Damn. So every once in a while something cool sneaks under my radar. I try to keep on top of all the film stuff that happens in Portland, but every once in a while, something sneaks by. I have no excuse other than my chronic ineptitude and my near-total lack of reading skills. Also I am easily distracted, usually by candy.

ANYWAY. The whole radar sneakage thing is just what happened with a screening that’s happening tonight. The 2007 Electronic Theater is “a film and video extravaganza” showing off a bunch of computer graphics and special effects shots. It’s put on by SIGGRAPH and sounds promising. (A bunch of these presentations sound cool, and one of them is “Lifted,” the excellent Pixar short by Gary Rydstrom that we’ve previously blogged about right here.)

It happens tonight at PCC, and if you want to attend you’ll need to RSVP via email. (Annoying!) But at $5 and with 34 carefully chosen shorts, it seems like it could be worth the hassle. Here’s the first bit of the press release. Hit the jump for the rest of it.

Cascade SIGGRAPH Hosts Screening of the 2007 Electronic Theater in Portland

Exclusive Reprise of the Best Computer Graphics Shorts from Around the World

Portland, Ore. — Sept. 27, 2007 — Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH, Oregon and Southwest Washington’s local SIGGRAPH chapter, has announced that it will host a special screening of the 2007 Electronic Theater, a film and video extravaganza featuring incredible technical imagery on Friday, Oct.12, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. at Portland Community College, in the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building Auditorium, Portland, Ore. Shown each year during SIGGRAPH, an international conference of computer graphics and interactive techniques, the Electronic Theater is a highly-acclaimed showcase of the best computer graphics and special effects shorts from around the world, offering insight on future trends in films and commercials.

The 2007 Electronic Theater collection was curated by one of the founding fathers of High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI), Paul Debevec. This year’s collection contains 34 shorts selected from over 900 submissions. Winners were chosen for their extremely high standards of creativity and technical excellence. With show categories ranging from animation to research, this year's Computer Animation Festival submissions originate from countries across the globe including France, Germany, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Switzerland, the U.K. and New Zealand.

The 2007 Electronic Theater includes the following productions:

1. 300's Liquid Battlefield - SCANLINE VFX (Germany)

2. Ark - Marcin Kobylecki, Grzegorz Jonkajtys, Producers (Poland)

3. Burning Safari - Gobelins, l'école de l'image (France)

4. Capturing and Animating Skin Deformation - Carnegie Mellon University (USA)

5. Children of Men - Framestore CFC (United Kingdowm)

6. Dreammaker (Trailer) - Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany)

7. En Tus Brazos - Supinfocom Valenciennes (France)

8. equilibrio - New York University (USA)

9. Formation of a Spiral Galaxy - National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (Japan)

10. Game Technology 2007 - Playable Universal Capture 2007 Reel, Electronic Arts

11. A Gentlemen's Duel - Blur Studio (USA)

12. Happiness Factory - PSYOP, Inc. (USA)

13. High Fashion in Equations - MIRALab, University of Geneva (Switzerland)

14. HP Hands "Paulo Coelho" - Motion Theory (USA)

15. Industrial Light & Magic 2007 - Industrial Light & Magic (USA)

16. The Itch - Bournemouth University (United Kingdom)

17. Lifted - Pixar Animation Studios (USA)

18. No Time For Nuts – Blue Sky Studios (USA)

19. NVIDIA Real-Time Graphics Research: The GeForce 8 Demo Suite – NVIDIA Corporation (USA)

20. Opening and Title Animations - florianwitzel.com (USA)

21. Portal - Valve Corporation (USA)

22. Raymond - The Mill (United Kingdom)

23. The Recent Future Robot: HELPER Z Katsuyuki Suzuki (Japan)

24. Sears Tools "Arboretum" - Method Studios (USA)

25. SIGGRAPH 2007 Papers Preview - Microsoft Research (USA)

26. Spider-Man 3: VFX Highlights - Sony Pictures Imageworks (USA)

27. STORM - Digital Domain, Inc. (USA)

28. Surf's Up: A Practical Guide to Making Waves - Sony Pictures Imageworks (USA)

29. swirl - Lee Griggs (United Kingdom)

30. Travelers: Snowball - Weta Digital Ltd. (New Zealand)

31. U2 and Green Day "The Saints Are Coming" - SWAY studio (USA)

32. A VFX Journey Through Pan's Labyrinth With CafeFX - CafeFX, Inc. (USA)

33. Vigorsol: The Legend - The Moving Picture Company (United Kingdom)

34. World Trade Center - Double Negative (United Kingdom)

Location and Registration

The SIGGRAPH 2007 Electronic Theater screening will take place on Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 at the PCC Cascade Campus, in the Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building Auditorium (room 104), located at 705 N. Killingsworth Street, Portland, Ore. Directions and a map can be found on the web at http://www.pcc.edu/pcc/dma/cascademap.htm. Social hour will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the lobby, with the screening starting at 6:30 p.m.

Attendees are requested to RSVP via email to cascadesiggraph@gmail.com. Free parking passes will be available only to respondents that RSVP and request a parking pass by noon, Oct. 11, 2007.

This and other Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH meetings are free to Cascade SIGGRAPH chapter members. Nonmembers will need to pay a $5 admissions fee at the door. New members who sign up on site and pay the $35 annual membership fee do not have to pay the $5. Sorry, checks or cash only; no credit cards accepted. For more information on Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH and membership registration, visit the Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH website at www.cascadesiggraph.org.

Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH

The Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH chapter exists to serve the needs of the Oregon and Southwest Washington computer graphics industry and students. Through meetings, workshops, conferences, and other activities, the Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH chapter works to promote an increased knowledge of and greater interest in the educational, artistic, and scientific aspects and applications of modern technology to graphics, enhancing communication between persons in Oregon and Southwest Washington that have an interest in any aspect of computer graphics.