The 4th edition of Cartoons On The Bay, the International Festival of

Television Animation, will be held in Positano (Amalfi Coast), Italy,

April 14-18, 2000. Cartoons on the Bay is the only festival in the

world solely dedicated to television animation. Promoted by Rai

Radiotelevisione Italiana and conceived and organized by Rai Trade,

the festival is an international event with awards, workshops,

lectures and events centering on the ever-changing world of

In response to PBS directing its animated work to Canada, MPSC Local 839 Cartoonists Union is set to picket Los Angeles' PBS affiliate KCET. PBS, the United States' public broadcasting network, is funded by U.S. tax dollars and recently struck a US$40 million deal with Canada's Nelvana [AF 1/5/00]. Upset with the ever increasing practice of studios sending work outside the States, the Union will picket in front of the KCET building on Thursday, April 13, 2000 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. Local 839 members earn credit toward dues for picketing or sign-drawing.

In its first weekend on the market in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 2 has reached 980,000 units sold. This initial sales milestone blows away the original PlayStation's three-day mark in 1994 by nearly 10 times. A total of 26,400 retailers in Japan, including 18,500 convenience stores, approximately 7,900 retail stores, current PlayStation retailers, as well as PlayStation.com (Japan) Inc., began selling the PlayStation 2 units on March 4.

With bad reviews a side Buena Vista's MISSION TO MARS finished #1 at the U.S. box office. Serving as the closest thing to an event flick currently in U.S. theatres, MISSION TO MARS became the third highest March debut in U.S. history. The space spectacle, with primary special effects by ILM and Dream Quest Images, grossed US$22.9 million in its first weekend. Finishing in second place in its opening weekend was THE NINTH GATE, with primary special effects by Sony Imageworks and Mikros Image. Teaming Roman Polanski and the Devil once again, the film released by Artisan grossed $6.6 million.

Wolfmill Entertainment has signed a worldwide licensing deal with Living Toyz for a line of action figures based on Wolfmill's upcoming CGI animated feature film ELFQUEST. The fantasy-action film follows the journey of Cutter, a young elven chief, and his tribe across a hostile world to find a safe refuge. Before the theatrical release of ELFQUEST, Los Angeles-based Living Toyz will produce several sets of action figures based on the original ELFQUEST comic book designs by Warp Graphics.

The Ottawa 2000 Independent Film Competition will be selected by

festival organizers. The Commissioned Films Competition will be

selected by Curtis Crawford (Canada), Chris Landreth (US), Pjotr

Sapegin (Russia) and Andrei Svislotski (Russia). The Ottawa 00

International Jury will be comprised of Suzanne Gervais (Canada),

Wendy Jackson Hall (US), John Hays (US), Priit Parn (Estonia) and Jin

Guo Ping (China). Jury member bios are now available on the festival

Dream Theater is seeking an ART DIRECTOR to work on the creation of

concepts, presentation materials and the refinement of design

directions in production. . . Hammerhead Productions is looking for

SENIOR ANIMATORS 2D/3D/TD for feature film visual effects. . . San

Francisco, California-based Attik is looking for a SENIOR ANIMATOR. .

. Monterrey, N.L. Mexico post-production house PubliK is looking for

a creative 3D SGI ANIMATOR. . . The Chimney Pot (Sweden) is seeking a

* Friday, April 14 - Sunday, April 16 and Friday, April 28 - Sunday, April 30, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

* Thursday, April 13 - Sunday, April 16, 2000. Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A.

In the continuing crisis at CINAR Corp., husband and wife co-founders, Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, have stepped down after senior VP and CFO Hasanain Panju was fired when US$122 million was found to have disappeared into investments without board approval. With tax fraud allegations floating in the skies, Charest will leave her chairman and co-CEO seat, while Weinberg will give up his president and co-CEO position. The couple will remain as leaders and directors of the company.