Big news from Fran and Hank!

Hello Everyone,
Hey Animators! Have you heard about the Ottawa Animation Festival? I
sure hope so! Well, get this - Pratt will be buying passes for Media Arts animation students. I think they're 170 bucks. The catch? You must email me with your intention to go by September 7th. Also, you must actually use
your pass. Juniors, if we buy you a pass and you don't go, you won't get a pass next year. Seniors, Pat will think of some other sort of punishment. It will be horrible. Anyways, I'm assuming most of you have heard something about the
festival by now. It's amazing. You should all go. You will learn a lot. You will see many films. You will bond with fellow classmates. You will come back with a headache, your head will be so full of new ideas. Please forward this email around amongst yourselves. It's very important to start planning now.
-Fran
frankrause@hotmail.com

*****IMPORTANT******
GET YOUR PASSPORT NOW! If you are at home, make sure you bring your passport back to school with you. I remember being able to get into Canada with a driver's license. Those days are gone. You will need either your passport OR a driver's license AND your birth certificate. A passport would be ideal. You're going to be driving up to the border, late at night, with a carload
of arty-looking kids. Bring your passports. Do not attempt to bring anything questionable over the border. If, by some strange coincedence, you happen to see another carload of friends in line in front of you, do not start honking and waving. They will pull you aside and search both cars. They will search very slowly. It will take forever. Trust me.

More information:
http://ottawa.awn.com/

Also, bookmark this page:
http://prattkeyframe.blogspot.com/

How to get there:
You can carpool with friends. The drive up to Ottawa is about seven and a half hours, according to Mapquest. If you go with four or five friends in acar, it's the cheapest way to get there. Bring books on tape. If you have a car and empty seats, email me. I will try to organize a carpool. You can also fly to Ottawa. Last I checked, tickets were about 300 bucks or so.
If you are a masochist, you can take the bus. A bunch of you did this lastyear. There are red-eye busses that go all night and will get you there the next morning. Greyhound takes around 10-12 hours and costs $45 each way, if
you buy your tickets a week in advance. You can take a bus that leaves New York at midnight and gets to Ottawa at eleven the next day.

We'll see how the reaction is - maybe we can get a bus. We'll need quite a few students to make that work econimically.

Where to stay:
The center of the festival is at the National Arts Center, or NAC. It's at 53 Elgin Street. Here is a map: http://tinyurl.com/dyf96 . Try to stay as close as possible to this place. All other events are located within walking
distance to this. You have two options without sleeping in your car. You can spend about
20 bucks a night and stay at a hostel. They're very cheap but kind of
noisy and not too much privacy. You can also spend 75-125 for a single and
125-175 for a double and split it with three or four people. I would reccomend this.
You're only spending ten or twenty bucks more a night - and you get towels!
Look on www.orbitz.com or www.hotels.com or something like that. You can search by proximity to the festival.
Here are two hostels:
http://www.ottawahostel.com/ - a hostel. 20 bucks a night. five minute walk to the festival center.
http://www.hihostels.ca/hostels/Ontario/OntarioEast/OttawaInternationalHostel/Hostels/
- another hostel. 22 Canadian bucks a night, located in an old jail.
Very close to the festival. Many animation students will be there.

EMAIL ME if you have any questions. You should all go.
-Fran