Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by
DreamQuest, finished eighth at the US weekend boxoffice, grossing an
estimated $5.2 million, for a total of $249.9 million. No other animation
related films finished in the top ten.

Seven European animation companies have joined to form a company called the
European Animation Group, although its name is likely to change. The group
hopes to produce a minimum of one animated feature or series per year,
beginning in 2001 with its first feature, the $15 million ELFQUEST, set to
go into production in January 2000. The announcement was made at MIPCOM
held October 4 - 8 in Cannes, France. European Animation Group brings
together seven companies. From France, the partners are

JAMES SOMMERVILLE, co-founder of THE ATTIK, has relinquished his most
recent role as creative director of the New York branch to oversee the
development of the company throughout its five offices in Huddersfield
(England), London, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. While based in
London, Sommerville will continue to direct both commercials and long form
projects through The Attik/New York and London. Also, The Attik's executive
producer JIM MORAN has added managing director to his title and assumed

Yuri Norstein is considered one of the most remarkable directors to emerge
from the current generation of Russian animators. Norstein will be in
California this upcoming week for an exceptional tour of major studios and
universities. His California tour includes: ASIFA San Francisco and De Anza
College on Sunday, October 17; Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) on Monday,
October 18; UCLA and CalArts on Tuesday, October 19; the Disney Studios and
USC on Wednesday, October 20; L.A. Art Centre & ASIFA-Hollywood on

The Cinanima International Animated Film Festival will be held November
8-14, 1999, in Espinho, Portugal. In addition to this year's official
competition program, as well as the retrospectives and exhibitions, the
festival web site now offers the festival daily program on their web site.

United Kingdom's ITV Network Centre has commissioned a second series of 13
episodes of the animated series THE STORYKEEPERS from Dublin, Ireland-based
Monster Productions, an animation studio and distribution company formed in
1995 by former management and artists from the Don Bluth studios. The new
series, produced by Shepherd Films, and distributed by Monster Distributes,
will be delivered in Spring 2001 for broadcast on Sunday mornings. The new
series, which is a prequel to the existing series, is set in AD 8, and

TIM BURTON'S NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (its official title) plays at
Disney's El Capitan theater. El Capitan is located west of Highland on
Hollywood Blvd. The event takes place Friday, October 29 - Sunday, October
31 in Hollywood, California, USA. For more information Tel. (323) 467-7674.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of Comedy Central's SOUTH PARK, have received permission to
sample copyrighted Monty Python work for use in IT'S THE MONTY PYTHON
STORY. The animated special will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BBC
comedy series MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS, which was created by Graham
Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry
Gilliam (the lone American in the group, who did the animation). The
special will include a spoof of the famous "Dead Parrot Sketch" entitled

Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. This month, his films will
be appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, UK, France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Taiwan. "I Married A Strange Person"
will have its U.S. cable premiere on Cinemax on October 22, 1999. Bill
will also be attending some of the events in the US, Italy and Germany.


Check out Bill's appearance schedule.

One year ago, the Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded its grand
prize to the new Estonian film, "Night of the Carrots," by Priit Pärn.
Since making his first film, "Is the Earth Round" in 1977, animator,
illustrator, and artist Priit Pärn has evolved into one of the most
influential animation artists in the world. His films are routinely invited
to animation festivals where they have won several major awards. Priit
Pärn's countrymen, Rein Raamat, Rao Heidmats and Mati Kutt, among others,