Animator Artist Sven Bonnichsen has founded a new animation festival, the NW Animation Festival in Portland, Oregon. The special thing about this festival is, that it doesn't come with any limitations towards animation: everything is possible, and they really want to discover what you do.

Just click the image to follow their Call for Submissions.

Sven explains his vision at the festival's website:

This festival is dedicated to the love of animation. This is the Northwest Animation Festival’s inaugural year. We begin our endeavor with a bold vision:

• To feed animation lovers’ craving with a sprawling feast of new work
• To re-inspire independent animators each year with an infusion of new ideas and imagery
• To encourage students and emerging artists by helping them get their first showing on the big screen
• To showcase the breadth of the art form with shorts blocks dedicated to different animation methods: hand-drawn, computer-generated, stop-motion…
• To share this event with the Pacific Northwest by creating a touring “Best of the NW Animation Festival” show
• In some small way, to nourish the art of animation, helping it grow and evolve

The festival will be held on June 3-4-5, in the heart of downtown Portland Oregon at the historic 5th Avenue Cinema. Early deadline is April 1, 2011, and the regular deadline ends May 1, 2011. For more information, visit: nwanimationfest.com or contact:

Animation artist and Goddess Halfland, Shelley Noble did a little promotional video on youtube to support Sven and his festival:

Good luck, Sven! May the festival be a huge success for everyone!

Finally, I'm back to Germany and moved in Lukas' and my new home. We have plenty of space and I'm going to have my own basement studio here! This is pretty cool. We have to refurbish a bit which is just a tiny understatement.

For all of you who are located in or planning a trip to Vienna: There is a lovely animation festival taking place next weekend: the Tricky Women Festival. It runs from March 5 to 9 and has a wonderful and wide ranged programme focussing animation produced by women. I worked for them as a graphic designer and had a look at some film stills which look very promising!

Another quick note after that long post: "Ein anderer Traum" which I had finished in December 2006 made his way into another festival. The Filmfest of the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany is going to screen it with 29 other short films. The festival takes place from 26 to 28 november 2008. Another chance for you all to see it on a big screen if you're accidentally in Germany... See the festival programme for details.