If you couldn’t join us in Ottawa this week, you might consider hanging out in San Francisco in mid-November. The San Francisco Film Society will present its fifth annual San Francisco International Animation Festival (SFIAF) November 11–14 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema. Highlights of this year’s event include Miyazaki protégé Sunao Katabuchi’s new feature Mai Mai Miracle, the North American Premiere of Jackboots In Whitehall, a screening of Brent Green’s Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then and a shorts program of The Best of Annecy. The complete schedule is posted here.

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The 2nd Los Angeles Animation Festival will take place Friday December 3rd through Tuesday December 6th at Cinefamily’s Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax Ave. in West Hollywood. This year events include an afternoon screening and interview with Pixar’s Teddy Newton (Day & Night) and two special programs from renowned writer/director/animator Will Vinton — one a program of his short films, specials and commercials and the other, a twenty-fifth anniversary screening of his feature The Adventures of Mark Twain (1986). In addition the festival will feature screenings of several international features including Chinese independent feature Piercing 4 and the Japanese feature Redline. There will also be panels, contest screenings, parties and awards. The festival is the brainchild of animation director Miles Flanagan and animation producer John Andrews (MTV, Klasky Csupo). Details and deadlines for entry in the festival’s three unique competitions are available on the festival website. Tickets and passes will be available in November at Cinefamily.org.

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Opposite the LA Animation Fest on December 3rd through 5th, and on Dec. 11th and Dec. 13th, the UCLA Film and Television Archive at the Hammer Museum in Westwood will hold A Celebration of French Animation. This will include several double bill screenings of contemporary animated features from France, including Chomet’s The Illusionist (2010) and The Tripletts of Belleville (2003), Rene Laloux’s Fantastic Planet (1973), Micel Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) and Azur and Asmur (2008) and Jacques-Remy Girerd’s Raining Cats and Dogs (2003). For more information, check the UCLA Archive website.

This week Cartoon Brew is traveling to the enchanted land of Canada, home of Officer Bubbles and many other magical creatures. Both Brewmasters will be attending the world-famous Ottawa International Animation Festival along with thousands of other animation folks. If you’re heading out, let us know in the comments and say hello to us.

This month my Animation Tuesdays screening at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater is our third annual Halloween Spooktacular show. (Jeez, have I been doing these for three years already?) This year we have a double-bill, a “Cartoon Monster Mash”, if you will. First up, our pals Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero from Screen Novelties are presenting a selection of classic horror-toons that have inspired their marvelous stop motion monstrosities. I will be supplementing the show with a few hideous new finds of my own.

Then, in the second half of the program, we’ll the screening of a 35mm studio print of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 35mm (Thanks, Disney). Released exactly 61 years ago (on Oct. 5th 1949), Toad and Sleepy Hollow are two of my favorite Disney short films and, for me, mark a bittersweet end of an era. And of course, its a perfect way to usher in the Halloween season. Trick or treat? Check out the trailer below and you decide. Hope to see you there at 8pm.

Portland’s Floating World Comics store presents their fourth annual animation screening, DMTV, on October 13 at the Holocene club (1001 SE Morrison). Trailer is up top. The one-night event includes an intriguing line-up of experimental, abstract, psychedelic and digital animation, as well as live music performances by Nice Nice and Atole with visuals mixed by e*Rock and Yoshi Sodeoka. Tickets are an affordable $7 day of show or $5 in advance purchased at Floating World. More details at the Floating World Comics website. Needless to say if I lived in Portland, this is where you’d find me on Wednesday, October 13.

The DMTV line-up of films follow after the jump:
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The Academy just posted (as a tribute to Tony Curtis) a clip from the 1959 Oscar telcast with Curtis (and wife Janet Leigh) presenting the Best Cartoon Short award to producer John Burton for the Bugs Bunny short, Knighty Knight Bugs. Click here to see the video. And I believe that’s James Algar accepting for Walt Disney (for live action short, Grand Canyon).

(Thanks, Ed Himel)

If you are in NY tomorrow evening, there is only one place you should be: at MoMA to attend John Canemaker’s lecture about his new book Two Guys Named Joe: Master Animation Storytellers Joe Grant & Joe Ranft. The lecture begins at 7pm followed by a book signing. Tickets, which can be purchased at the door, are $10 for adults or $6 for students.

Also, on Saturday, October 2, there will be two screenings at MoMA themed around the book. The first screening at 2pm celebrates Ranft’s career and includes the super-rare 1982 Disney short Fun with Mr. Future, as well as Luxo Jr., Tin Toy, and Toy Story. The second screening at 5pm revolves around Grant’s work, and features Mickey’s Gala Premier, Who Killed Cock Robin?, Lorenzo, and Dumbo.

More details about the programs can be found on the MoMA website. Also, see our in-depth interview with John Canemaker on Cartoon Brew about the new book.

When I posted Kirsten Lepore’s Bottle last week, I neglected to mention that the film is one of five animation finalists in the first-ever Vimeo Awards which take place on October 9 in New York City. The other nominees are Pixels by Patrick Jean, Something Left, Something Taken by Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, Coalition of the Willing by Knife Party, and Between Bears by Eran Hilleli. There are also some animated films in the Experimental and Motion Graphics categories.

The eclectic group of nominees in the animation category is impressive, and made more notable by the fact that the nominees were chosen from the pool of films posted to the video hosting site. They strike me as being far more representative of the current state of short-form animation than this year’s Oscar nominees.

I won’t go so far as to say that the Academy chose poor films, but nominating four (for the most part) generic CG films and yet another Wallace & Gromit short hardly represents the breadth and diversity of today’s animation scene. It also does little to boost the public’s perception of what animation is capable of as a medium. Awards can’t be expected to always honor the best, simply because “best” is such a subjective concept, but they should at the very least make an effort to accurately represent the field they’re celebrating. The Vimeo Awards have done a good job of that in their inaugural edition.

Here’s another update from the folks at the upcoming CTN Expo: Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist is now set for an opening night advance screening, on Thursday November 18th. All advance pass holders will be admitted.

Also, it’s just been announced that Chris Wedge from BlueSky will be attending and speaking, as will Enrico Casarosa (story artist and illustrator at Pixar), Bobby Beck (no relation) from Animation Mentor, and HB Lewis (designer, illustrator, writer for Disney, BlueSky, DreamWorks). Pixar will host an animators panel again this year and yours truly, Jerry Beck, will moderate a discussion with the principals of Barcelona’s Headless Productions.

The CTN Expo II will be held November 19th-21st in Burbank. Word is the CTNX hotel (The Burbank Airport Marriott) is 93% sold out. Overflow rooms (at full rates) will open up, but if you are thinking of attending, book now and save. For more information, click here.