produced by animation and vfx icon Ray Harryhausen, is slated to screen over the TriCity Comic Con weekend, October 11, 2008.

The 3rd Annual Tri-City Independent Fan Film Festival takes place Oct. 11, 2008 in conjunction with Tri-City Comic Con (TC3).

TrickCon Treat 2008 presents a special screening of Marc Lougee's stop motion adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum!

Executive Produced by Ray Harryhausen, this short stop motion film captures the creepy, dark and foreboding tale of Edgar Allan Po's classic story of a lone prisoner's horrific experience in the grip of The Spanish Inquisition!

Be sure to join us October 3rd-5th at Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Oklahoma City, 6200 N. Robinson Drive, OKC, OK, for a ghoulishly good time.

3D Biz-Ex will be held September 30-October 1 conference at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles, Calif., effectively covering the broad range of 3D applications -- from the lens to the eye.

Headlining this large gathering of 3D professionals are several experienced and successful creators of live action and animated 3-D movies including: producer Jed Weintrob, Buzz Hays of Sony Pictures Imageworks, Domonic Paris, Gina Gallo and Mimi Maynard of Illuminata Pictures and Jason Brenek of Walt Disney Studios.

This year, the //ADAPT 2008 CONFERENCE will be held in Montreal's historic Pepsi Forum / AMC Theater, former home of the legendary Montreal Canadiens hockey team.

Advanced Digital Art Production Techniques or //ADAPT for short, will feature more than 40 of the best digital art masters, from blockbuster films, Visual FX and video game studios.

The Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC), the future-focused games industry event geared towards the online space, sound development and game writing, has finalized its featured speakers lineup.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the premiere film festivals in the world. The event features many debuts of films that will go on to be box-office and critical successes. This major industry event is a place where studios test their films and seek out independent features.

Programs in 2008 include Wavelengths, Sprockets Family Zone and Midnight Madness.

IFA is one of the largest consumer electronics trade shows in the world. It combines innovation and the technology of tomorrow with business sales and entertainment. According to published statistics, more than 1,200 companies from 32 countries exhibited at IFA 2007, covering a net space of more than 103,000 square meters. More than 6,600 press attended IFA 2007, including 1,371 international journalists from 62 countries. Sales at the 2007 show totaled 2.75 billion Euros. The number of trade visitors attending the show in 2007 jumped 7.5% to 101,358.