DANBURY, CONN. — Film shorts created through computer animation by students from Western Connecticut State University and other colleges across the nation will be featured during the weeklong AniFest ’09 program to be held at the university from Monday, April 20, through Friday, April 24.

The AniFest ’09 Animation Theater will present short animated features designed and produced by student graphic artists, as well as professional animation shorts, in continuous showings from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Student Center Theater on the WestConn Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Featured works also will be reviewed and judged for prize awards in the festival’s Student Computer Animation Competition. An exhibition demonstrating animation art and computer graphics techniques will be mounted throughout the festival in the lobby of the Midtown campus Student Center.

Sponsored by the WCSU Center for Graphics Research (CGR), this year’s program will mark the eighth annual AniFest celebration showcasing the graphic design innovations and filmmaking art of student animators at WestConn and other institutions nationwide. The steady advance in the number and sophistication of works submitted for presentation and judging each year reflects both heightened student interest in computer animation, and accelerated technological progress in the development of computer graphics applications.

CGR Director and Professor of Computer Science Dr. William Joel noted this year’s festival will culminate with a daylong program of faculty workshops, offering teachers at the middle and high school levels an opportunity to learn how computer graphics and animation tools can be applied to enhance classroom learning and promote student creativity. Workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, April 24, on the WestConn Midtown campus.

Admission to the festival’s Animation Theater and Art of Animation exhibition will be free and the public is invited to attend. Pre-registration is required for the faculty workshops; for information, contact Joel at joelw@wcsu.edu.

The CGR also has announced plans to hold a Summer Computer Animation Camp from Monday, July 20, through Friday, July 24, on the university’s Westside campus, 43 Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury. Middle school students in grades 6 through 8 will be invited to learn about the fundamentals of computer animation including storyboarding, modeling, keyframe animation and video editing. The registration fee is $650 for commuting students. The deadline for registration submissions is May 13; registration forms and additional information may be obtained online at http://cs.wcsu.edu/cgr/camp.

For more information, contact Joel at (203) 837-9350 or joelw@wcsu.edu, or the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics
of New England’s best small private universities.