Canadian computer animation company Mainframe Entertainment has announced that company president Brett Gannon is temporarily stepping down from his post and will be taking an extended medical leave due to an undisclosed illness. Gannon's responsibilities will be taken over by CFO George Lawton, who is based in Canada, and Los Angeles-based Mark Fleischer, president Mainframe USA. According to Mainframe, Gannon intends to return to the company once fully recovered.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Thursday, October 17, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . IPEX - Independent Publishing Experience: Saturday, October 26, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Tricky Women: Friday, March 07 - Thursday, March 13, 2003, Vienna, Austria.

Teletoon, Canada’s 24-hour animation station, has announced the twelve Canadian students who have won this year's Teletoon Animation Scholarship Award. The award is one of the few for arts students and the only formal national contest for students of animation. Since the launch of the scholarship program five years ago, Teletoon has awarded more than CAD $160,000 to students studying animation. This year’s group of winners represents a wide range of applicants from major animation schools to smaller, rural high schools.

6th Brooklyn International Film Festival

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Monday, April 28 – Sunday, May 4, 2003

Entry Deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2003

At MIPCOM, EM.TV & Merchandising AG concluded a comprehensive deal with the children’s channel KI.KA that sees the German public broadcaster acquiring at least 300 half-hours of children's and youth programming from EM.TV, for broadcast on the jointly owned ARD-ZDF channel. Under the terms of the deal, KI.KA will receive the first free-TV broadcasting rights for all new shows, which will include POOCHINI, MOMO and WHAT ABOUT MIMI?

South Africa-based stop-motion animation company Triggerfish Animation has been awarded the animation contract for the second and third season of TAKALANI SESAME, the South African version of SESAME STREET. Triggerfish began working on TAKALANI SESAME two years ago as part of a joint venture, producing half of the animation for the first season.

5f Chennai, India came out of MIPCOM with two co-production deals for new animated series. MUV has teamed with Comet Entertainment of Toronto, Canada and Lasal of the Canary Islands, Spain to co-produce and provide animation for the CG series TINGUARO, THE SUN LIZARDS. Set in a futuristic world where peace-loving lizards struggle against war-mongering scorpions, TINGUARO is a 13-episode action/adventure series, which is also the first and only series to be supported and funded by the Spanish government, according to Carmen Llanos Acero, Comet COO.

Taos Talking Picture Festival

Taos, New Mexico USA

Thursday, April 10 - Sunday, April 13, 2003

Entry Deadline: Friday, January 10, 2003

Teletoon Canada has ordered 13 half-hour episodes of the Atomic Cartoons and Phil Roman Entertainment production ATOMIC BETTY. The series follows Betty, a sweet and brainy girl with only a few friends. But when the galaxy beckons, she sheds her humdrum persona and becomes Atomic Betty, "intergalactic rocket jockey and legendary defender of the universe," zipping across the galaxy on daring and valiant missions.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Gallery Exhibit of Paintings & Sculptures by Bob Lizarraga: Tuesday, October 08, 2002, Burbank, Ca. USA . . . It's A Nightmare! Tim Burton's Animated Films at L.A.'s El Capitan Theater: Friday, October 25 - Thursday, October 31, 2002, Hollywood, California USA . . . Kinetica 4: Tuesday, December 03 - Monday, December 30, 2002, Touring, CA USA . . . Kinetica 3: Saturday, December 21, 2002 - Thursday, January 30, 2003, New York, NY USA . . .