Red Storm, which has been broadening the boundaries of computer gaming with
products like Tom Clancy's RAINBOW SIX, has reached an agreement with
Bohbot Kids Network (BKN), a New York-based syndication network
specializing in children's programming, to produce a series of games based
on BKN's series ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES: ALIENS, MYTHS & LEGENDS, a new show
which will begin airing in the spring of 2000 and already has a two-year
air commitment. The show is a creation of Allen Bohbot, Chairman and CEO of

Pre-production on STAR WARS EPISODE II (Lucas reportedly has a title in
mind, but it has not been released) has already begun. Shooting is set to
start in June 2000 with locations at Fox Studios Australia, Tunisia, and
Italy, and the release is scheduled for summer 2002. The story will focus
on the romance and marriage between Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth
Vader) and Queen Amidala, and the Siths' attempt to gain control of the
galaxy. Whereas the budget for EPISODE 1 was $115 million, Lucas says he

Elfriede Fischinger died quietly in her sleep at her home on Thursday, May
13, 1999. She was born September 17, 1910, in Gelnhausen near Frankfurt,
Germany. She attended the prestigious College of Design in Offenbach, and
in 1931 one of her abstract textile designs won a prize and was published
in a magazine as well as exhibited in Berlin, where she met her future
husband, animator and painter Oskar Fischinger. They were married in 1933
and she worked on many of his subsequent films. In 1936 they emigrated to

A release date for Aardman Animations/DreamWorks' eagerly awaited
stop-motion feature, CHICKEN RUN, has been announced for June 23, 2000 in
the US. Fifteen minutes of completed footage were recently shown to
enthusiastic Aardman employees in England. The film is being directed by
Aardman co-founder Peter Lord and Nick Park (The Wrong Trousers, Creature
Comforts), and is described as The Great Escape with chickens. DreamWorks
SKG will distribute the film in the U.S. and most international territories

A BUG'S LIFE, a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation
Studios film, has climbed to $358 million in worldwide box office receipts
to become one of the top-grossing animated films of all time. With its
domestic gross of $163 million, the film has already become the fourth
biggest animated feature released in the United States (behind THE LION
KING, ALADDIN and TOY STORY). Internationally, A BUG'S LIFE has a
gross-to-date of $195 million and has set records in the United Kingdom,

Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis' new film, WHEN THE DAY BREAKS, will
compete with ten live-action films, and one animated film, BILLY'S
BALLOON by Don Hertzfeldt (LILY + JIM), for the top prize in the Short
Film competition at this year's 52nd Festival de Cannes in Cannes,
France. The Festival takes place Wednesday, May 12th through Sunday, May
23rd. Wendy Tilby is perhaps best known for STRINGS. For more
information visit the festival's official homepage at
www.festival-cannes.fr/cannes99.

The Quickdraw Animation Society web site has been updated, with the presentation of "When the Water is Sick, The World is Sick," a 5:30' collective film by 10 young QAS animation students. It will be featured this summer in the Annecy International Film Festival in France, and hopefully other festivals as well! Read more about this project on the QAS web site at:


www.awn.com/qas

Frank Gladstone, Head of Artist Development at DreamWorks, and Clifford Cohen, founder and president of AnimAction, have joined forces as members of UNICEF's International Animation Consortium for Child's Rights to create an animated PSA that addresses the Right to a Name and a Nationality. The PSA will be screened on June 4 at the Annecy Film Festival in Annecy, France. Also at the Festival, Mr. Cohen will speak about "How Animation Can Change People's Thinking."

The recently concluded Cartoons on the Bay festival in Poistano, Italy has announced its awards. The Golden Pulcinella for best character went to the Little Entertainment Co.'s BILLY, an animated British TV series for pre-schoolers about an infant daydreamer. The Golden Pulcinella for best program went to Folimage's CHARLIE'S CHRISTMAS, a French TV film about an abandoned child's friendship with a postman.

The Cartoons on the Bay International Festival of Television Animation will be held April 20-24, 1999 Positano, Italy.