The Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival has announced its winners. Michael Dudok De Wit's FATHER & DAUGHTER took home the award for best international animated film. Receiving the prize for best French animated short was Florence Miailhe's AU PREMIER DIMANCHE D' AOÛT. AtomFilms sponsored both of the animated short categories. The jury was comprised of Wasis Diop, Qu-Dok Hwang, Cédric Kahn and world-renowned director of AT THE ENDS OF THE WORLD Konstantin Bronzit. Over 136 films were in official competition from over 50 countries.

The British Academy of Film & Television Artists have announced the nominations for the 2001 Orange British Academy Film Awards. Visual spectacle ruled the list with GLADIATOR and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON receiving 14 nominations each. Both films garnered nominations in the outstanding film, screenplay, music and visual effects categories. Joining the Roman romp and romantic fantasy for best special effects are THE PERFECT STORM, VERTICAL LIMIT and CHICKEN RUN.

Alias|Wavefront's Maya won the "Best of Show" award at Macworld 2001, awarded by MacWeek.com. While Alias|Wavefront originally announced that it would be porting Maya to Mac OS X in May of 2000, Macworld San Francisco marked the company's first public demonstration of Maya on the Mac: both at the Alias|Wavefront booth and during Apple CEO, Steve Jobs' keynote address. "All in all Macworld was an astounding show for us," says Director of Maya Technolgoies, Richard Kerris. "Apple has been very supportive throughout our development process.

Nickelodeon has announced the nominations for its 14th Annual Kids' Choice Awards. Receiving nods for Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie were Mel Gibson (CHICKEN RUN), Kevin Kline (THE ROAD TO EL DORADO), Susan Sarandon (RUGRATS IN PARIS) and David Spade (THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE). Vying for Favorite Cartoon are Nick's HEY ARNOLD!, Cartoon Network's THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, Nick's RUGRATS and Fox's THE SIMPSONS. Best movie nods went to effects heavy flicks CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE GRINCH and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS along with live-action comedy BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE.

Visual spectacle was the top winner at this year's Golden Globe awards. DreamWorks' GLADIATOR took home the award for Best Drama and Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard took home the Best Original Score prize for their work on the Roman epic. The global sensation CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON racked up statuettes for Best Foreign Language Film and director Ang Lee took home an award for his direction. CHICKEN RUN couldn't repeat TOY STORY 2's win for Best Comedy or Muscial losing out to the rock 'n roll ode, ALMOST FAMOUS.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short list of films being considered for the Visual Effects Oscar. The seven films chosen were CAST AWAY, DINOSAUR, DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, GLADIATOR, HOLLOW MAN, THE PERFECT STORM and X-MEN. Fifteen-minute clip reels from each of the seven films will be screened for the Visual Effects Award Nominating Committee on February 7. The members will then pick three of the seven films for nominations. Those nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 13, at 5:30 am.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced the recipients of awards for scientific and technical achievement for the year 2000. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented on Saturday evening, March 3, at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. An Oscar statuette will be among 17 Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievement to be presented during the ceremony.

The U.S. Recording Academy's premiere recording awards, the Grammys, have put out their list of nominees and several nods have gone to tunes from cartoons. Competing in the Best Musical Album For Children category are "More Songs From Pooh Corner" by Kenny Loggins and "Woody's Roundup Featuring Riders In The Sky" by Riders In The Sky. The FANTASIA/2000 soundtrack received a nod for Outstanding Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.

The Havana Film Festival, Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano, is traditionally the major cinema event in Latin America, and is still one of the major events in the region in spite of the growing problems to organize it. The number of films, audience members and guests is very impressive. The latest 22nd edition was held from December 5 - 15, 2000. The ten-day event focused on feature films, but also included a separate competition for Latin American animation. The selection is comprehensive, but not too big, however the films are not always new.

The Golden Globe Awards, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press, have always been kind to animated features. And this year is no exception. DreamWorks/Aardman's CHICKEN RUN has garnered itself a nomination for best musical or comedy. It competes against the live-action films ALMOST FAMOUS, BEST IN SHOW, CHOCOLAT and O' BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? Last year, TOY STORY 2 took home the same prize. Disney's THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE made an appearance in the very Disneyfied category of best original song for "My Funny Friend and Me." F/X films received nods in several categories also.