This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

- Marco Polo-Return to Xanadu (Academy Awards Qualifying Screenings):
Friday, December 28, 2001 - Thursday, January 03, 2002, West Hills,
California USA.

- Cartoon Movie: Thursday, March 14 - Saturday, March 16, 2002,
Potsdam/Babelsberg, Germany.

Independent animation studio Mercury Filmworks recently opened a full feature and episodic television production facility in Toronto, Ontario. The expansion has nearly doubled the company’s studio capacity and increased its talent to 120 employees in Vancouver and Toronto. A deal with Nelvana Limited to work on a 13-episode season of RESCUE HEROES II allowed Mercury the resources to open the Toronto location. Mercury successfully wrapped the RESCUE HEROES II series at the end of October 2001. The series airs on Teletoon in Canada and Kids’ WB! in the U.S.

Apparel brand and licensing company The Cherokee Group has agreed to represent DIC Entertainment's property LIBERTY'S KIDS and engineer strategic licensing agreements for the animated show. LIBERTY'S KIDS, an educational series depicting the events and people surrounding the United States' fight for independence, will debut in the fall of 2002 on PBS. The show will be airing a minimum of five days a week for two years. The series will feature personalities such as Walter Cronkite, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller and Whoopie Goldberg in voice-over roles portraying historical figures.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

* Vampire Hunter D Screening: Friday, December 21 - Thursday, December 27, 2001, Los Angeles, California USA.

* McKenzie College Open House: Thursday, January 17, 2002, Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada.

* WinFemme Film, Video & Screenplay Festival: Monday, January 01, 2001 - Wednesday, January 01, 2003, Los Angeles, California USA.

* DirecTV - Level13.Net Animated Film Festival: Wednesday, December 26 - Thursday, December 27, 2001, DIRECTV Channel 104.

CRESTED BUTTE REEL FEST. Crested Butte, Colorado, USA

Wednesday, August 14 - Sunday, August 18, 2002

Entry Deadline: Friday, March 22, 2002; Student entries by May 10, 2002

Vampire Hunter D Now Showing in Los Angeles: Friday, December 21 - Thursday, December 27, 2001, Los Angeles, California USA, 5:30 pm; 7:30 pm; 9:30 pm, Set in a supernatural world that's equal parts Sergio Leone and BLADE, this astonishing, adrenaline-stoked animated film follows the enigmatic "D" as he slices and dices his way through snake-headed bloodsuckers, shadow creatures, bigoted humans and more, while attempting to stop the Romeo and Juliet romance of a beautiful young woman and a dashing vampire count. English language. (Spielberg Theatre inside the Egyptian Theatre).

The first commercial project from the newly-opened London branch of Wild Brain, Inc. has been completed. Created for Parfum du Coeur's Body Fantasies fragrance line, the "Just For Me" :15 and :30 ads began airing on November 30 in major markets across the United States. Produced out of Wild Brain UK, LLC conceptualized by WSAA, Inc. and directed by Mike Smith, the "Just For Me" campaign is animated using traditional 2D animation techniques, painted and rendered by hand. The images were then re-worked with digital effects and composited in AfterEffects, Flame and Edit Box.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

Battle of the Planets Screening: Sunday, December 16, 2001, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Women In Animation Writers' Seminar Group: Thursday, January 10, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . California SUN International Animation Festival: Thursday, April 04 - Saturday, April 06, 2002, Northridge, California USA.

Monster Distributes has just completed a deal with Discovery Kids UK to broadcast its educational animated series WHY? The series, which is scheduled to begin airing January 1, 2002, was also recently sold to Mediapark for Pay TV in Spain. A Pay TV deal in Brazil is currently in negotiation. The 24 x 2 minute pre-school series was animated by Irish animation company Brown Bag Films, and explains how things work.

Canadian Tales for Children: Saturday, December 29, 2001, Richmond, Virginia USA. The best in animated films for children created by our northern neighbors in Canada, including Oscar winning shorts from The National Film Board. The Children's Museum of Richmond 2626 West Broad St., Richmond, Virginia at 11:00 am. For more information, contact: Janet Scagnelli at The Richmond Moving Image Co-op, PO Box 7469, Richmond, VA 23221, USA; Tel.: 804-355-1383; Email: flicker@vcu.org; Web: http://www.rmicweb.org.