Animation fans, you’re in luck. The Vancouver chapter of the Special Interest Group for Computer Graphics of the Association for Computing Machinery (more commonly known as SIGGRAPH) is launching the first annual SPARK Animation Festival from September 10 to 14 at the Vancity Theatre.

Just a reminder, cinephiles, that the 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival’s full program goes on-line on Saturday (September 6) at www.viff.org/ . The festival, which promises approximately 350 films from more than 60 countries, runs September 25 to October 10.

Guillermo Navarro, winner of last year’s Oscar for cinematography, for his indelible work on Pan’s Labyrinth, is hitting Vancouver twice this month.

Civic politicians from Vancouver Island and the B.C. coast don’t want to see community channels removed from the basic packages offered by cable-television providers.

The federal Conservative government didn’t consult the film and arts communities before it decided to slash funding for various cultural programs, according to a Vancouver-based executive of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association.

Initial announcements have just been made regarding this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival. The biggest change evident in the annual event, running September 25 through October 10, is that a full third of the 27th edition’s program will be nonfiction films.

Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar made a recent stop in Vancouver on a North American promotional tour for his pet project Singh Is Kinng, which he hopes will add to his growing clout as the current box-office king.

Now in its third year, the Project8 Film Festival—on Friday and Saturday (August 8 and 9) at the VIVO Media Arts Centre (1965 Main Street)—has expanded from its boot-camp roots and gone national. “We put a call out for submissions that are similar to our mandate of DIY—do it yourself,” said festival spokesperson Julie Saragosa over the phone. “So there will be a number of films from across Canada as well.”

Jacques Tati only made about nine movies in all, but the French writer-director’s crucial five features, collected in Playtime: The Films of Jacques Tati, are on display at the Pacific Cinémathèque until July 30, and from August 15 to 17.

The next film by director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow ), Farewell Atlantis, will start shooting in Vancouver this week.

Among the nominees for Emmy awards announced on July 17 are several Vancouver-made productions.

Out on Screen was one of 16 cultural organizations that received funding from Arts Partners in Creative Development, as announced on July 17. The LGBT society will receive $65,000 to commission three short films and a community-based installation for its Queer History Project. Nine artists involved in the projects include director Gwen Haworth (She’s a Boy I Knew ) and director Aerlyn Weissman (Little Sister’s vs. Big Brother ).

On June 25, the 300-strong audience at the Ridge Theatre saw what 30 teams of filmmakers could do in 24 hours as part of the Vancouver edition of the 2008 Diesel Film Racing Tour.

Crispin Glover isn’t just the “oddball” who pretended to karate kick David Letterman in the head on TV. He also costarred in Back to the Future, and, in Poland, starred in Jerzy Skolimowski’s Ferdydurke.

The Touched By Tibet series runs from July 18 to 30 at the Vancouver International Film Centre (1181 Seymour Street).