Miami International Film Festival, Cable Congress '09, Leadership Music Digital Summit, South Beach International Animation Film Festival, Film, Stage

The Durango Independent Film Festival, happening in Durango, will have an array of festival events including late night parties for filmmakers and VIPs running through March 8. The annual Chicago International Movies and Music Festival brings together movies and music, showcasing films about music, movie scores and soundtracks, and other syntheses of moving images and musical performance such as the world premiere of musician Martin Atkins' directorial debut about his foray into the Chinese musical underground, '16 Days In China', during the festival's run March 5-8. Interactive discussion panels planned for the Puerto Rico Music Business Conference enable its participants to receive strategies, recommendations and true-life tales, applicable to any music genre, from experts currently shaping industry events. The Miami International Film Festival whose program is international in scope, but with a special emphasis on Ibero-American cinema, hosts over 350 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry representatives from around the world, during it's run, March 6-15. Entertainment industry career guidance group urnetworkalliance is hosting a series of power breakfast sessions on Saturdays during the month of March. At the opening session Lelia Shearer, Casting Associate of Elissa Myers Casting, currently casting a mini series for PBS, will be in attendance. Joining the sessions is possible through the group's Meetup page (www.meetup.com/urnetworkalliance/calendar/9613814/) or email to: info@urnetworkalliance.info

The Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences holds its annual Career Day Seminar on March 14, for college students interested in television as a career and for young professionals looking to advance in their profession. Certainly on the cutting edge, U.K. based group Crossover Play explores new forms of entertainment for digital media: the relationship between play and narrative, formats dependent on user contributions, mobile or location based entertainment with a broadcast component. It engages all this at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, March 15-20, and the group has presence on Facebook and Myspace as well. At Cable Congress '09 in Berlin, view tomorrow's technology and discover the latest content available at the exhibition, in addition to panels featuring top executives from Europe and the world's leading cable, technology and media companies. Then meet your peers at the exclusive Gala Dinner, Lounge Bar, buffet lunches or coffee breaks, all taking place March 18-20. The United States Institute for Theatre Technology Annual Conference & Stage Expo offers over 175 sessions featuring design, technology, costume, sound, architecture, management, engineering, and production. With over 150 exhibitors the Stage Expo provides conference attendees with the opportunity to see the newest products and services on the market today, when it runs March 18-21 in Cincinnati. Chicago Filmmakers Open Screening is back in operation, and it gets going again with a March 21 start date showing practically anything of a 20 minute duration that comes through the door, except of course, for X-rated material.

The upcoming Film/TV Production & Finance Summit taking place in Los Angeles, March 23-24, tackles current challenges attached to financing a film, television or online content in the current economy, as well as to address international co-ventures between the U.S. and Canada, how to make money through branding products with your content, online distribution, as well as, how to get the Film/TV production distributed and financed by studios. The Leadership Music Digital Summit, produced by Leadership Music, an educational 501(c)(3) focused on cultivating an educated, issue-oriented music community,  conducts the Summit, March 23-25 in Nashville to identify and explore new technology opportunities, innovations, and challenges, and to foster a knowledgeable, issue-oriented, vibrant community of music professionals. At this year's 2009 Game Developers Conference, happening March 23-27 in San Francisco, some of the party and networking functions will include: Playstation Interactive Lounge; Intel Visual Adrenaline Lounge; Game Connection Reception; IGDA Members-Only Party; ISM Charity Poker Tournament; GDC World Mixer; Booth Crawl. NXT STAGE Online & Mobile Entertainment Conference & Market, is a market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and digital content, March 24-25 in Hollywood. This years IPTV World Forum 2009 in London will continue to address the key strategic issues for telcos deploying IPTV, and will also focus on the challenges facing satellite and internet broadcasters, when it runs March 25-27. This year's South Beach International Animation Film Festival, running March 26 - April 5, offers screenings, parties and special events taking place at a variety of venues around Miami and the Beaches, along with art exhibits, hands-on demonstrations, seminars, and workshops about the newest technology and creative software. Film, Stage & Showbiz Expo will take place March 31 in New York, and will highlight some of the following areas: film festival, designer's showcase, focus groups, round table meetings for networking, movie reel showcase, original music showcase, headshot lane, live audition recording, and much more.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the "Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events" page. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor's Checklist podcast blog is a great place to get your iPhone, ipod or Apple TV download from. The Free Home Video Showcase now serves as an archive for all past video presentations. This month on video you will again see an interesting array of performing artists from the indie sector on video, in a lineup that will be announced. The Actor's Checklist continues to build it's archive of high quality digital video. All past video uploads of the monthly news summary are now archived without the audio news narration to the Free Home Video Showcase.