Animatu is an animation festival dedicated to digital. The festival holds an international Short competition, with some categories open just to Portuguese schools, Workshops, Talks, among other activities. All this in a cosy city. The great Pax Julia infrastructure and the proximity of the several places - lodging, workshops, etc -, are just some of the advantages for the guests.

The 2007 edition will be held on 17-21 October in Pax Julia - Municipal Theatre, in Beja, Portugal. Deadline for all competitions is 30 June. Visit the site for details.

The Big Bang Film Festival is a celebration of exciting and inventive films in the Action, Adventure, Suspense and Asian Action Cinema genres. They’re also looking for exciting sports and athletic events and activities documentaries. Extreme sports enthusiasts have contributed some of the most entertaining video of death defying speed, skill and daring. BBFF will showcase amazing films, some classics, some classics in the making. Every submission is featured as a rotating highlight on the front page of the BBFF website and on their 2007 Submissions page so that all filmmakers can link to their listing.

Deadline extended to 15 June. Visit the site for details.

Metanet, the company that created the original Flash game N, has announced a new contest to go along with the announcement of N+ for the DS, PSP and Xbox Live Arcade. The contest is known as “SUBLiME” or the Submit Unique and Brilliant Levels in to Metanet Event and it will run through June 18th at 10pm EST. You need to create the best level possible.

Interested parties can download specialized versions of Ned (the N level creation tool) that correspond to the DS, PSP or XBLA version of the game. The winners will receive an in-game credit as well as a free copy of N+ (which should ship sometime in November). See more details at the site.

Via: Gaming Target

This is just for fun, but it might make your day a bit brighter. Mimoco introduced the Blank vimobot, a do-it-yourself vinyl Art Toy for customization. Design itt with pens, paint, markers, and your imagination. If you enter your original vimobot character in this contest, your design may give birth to a real mombot Art Toy USB flash dirve.

Round one of the contest ends 30 June 2007. Visit the site, download the blank vimobot, and get to it (it’s just begging for something, isn’t it?).

If you happen to be in Virginia for the Jamestown gig, you might want to stop by Charlottesville sometime between 7 and 9 June for the LOOK# Festival of the Photograph. It’s just too cool.

The event will include outdoor projections, seminars and presentations from photographers including Sally Mann, William Albert Allard, and Eugene Richards. The LOOK3 festival is an outgrowth of informal outdoor shows organized over the last 20 years by National Geographic photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols, who is one of the festival’s executive directors.

Details are at festivalofthephotograph.com.

Kokuyo Co., Ltd. has announced the Kokuyo Design Award 2007 design competition, and encourages all those who wish to participate to submit their user-oriented product designs. The goal of the competition is to develop excellent ideas into commercial products. Applications are accepted through 30 June 2007.

Your goal is to design any product used daily either at home or in the work place (stationery, furniture, household items, etc.). The item must be adaptable and an unexpected usage for the design is a plus. Visit the site for details.

Via: Dexigner