Launched October 1, 2008, AniMazing Spotlight and its international animation review panel have been busy all year with their mission to support and promote the makers of animated short films. The AniMazing Spotlight is the culmination of this work, with 44 shorts nominated in 12 categories. The winners, to be announced on Sunday, November 8, will be included on a DVD that ASIFA International, the granddaddy of all animation societies, will distribute to all of its worldwide chapters.

Regular ticket price for each program, Pass for the 2 day event available: General $25, Student/Senior $20, AC member $15.

Saturday, November 7 - 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Animation Careers: Four hourlong lectures with leading animation experts:
1:15 PM - 2:15 PM: A Crash Course on Character Animation - Eric Goldberg.
Eric Goldberg is an award-winning animator and director whose magic has graced such classics as Disney’s ALADDIN, POCAHONTAS and HERCULES. He’ll dazzle and entertain the audience with a live version of his recent book Character Animation Crash Course.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Commercial Television Spots: Shortest Shorts - Bob Kurtz.
Bob Kurtz, head of the envelope-bursting Kurtz & Friends, will reveal some of the lesser-known techniques needed to work in TV spots and movie title production, including how to break into the field and how to survive and experiment.

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM: The Incestuous History of Technology & Animation - Bill Kroyer. With a solid career in traditional television and commercial animation, Bill Kroyer is more frequently thought of these days as one of the world’s leading authorities on computer animation and graphics. He will show clips from some of the films he’s worked on over the years, many of which have come out of Rhythm & Hues, a company he helped create.

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: The Importance of Story in Animated Shorts - Jim Capobianco.
The award-winning story artist from Pixar (FINDING NEMO, MONSTERS, INC.) will emphasize the importance of having a captivating story to go with your fascinating animation techniques. Regular ticket price for this program or Pass for the 2 day event available: General $25, Student/Senior $20, AC member $15.

Saturday, November 7 - 8:00 PM
Voting Screening of All Nominated Shorts: Screening of all nominees for Best of Festival, Student Short, First Film, Foreign Short, Story, Humor, Character Design, Overall Design, Animation Techniques, Non-Verbal Communication, Non-Narrative Animation and Comment on Issues of Our Times, plus honorable mentions. Regular ticket price for this program or Pass for the 2 day event available: General $25, Student/Senior $20, AC member $15.

Sunday, November 8 - 1:00 PM
Looking Back and Ahead: Three hourlong lectures with leading animation experts, plus the screening of the short film winners:

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM: The Making of the Latest Pixar Short - Peter Sohn.
Animator/story artist Peter Sohn directed his first short film, "Partly Cloudy," at Pixar Animation Studios. He will give our audience a first-hand look behind the scenes.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Short History of Animated Shorts - Tom Sito / Mark Kausler.
Tom Sito is an animator and author of Drawing the Line: Animation Unions From Bosco to Bart Simpson. Mark Kausler is an animator, collector and historian who has worked on YELLOW SUBMARINE, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and THE LION KING as well as his own award-winning animation IT'S THE CAT. Together they will examine the history of animated short films, illustrated with rare shorts from Kausler's collection.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM: How MTV Rocked the Animation World – Yvette Kaplan / John Andrews. This screening will include MTV audience favorites, oddities and new upstarts. Yvette Kaplan was supervising director of MTV series "Beavis and Butt-Head" series and co-director of the feature BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA. In the 1990s, John Andrews ran MTV Animation and produced shows including "Beavis and Butt-Head," "Daria" and "Aeon Flux." Since 1998 he has been executive producer/creative director of ka-chew!, the commercial production arm of Klasky Csupo.