Coraline, one of Selick's creations.

If you don’t know who Henry Selick is, a quick glance at his directing credits—Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, etc.—should give you a sense of his status as one of the premier auteurs of the animation world. Tonight at 7pm, join him at the Crosby Street Hotel (79 Crosby St between Prince and Spring Sts; 212-226-6400, crosbystreethotel.com) for an intimate discussion of his career and craft, including clips from his oeuvre ($20; go to movingimage.us or call 718-784-4520 for tickets).

If you want to do something beforehand, look no further than the hotel bar. You can order high tea until 5:30pm, or pop in for a quick cocktail before the event. Committed stop-motion geeks can also catch Selick again tomorrow night at the Director’s Guild Theater (7:30pm, $20), where he’ll chat with Museum of the Moving Image chief curator David Schwartz, following a screening of Coraline in 3-D. And, of course, you’ll eventually want to bring your newfound Nightmare Before Christmas knowledge to the new Tim Burton retrospective at MoMA.