For those in the Atlanta area, ASIFA-Atlanta will be hosting two programs of international animated films on Saturday, December 10th, at the High Museum of Art’s Hill Auditorium, 1280 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta. The announcement says to

Expect an outlandish assortment of stop-motion, 3D, mixed-media and claymation shorts from Atlanta and beyond. A  Q&A  with  the  animators  will  follow  each screening.

The 2:00 pm screening is for kids while the 8:00 pm screening is for ages 14 and up. The full schedule is available here.

ASIFA-Atlanta will be hosting a special screening of Adam Elliot’s stop-motion feature Mary and Max at the Plaza Theatre, Wednesday Monday, November 16th, at 8:00pm. This is the much-anticipated followup to Elliot’s Oscar-winning short, Harvie Krumpet and has not yet been given a theatrical booking in the Atlanta area. The film was made available through the courtesy of IFC Films. Admission is $5 for ASIFA-Atlanta members and $10 for everyone else.

On October 28, 1892, Émile Reynaud opened his Théâtre Optique at the Musée Grévin in Paris, using a version of his Projection Praxinoscope; in addition, to being the first theatrical presentation of a motion picture (though it did not use film), it also represented the public presentation of the first animated movies. Though cinema historians usually see Reynaud accomplishment as an interesting sidebar in film history, many in the animation community see it as the beginnings of animation; as such, ASIFA chapters around the world celebrate it as International Animation Day. And ASIFA-Atlanta is celebrating it this year with a screening of films selected from ASIFA chapters around the world at the Woodruff Arts Center‘s Rich Auditorium and presented in association with the High Museum of Art. Admission is free, though it is suggested that you reserve a free ticket at the ASIFA-Atlanta website.

This Tuesday, October 20th, at 7:30 pm,  in conjunction with ASIFA-Atlanta, C. Martin Croker returns to the Plaza Theatre, in Atlanta with the second of his Bizarro Sat Morn! shows this season, featuring a program of cartoons on 16mm, which has been described as "An oddball mash-up of nostalgia and bits of o’ weird-o coolness," featuring films from the 20s through the 90s. This Halloween show will feature films by Ub Iwerks, Paul Julian, Bill Justice, Max Fleischer, Hal Seeger , Jack Davis and others.

While you’re at it, check the theater’s website on how to make a tax-free donation to help restore "Atlanta’s oldest continuously operating cinema," which dates from 1939.

Meanwhile, if you’re the Los Angeles area, on Monday, October 26th, the CalArts Downtown Center for Innovative, Performing and Media Arts, at 8:30 pm, will present the world premiere of Christine Panushka and Beto Araiza, Mosca and the Meaning of Life. 

It is described as

a groundbreaking multimedia piece in which animated characters leap off the screen and join up with a live performance crafted by award-winning filmmaker and animator Christine Panushka and theater and spoken word artist Beto Araiza.

Mosca and the Meaning of Life questions our belief systems, customs, and social values, the truths and lies with which we live out our lives, motivated as much by misinformation and desperation as by hope. The program also includes The Sum of Them, Singing Sticks and other films by Panushka, as well as an excerpt of Biting the Pillow, a performance by Araiza.

Christine Panushka is a valued colleague, whose is not only a leading independent animator and educator, but an unsung pioneer of Internet animation with her groundbreaking (and much missed) Absolut Panushka website.

On Friday night, July 10th, ASIFA-Atlanta put on a screening of locally-made animated films at the Woodruff Art Center’s Rich Auditorium. The event, which was made possible by the High Museum of Art, was put on as part of the 21st Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference being held that weekend at the Atlanta campus of the Society for Animation Studies. It was curated by ASIFA-Atlanta President Brett W. Thompson, who has now posted his introduction  to the screening (see above) as well as the question and answer period that followed with some of the artists who worked on the films (posted below).  Unfortunately, because of technical problems, there is a gap between parts 1 and 2, and the end of part 2 is missing.

The final program included the following films:

Animation Draw 1 — ASIFA-Atlanta; Happy and Strickly in “Fuzzy Business” — Robert Paraguassu / Bark Bark; Vice Versa — Jacques Khouri; White Cow — K.A. Callahan / Kristin Jarvis; Avery Matthews — Richard Ferguson-Hull / Steve Vitale, Turner Studios / Cartoon Network; Blossoming Flower, Smooch, Lick — Bradley Bailey; They Must Be Very Hungry — Bryan Fordney; Mouse and Cat — Joe Peery; As Seen on TV! — Lee Crowe; Traveler of the Horizon — Hamid Bahrami; Cornpopalypse — Graham Shirley; Death of a Matriarch — Takuro Masuda; Animation Draw 2 — ASIFA-Atlanta; A Day at the Beach — John Ryan; Fluidtoons — Brett W. Thompson; Stubbe Peter — Kristin Jarvis; Curtains — Amanda Goodbread; Juxtaposer — Joanna Davidovich; I Will Enjoy — Theodosia Burr (Em Kempf); Code Monkey — Jennifer Barclay; Animation Draw 3 — ASIFA-Atlanta; Get Got — Bryan Fordney; Busted — Matt Maiellaro.