This is a don’t miss event for anyone looking for  the best talent anywhere for movie, flash, or digital animation. Suzhou, a gorgeous “water town” near Shanghai, is playing host to the event:

Take a look at the media industries and you’ll find animation everywhere. In TV, film, education and training, games, mobile, advertising, and online. It’s also one of the strongest youth market categories in digital media.

X|Media|Lab Suzhou concentrates on this “wealth of animation” bringing together a stellar range of animation experts from all over the world.

The Keynote Conference Day focuses on four themes: Animation Industry Development; International Business Opportunities; Quality Assurance and Management; and Technologies and Skills.

The Business Matching Forum focuses on you. It’s your opportunity to meet up with the animation industry experts, directly discuss your own animation ideas, network yourself right into the heart of the China animation industry, and explore business matching and partnerships with the other international participants at the Lab.

International participants include:

- Raman Hui - Director of Shrek 3
- Michael Johnson - Motion Picture Lead, Pixar Studios
- Duncan Brinsmead - Chief Research Scientist, Autodesk (Maya Software)
- Suresh Seetharaman - Founder and President, Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation
- Sue Erokan - Supervisor, Character Animation, Dreamworks
- Dan Scott - Head of Global Production, Nokia Games
- Masakazu Kubo - Executive Producer, Pokemon Film and TV Series (Tokyo)
- Xavier Nicholas - Managing Director, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore
- Heather Kenyon - formerly Director of Development, Original Animation at Cartoon Network
- Dale Herigstad - 5-time Emmy Award Winner, Schematic (LA)
- Nickson Fong - Founder, Egg Story (Singapore)
- Paul Steed - Founder, Exigent Studios (Los Angeles)
- Madhavan - Founder, Crest Animation (India)
- Michael Stevens - Board Member, Park Road Post (Wellington)
- Tatiana Kober - Founder, Bejuba Studios (LA and Toronto)
- Anand Gurnani - Founder, Animation ‘Xpress (India)
- Tim Brook-Hunt - Head of Children’s TV, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Sydney)
- Alan Lindsay - CEO, Vue DC Group (Perth)

China participants include a ‘who’s who’ of the China animation industry including: the Dean of Animation, Beijing Film Academy; President, Great Dreams Cartoon Group; Executive Deputy Secretary General of China Animation Association, and Head of Digital Media Technologies, Beijing Institute of Technology; Executive Vice President of China Animation Association; Deputy Director of Digital Animation Creation R&D Centre, China Art Academy; Secretary General of Mobile Animation Industry Association; CEO of China Animation Association; Managing Partner of China Renaissance; the Vice President of ID Tech Ventures; and many others.

XML Suzhou will be the perfect place to make contact with some the best animation people from all over the world – whether you are interested in creative development, best practices, or business opportunities internationally or in China.

Suzhou is one of China’s animation centers of excellence, about 90 minutes north of Shanghai - and it exemplifies the “New China”: hundreds of huge new buildings springing up out of the ground, great vitality, and a commitment to developing the digital media industries.

X|Media|Lab Suzhou “Wealth of Animation” International Participants

Places are strictly limited to both the Keynote Conference Day (300 maximum – 120 already sold) and the Business Matching Forum (80 participants – 30 already allocated).

For Chinese head here: Animation Workshop

English: Animation Suzhou

Online digital advertising and reputation Management firm  CultureFish Media is a new International Marketing Partner with X|media.

Original story here: XML Suzhou: China Animation Spotlight Event

Oh ya, and that Canadian Singer….

I just got off the train from Shanghai (and boy am I windblown! Sorry.)…I did the overnight cheapo fare that requires you to share a berth with five total strangers. It is kind of like being back in the military except you can’t shoot at the woman n the next car whose voice can crack plaster and has a cell phone with an endless battery life. Hey, for $30 bucks it’s still a bargain and I considered myself lucky to even get a wheelbarrow ride into Guangzhou during this period: the Canton Trade Fair is on and tens of thousands of traders (and various “service” personnel to “support” them) descend on the city and jack up prices on everything from dinner to DVDs. The prices are so high the merchants on Beijing Road don’t need to make counterfeit change. But I digress…

Prior to the concert I did a day of visitations with Web 2.0 friends and Internet acquaintances–who incidentally look nothing like their Facebook profile shots. I met with Gus at the China Business Incubator Globe Forum; I had lunch with the Muse of Online Videos and inexpensive food, Thalia Kwok at China On TV; I discussed million dollar IPO’able innovations with blogger and PR pundit Adam Schokora; and finally got to meet Twitterbug, blogger, gaming entrepreneur, angel investor, very proud new dad and Tudou co-founder, Marc Vanderchijs.

Ya, I missed my nap.

In the early evening, just a few subway stops from the sports stadium. where the best selling female artist in the world was to sing, I enjoyed a specially prepared meal of salad, broasted chicken and pizza made by the Danes and Scandanavians who operate a trade company with an un-pronounceable name (Kinakontakten) and a Shanghai Pizza Parlor–in their spare time.

I had grown used to Papa Wongs Johns in Guangzhou and was so taken by REAL salad and REAL pizza with REAL pepperoni that I was late (really) for Celine Dion’s opening number. Pizza and company have to be damned good to derail a 1,000 mile journey to see a diva.

It was my first time in the grand 50,000-seat Shanghai Stadium. I blundered into the stands sometime during “Drove All Night,” and just prior to “The Power of Love,” and”Because You Love Me.” Both should have brought the House down, but this is China: I am still not used to Chinese audiences and their lukewarm responses to mega-talent. They are just not very demonstrative in comparison to American crowds–or even the Canucks at Shanghai stadium who had draped themselves in maple leaf flags…

The tear-jerker of the night was a tribute to Queen. No, I am not kidding. “We Will Rock You,” and “The Show Must Go On” was a beautifully crafted montage of clips from the life of Queen and Freddie Mercury, leader of arguably the best stage band of my era. And of course, Celine Dion saved, “My Heart Will Go On,” for her second encore. and the one time most of the crowd rose to their feet.

As an aside, I remember nce reading that the writer of the Oscsar winning song from “Titanic” could expect to earn $20,000,00 USD in his lifetime from just that tune. If it were me, I’d be sending flowers after each royalty check to the only lady that could have taught seven continents its lyrics

(Of course it is a picture of the screen in the stadium! I was the the nose-bleed seats with the French speakers.)

Now if only business adventures were always this much fun….

china

I was in discussions this week with Chinese media experts who predicted that Carrefour could be run completely out of China by protestors/boycotters. And it was certainly a shock to me to hear the CEO of a major ISP/portal actually supported the boycott.

It appears that Carrefour is now to pay for the transgressions of the west’s long-held fascination with all news that is negative regarding China. As a Chinese executive told me:”It is time we show the west we can and will fight back.”

As learned through the recent incidents in Tibet, behavioral contagion is powerful; Ordinarily peaceful people, spurred on by emotionally charged crowds, might commit acts they would ordinarily abhor.

I have long been a believer in peaceful civil disobedience as an answer to oppression of any kind. I draw the line when it becomes violent on either side.

The arsonists and murderers in Tibet should be held accountable for what they did. The boycott supporters who move beyond making an economic statement of solidarity and go on to hurt innocent foreigners should be brought to justice as well.

Shanghaiist: Attack on an American volunteer by anti-Carrefour mob in Zhuzhou, Hunan