Our friends over at RESFEST have just announced the launch of their 9th annual global tour. The seven-city UK and Ireland tour includes special retrospective programmes from Beck, XL Recordings and Traktor. Nice. RESFEST's 2005 UK and Ireland tour will kick off with a flagship launch event on Wednesday 28 September, at London's prestigious National Film Theatre, before visiting Glasgow, Dublin, Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham and Sheffield. The UK and Ireland tour follows the global launch in New York City's Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 15 - 18 September. The festival will travel on its most extensive tour yet to over 35 cities around the globe, presenting a mix of original shorts and music video programmes, guest speakers, workshops, parties, and live music events. This year festival organisers received a record 1,750 submissions, as a result of a global search for the most outstanding, innovative short films, music videos, animations, commercials, and motion design shorts. The RESFEST showcase of curated programmes and special screenings will include a music video retrospective of the prolific and genre-busting music pioneer Beck; Traktor, a Swedish production collective whose award-winning work includes commercials for Nike, and music videos for Basement Jaxx, Madonna, Fatboy Slim, and Prodigy, with some never before seen gems from the Traktor archives; the program √Ǭ≥Cut & Paste√Ǭ≤ celebrating works using collage, sampled footage, and filmmaking with a DIY or handmade creative edge; the RES √Ǭ≥Triple Threat√Ǭ≤ programme forecasting three of the most talented up and coming directors on the planet - Nagi Noda, Jonnie Ross, and Francis Vogel; and a special screening of the documentary film √Ǭ≥Just For Kicks√Ǭ≤ that presents the colourful history and rise of the sneaker culture phenomenon. RES will be partnering with the ground breaking British independent music label XL Recordings, for a series of events including, a full programme of music videos and XL parties in each UK and Irish city. The label XL Recordings is home to artists including The White Stripes, Basement Jaxx, M.I.A. and the Prodigy. Returning to the festival line-up are three shorts programmes, including new and award-winning work from Jared Hess, Gaelle Dennis, Miguel Arteta, Johan Kramer, Eduoard Salier, Chris Cunningham, Nakd Design, and Stylewar; two music video programs √Ǭ≥Cinema Electronica√Ǭ≤ and √Ǭ≥Videos That Rock!√Ǭ≤ including new videos for Chemical Brothers, Dizzee Rascal, Aesop Rock, RJD2, Four Tet, Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Quasimoto, Arcade Fire, Lemon Jelly and Flaming Lips; and √Ǭ≥By Design√Ǭ≤, a showcase of visually arresting and thought provoking motion graphics and design-based animation. The RESFEST 2005 trailer is the creation of filmmaker, animator, graphic designer, and festival alum Stefan Nadelman, whose film √Ǭ≥Terminal Bar√Ǭ≤ was, in addition to being a 2002 RESFEST Audience Choice award winner, also winner of the Jury Prize for best short film at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. RESFEST on tour in the UK and Ireland, 2005: 28 Sep √Ǭ≠ 2 Oct   London: National Film Theatre 13 √Ǭ≠ 16 Oct         Glasgow: GFT, Centre for Contemporary Arts, and the School of Art 20 √Ǭ≠ 23 Oct         Dublin: Irish Film Institute and Filmbase 27 √Ǭ≠ 30 Oct         Bristol: Watershed 4 √Ǭ≠ 6 Nov            Belfast: Queen√Ǭπs Film Theatre 17 √Ǭ≠ 19 Nov        Sheffield: Showroom 18 √Ǭ≠ 20 Nov        Nottingham: Broadway For more information on RESFEST, visit www.resfest.com