VIDFest is Vancouver's International Fest for all things around the new and interactive media space and is produced by New Media BC and Telefilm.

KK is on duty as a poster boy for the event - his hoodie sweatshirt and scruffy face adorning magazine ads throughout Cascadia and the event kicking off next week, so here's a quick guide to get you up to speed.

First, be sure you are subscribed to the VIDFest RSS feed and friend up the VIDFest Flickr photostream.

There are several parts to the May 21-24th event - well really, 11 parts when combined with the two-day Vancouver International Game Summit 2008. Here's the official blurb:

VIDFEST is eleven events over four days, including conferences, an awards gala, an international partnering forum, a pitch fest, and a recruiting fair.

Technology Branding 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games

I’m here at Presentation Centre at the Great Northern Way Campus, the new home for New Media BC and the future home for the Centre of Digital Media. Today is all about bringing together different sectors of technology, government representatives and members of the VANOC team.

I just returned from E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in LA and what a busy week it was! E3 is the premier trade show for the video and online gaming industry and Robert Scales from Raincity Studios and I went down on behalf of New Media BC and the Digital Media Association of Alberta to provide coverage of the show including recording podcasts with several companies from BC and Alberta who were exhibiting at E3. You can find the podcasts when they're uploaded on iTunes and lots of fun photos from the show over at Flickr. Some of the companies we met with are Jarhead Games, Buena Vista Group, Piranha Games, Next Level Games, and Hal Josephson of Media Sense.

Scales and I attended a great 'power breakfast' called "Gaming's Future and Cross Platform Design" with the leaders of the Canadian video game and electronic entertainment industry hosted by the Canadian Embassy Los Angeles and held at the prestigious Los Angeles Athletic Club... think members only, old money, dingy rooms full of polo trophies and pictures of body builders, Persian rugs in the washrooms, and a Rembrant hanging behind the speakers podium. It was beautiful. At the breakfast we heard a great talk by Mike Yuen, Senior Director of Gaming at Qualcomm on the future of the gaming industry and Lynda Brown of New Media BC spoke as well and gave an overview of Vidfest 2006 in Vancouver and invited everyone to come up for the event. I attended Vidfest last year and sat on the NMBC program committee that helped Kirsten Richter plan this years event and am excited to say that we've got quite the conference in store. Check it out and signup now.

A fabulous entourage from the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto came into Vancouver last night for a meet and greet with local film and television talent, sponsors, colleagues and friends.

Lynda Brown and Kirsten Richter from New Media BC invited Kris Krug from Bryght and myself along to reconnect and meet with local and national media folks alike.

While we mingled, popping luscious green olives in our mouths and sucking back some vino, Slawko Klymkiw, executive director of Canadian Film Centre, previously known to many from his days of devotion and excellence with the CBC, glided through the room all smiles, with his highly-known and well documented energy and enthusiasm, ensuring to meet and chat with each person in attendance.