2006 Machinima Festival to be Simulcast in Virtual World of Second Life

EVENT NOTICE

Will feature Pre-festival Second Life Showing on Nov 2 and Final Awards Ceremony on November 4

NEW YORK, NY, October 24, 2006-The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences is proud to announce that the 2006 Machinima Festival will take place not only at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, but also within the virtual world of Second Life ( http://secondlife.com.) Organized and produced by the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences and sponsored by NVIDIA, Beepa and GameVideos.com, the 2006 Machinima Festival, hailed as the "Sundance for the Video Game Set" by MTV News, is a two-day celebration of the art of Machinima, featuring panel discussions, demonstrations and screenings of the most groundbreaking works of this movement, along with the nominees and winners of the 2006 Machinima Awards ("The Mackies").

Among the 33 finalists for awards, four are films that were created by residents within Second Life, demonstrating the incredible growth in the Machinimist community within this virtual world. So it is fitting that parallel in-world events seek to bring greater attention to this year's festival.

On Thursday, November 2, at 8 PM EST, there will be a pre-festival showing of Machinima that have been nominated for awards, with the original Machinima makers appearing in-world to present their work and answer questions from the audience. The Machinima showing will take place in the theater in the Laguna Beach sim within Second Life, created by the Electric Sheep Company, a co-sponsor of the 2006 Machinima Festival. (Direct SLURL.)

Then on Saturday, November 4, at 9 PM EST, the final awards ceremony will be simulcast in the Laguna Beach sim. For those who can not make it to the real world festival, this is a great way they can still participate. (A Second Life basic account is free and works on both the Mac and the PC. Go to secondlife.com/join to get started.)

The complete list of finalists is available at http://festival.machinima.org/mackies.html. In addition, the selected works are viewable at the respective sites of their creators as well as on GameVideos.com.

The 2006 Machinima Festival is sponsored by NVIDIA, the Museum of the Moving Image, Beepa and GameVideos.com. Festival partners include Reallusion, Linden Lab and Machinima.com; media partners include WarcraftMovies.com and sims99.com.

About the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences

Based in New York, the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences (AMAS) is a small volunteer-run nonprofit established to promote, organize and advocate the growth of Machinima filmmaking and filmmakers. The organization was founded in March 2002 by several leading members of the Machinima community, including Paul Marino, the noted author of The Art of Machinima (2004, Paraglyph Press), who currently serves as president. Their goal in creating AMAS was to make the current creative industries aware of Machinima as well as bring support & credibility to independent Machinima productions as a whole. The Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences continues to support the Machinima movement with lectures, presentations, workshops along with its principal event, the annual Machinima Festival. For more information, visit www.machinima.org.

About the Electric Sheep Company

The Electric Sheep Company is a leading professional services company devoted to designing, implementing, and running virtual world-based content and experiences. ESC combines some of the very best builders and scripters in Second Life with a professional team that can design and deliver innovative experiences, builds and applications. For more information, visit the portfolio center on Sheep Island in Second Life or go to www.electricsheepcompany.com.

Contacts:

Rik Panganiban

(Rik Riel in Second Life)

917.710.5524

rikomatic@yahoo.com

Bill Lessard

PRiwthBrains for AMAS

914.476.6089

wlessard@prwithbrains.com