BrickFest

BrickFest was the first major convention for adult fans of LEGO. It was originally organized by Christina Hitchcock, and began in 2000. It took place in Washington, D.C., and featured MOC displays, challenges, workshops, and other presentations. Early BrickFests played a role in the development of a community surrounding brickfilming.

BrickFest Animation Competition refers to a series of competitions held at BrickFest 2002 - 2004 by Todd Thuma. It is not to be confused with the BricksWest Animation Competition, which Thuma also ran. From 2004 to 2006, BrickFest had a partnership with Brickfilms.com, and the Brickfilms.com summer contests were tied in with the BrickFest of each year.

Brickfilming at early BrickFests
BrickFest 2000 included a panel on brickfilming presented by Thomas Foote. This panel inspired a number of people to try out brickfilming, and notably introduced the concept of brickfilming to Jason Rowoldt, who would pick up the hobby and go on to found Brickfilms.com later in 2000. BrickFest 2000 also featured a presentation of multiple brickfilms by Greg Perry, who attended.

BrickFest 2001 included a panel on brickfilming co-hosted by both Thomas Foote and Jason Rowoldt. Foote premiered his films The Big Match and Also Thwacked Zarathustra. There was a presentation and screening by Greg Perry. There was also an hour-long screening of brickfilms that were available on Brickfilms.com:

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="min-width:100%;" !data-sort-type="text" style="width:50%"|Film Name !data-sort-type="text"|Director
 * align="center"|Vecna's Lens: Part I ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt
 * align="center"|All of the Dead ||align="center"|Tony Mines and Tim Drage
 * align="center"|2001: A LEGO Odyssey ||align="center"|Marc Atkin
 * align="center"|ONE: A Space Odyssey ||align="center"|Tony Mines and Tim Drage
 * align="center"|Twelve Bucks ||align="center"|Rob Weychert
 * align="center"|The Thing ||align="center"|Andy Thornbery
 * align="center"|LeGorso ||align="center"|Joona Poikonen and Lauri Mäki
 * align="center"|Ministry - "Thieves" ||align="center"|Jason Bardis
 * align="center"|The LEGO Chainsaw Massacre ||align="center"|Andy Thornbery
 * align="center"|Brain Damage ||align="center"|Robert Thomas
 * align="center"|Dancing on The Moon ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt
 * align="center"|The Thing ||align="center"|Andy Thornbery
 * align="center"|LeGorso ||align="center"|Joona Poikonen and Lauri Mäki
 * align="center"|Ministry - "Thieves" ||align="center"|Jason Bardis
 * align="center"|The LEGO Chainsaw Massacre ||align="center"|Andy Thornbery
 * align="center"|Brain Damage ||align="center"|Robert Thomas
 * align="center"|Dancing on The Moon ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt
 * align="center"|The LEGO Chainsaw Massacre ||align="center"|Andy Thornbery
 * align="center"|Brain Damage ||align="center"|Robert Thomas
 * align="center"|Dancing on The Moon ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt
 * align="center"|Dancing on The Moon ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt
 * align="center"|Dancing on The Moon ||align="center"|Jason Rowoldt

BrickFest 2002 animation competitions
The BrickFest 2002 Animation Competition and Animation Festival were announced by Christina Hitchcock on May 20, 2002. Both events were hosted by Todd Thuma. Prizes for winning entries were a plaque of LEGO bricks, and a LEGO set from the LEGO Studios horror theme. Entrants did not need to attend BrickFest to submit or win. BrickFest 2002 occurred from July 19 - 21, 2002.

Star Wars Movie Trailer Competition
The main BrickFest 2002 Animation Competition was in honor of the recent release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and was for originally created brickfilms that were trailers for an existing or fictional Star Wars film. Entries were were required to be between 1 and 3 minutes long. Entrants were encouraged to use original audio, rather than taking audio from existing trailers. Entries had to be received by July 9, either on a CD-ROM in .mov format, or on a VHS or Mini-DV cassette tape. Entries were required to be appropriate for all ages.

Two prizes for the trailer competition were awarded. Each audience member was given one vote to determine the Audience Choice Award. The organizers of BrickFest determined the winner of the Conference Organizer Award based on a list of criteria including "quality of the animation, quality of the lighting, quality of the sound, quality of the editing, and the closeness to or the originality of the movie trailer (depending on which way you go)". Both awards were referred to as equal in prestige.

 Results  Audience Choice Award:
 * Rise of the Empire by Jay Silver

Conference Organizer Award:
 * Jedi Chronicles: The First Duel by Nick Maniatis

List of all Star Wars Movie Trailer Competition entries, in screening order:

Animation Festival Competition
 Results  Best of Show:
 * Block Wars by Paul Hollingsworth and Sarah Stinchcombe

Audience Choice Award:
 * The Clocktower Trilogy by Nate Burr

Conference Organizer Award:
 * The Evolution of Creation by Greg Perry

List of all Animation Festival Competition entries, in alphabetical order:

BrickFest 2003 Music Video Animation Competition


 Results  Best of Show:
 * A Grand and Merry Race by Doug James and Jared Gilbert

Best Music Video AKA Audience Choice Award:
 * V8r Boi by Paul Hollingsworth and Sarah Stinchcombe

Best Technical Animation:
 * Over the Hills and Far Away by Kristian Sandberg

The other entries were Wake Up (set to the Evanescence song "Bring Me To Life") by Ben Brenninkmeyer and A Forest - The Cure by Nick Maniatis. There was also an unknown sixth entry by someone named Eric which was screened but was not considered for awards due to being submitted late, and the official White Stripes brickfilm music video Fell in Love with a Girl was also screened at the festival.

BrickFestPDX 2004 animation competitions
BrickFestPDX 2004 was the first BrickFest held outside of the Washington D.C. area. It took place in the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon from February 12 - 14, 2004. On September 18, 2003, Todd Thuma announced two brickfilm competitions for this BrickFest: The BrickFest PDX 2004 "History of Flight" Animation Competition and The BrickFest PDX 2004 Tell-a-Joke Animation Competition. However, neither competition received any entries. It was theorized that this could have been due to the A Peculiar Event Contest taking place on Brickfilms.com from December 2003 to February 2004, or also due to an opinion that brickfilms weren't received particularly enthusiastically at LEGO festivals, demotivating people to create films specifically for them.

BrickFest 2004 High Adventure Theatre Contest
Main article: High Adventure Theatre Contest

BrickFest 2005 Heroes and Villains Contest
Main article: Heroes and Villains Contest

Fame, Infamy and Glory Contest
Main article: Fame, Infamy and Glory Contest .

BrickFest 2006 Montage
Main article: BrickFest 2006 Montage .