Sunday, November 22, marked the end of the 7th Holland Animation Film
Festival 1998. Awards were presented for both the international competition
for applied animation and student films. The jury for the international
competition for applied animation consisted of Garri Bardin (Russia), Paul
Bush (United Kingdom), Dingeman Kuilman (The Netherlands), Adriaan Lokman
(The Netherlands), and Linda Simensky (United States). They chose the
following films to receive the Golden Pegbar Awards:

* Monday, December 7. Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.


The Association of Northern Animators (ANA) will hold a Christmas party
called 'Animate 98' at 8 p.m. at the Telegraph Hotel. Everybody is welcome.
Local animators will come together to meet, view each others' work, discuss
and network. The evening will include DJs and screenings of local
animators' work. Cost £2. For more details, e-mail alys.hawkins@unn.ac.uk
or ring (0191) 232 8432.

On Sunday, December 6, Fox Family Channel premieres AN ALL DOGS CHRISTMAS
CAROL at 6 -7:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The canine retelling of Dickens' "A
Christmas Carol" is based on the Don Bluth film, "All Dogs Go to Heaven.".

A digitally remastered version of the animated holiday classic, RUDOLPH THE
RED-NOSED REINDEER will air on U.S. network CBS Monday, November 30 from
8-9 p.m. (ET/PT). The Rankin-Bass film about an awkward shiny-nosed
reindeer will include an additional two minutes and 50 seconds of footage
not seen since 1964. The extra footage comes from the reinsertion of two
songs, "We Are Santa's Elves" and "We're a Couple of Misfits."

The 32nd annual U.S. International Film and Video Festival is now seeking
submissions in computer animation and non-computer animation categories.
Entries must be received by March 1, 1999. For entry kits and additional
information, contact (630) 834-7773 or visit www.filmfestawards.com.

Balmur Entertainment, a music management and publishing company owned by singer-performer Anne Murray, has acquired Evening Sky Productions and The Animation House in an effort to produce original animated series, live-action family entertainment and music-driven television specials for global distribution. Evening Sky (headed by David and Mary Corbett) and Animation House (headed by Bob Fortier) will merge to become a wholly-owned division of Balmur Entertainment and will operate as Evening Sky Productions.

The Varga Group of Companies, which includes the Hungarian animation studio Varga Studio and UK-based VARGA tvc Ltd., will conduct business under a newly formed holding company, Varga Holdings. Varga Holdings reflects Varga’s worldwide expansion in the production of high quality animation and replaces Eurotoon, the previous holding company for the two animation studios. Co-founder of Varga Studio, Andras Erkel, was named Chief Executive Officer of Varga Holdings while co-founder Csaba Varga has been named Group Creative Director.

A half-hour special, THE MAKING OF “THE RUGRATS MOVIE” will air on November 26 at 6:00 p.m. (ET) on U.S. cable network TV Land with segments on the Rugrats’ voices, the unique animation style, and the star-studded soundtrack.

Fox Entertainment Group president Peter Roth resigned last week after a
disappointing season for Fox Network's television shows. Comedy Central
chief executive officer Doug Herzog was announced as the replacement where
he'll head Fox's development, scheduling, marketing and promotion. Herzog
is responsible for bringing "South Park" to Comedy Central and it is his
intention to push the envelope content-wise at Fox as well. Certainly, a
good deal of Fox's future rides on animated shows with three major

Columbia Tristar Home Video and the Harvey Entertainment Company will
release "Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure," a live-action, feature-length
musical comedy, starring the classic oversized, diapered duck in his first
movie ever. The direct-to-video film, which will be released on March 2,
1999, stars Joseph Bologna, Maureen McCormick, Harvey Korman, David Lander,
and David Leisure. The song-filled film also includes a bonus Baby Huey
cartoon, "Daycare Duckie," packaged with the film. The film is about how