Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
carmen.chandler@csun.edu,
(818) 677-2130

Artists from Around the World to Gather
at CSUN to Show Off the Latest in Animation

The third annual California SUN International Animation Festival, a CSUN student-organized event, will take place April 6-9 at the university, with additional screenings at the Museum of Radio and Television in Beverly Hills.

The four-day screening program features animation from independents, animation studios and aspiring student animators representing a wide range of countries, including Russia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, Syria, Japan, New Zealand and the United States.

"The idea for an animation festival of international scale evolved over a period of years," said CSUN art professor Jack Reilly, the festival's director and organizer of the university's annual "Video Jam." "I would see the students' excitement when we produced the shows. The audience would cheer aloud for the outrageous videos we screened. It finally dawned on me, 'Imagine what a quality event we can produce with animation from around the world'."

Reilly said the festival "provides an entertaining, yet valuable learning experience for students of animation, while also contributing a major showcase of exciting new work in animation to the university, the San Fernando Valley and the Hollywood/Los Angeles animation community."

The screening schedule is as follows:

• Thursday, April 6, 6 to 10 p.m., in CSUN's University Student Union Theater on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge. The student union is about 1/2 mile north of Nordhoff Street near Zelzah Avenue.
• Friday, April 7, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at the Museum of Radio and Television in Beverly Hills, an invitation-only reception, awards presentation and screening for participating animators, sponsors, press and animation industry executives.
• Saturday, April 8, from 7 to 11 p.m., in the University Student Union Theater.
• Sunday, April 9, from noon to 4 p.m., in the Performing Arts Center in the University Student Union.

Among this year's sponsors of the festival are POP.com, Imagine Entertainment and DreamWorks SKG's new Internet entertainment company created to produce and broadcast original Internet-only programming; EVEO.com, a privately held independent video network that encourages web users to produce and premiere original short digital videos; Animation Magazine; Animation World Network (AWN.com); and FotoKem Film and Video.

The festival is produced by Vidimation Ink., an Associated Student organization, and the CSUN Department of Art with a grant from the university's Entertainment Industry Institute.

For more information, call Jack Reilly at (818) 382-4545 or email him at jack.reilly@csun.edu. For up to the minute information about the festival, visit its website at www.csun.edu/animate. # # #