Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film 2008
Stuttgart, Germany
May 1-6, 2008
Deadline: Feb. 18, 2008

Spanish-language network Univision's premiere of its first-ever prime-time animated series, EL CHAVO: LA SERIE ANIMADA -- with Flash animation produced by Mexico City-based Anima Estudios -- captured the #1 spot among entertainment programming, excluding sports, among Adults 18-34 for its time period and saw double- and triple-digit audience gains in every other key demo, according to the Nielsen Fast Affiliate ratings.

* Univision captured the #3 spot among Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11 for the Sunday 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm hour, beating out CBS, NBC and CW.

Spain-based animation producer Black Maria has added YENNY, a new animated comedy-adventure series for teenagers, to its slate of projects. Based on an Internet comic strip by David Alvarez that was adopted by Universal Press Syndicate for digital distribution, YENNY follows the adventures of a big-footed Boricua girl. Alvarez is working together with Black Maria's creative directors in the graphic development of the series, which will follow the original storylines of the comic strips.

In a first for the channel, USA Network is taking a new approach to "pod-busting" with the introduction of THE BIG ADVENTURES OF LITTLE SHAWN AND GUS, a series of animated vignettes based on the hit series PSYCH, created by J.J. Sedelmaier Prods. Each vignette explores the timeless mysteries of childhood through the characters of young Shawn and Gus. The six animations range in length from 50 seconds to two minutes. USA will unveil a new adventure in the second break of every episode of PSYCH beginning Friday, Jan. 11 at 10:00 pm PCT when the show returns with new episodes.

The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film has extended its entry deadline to Dec. 31, 2007. Next year's event will take place May 1-6, 2008 in Stuttgart, Germany.

This week in AWN's Forums, a senior member wants to know if others have heard of Silverlight, a rival to Adobe's Flash. There's a post for well wishes to James Davis, who suffered a stroke earlier in the year. There's an Educator's post on the importance of life drawing. Others are giving their thoughts on ENCHANTED, while other members are talking about PERSEPOLIS. A student has questions about what to include in a portfolio. Others are continuing to add to the discussions on what is the best animated short and animated feature of all time.

ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for the 35th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year's best animation across film, television, commercials, videogames and short subjects.

Warner Premiere, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation announced the all-new original movie JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER on Feb. 26, 2008, on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, distributed by Warner Home Video. The movie will also be available the same day OnDemand and Pay-per-View as well as available for download.

Cortoons 2008 International Short Animated Films Festival
Rome, Italy
March 27-30, 2007
Deadline: Feb. 1, 2008

Cortoons is an international animated short film festival that will be held March 27-30, 2008, at Palladium Theatre in Rome.

The competition's categories include:
* Short Italian movie from one to 20 minutes
* Short international movie from one to 20 minutes
* Short movie realized with Flash
* VFX short movie
* Animated videoclip

GameTap launched today "A Complicated Woman," the final episode in the premiere season of its new animation series REVISIONED, which features story and art from legendary comic book illustrator Jim Lee of Wildstorm/DC Comics.

Entity FX seamlessly leverages digital vfx to support a young man's journey away from civilization in search of himself in INTO THE WILD (Paramount Vantage), directed by Sean Penn.

Los Angeles-based studio Motion Theory just unveiled the new commercial THIS IS NYC, produced for New York City's first-ever global marketing campaign, spearheaded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The broadcast spot (cut in both :60 and :30 versions) serves as the centerpiece of the international tourism outreach, designed to share the experience of the city and to help attract 50 million visitors by 2015.

Disney Channel has begun production on a new Playhouse Disney preschool series entitled SPECIAL AGENT OSO, starring Academy Award-nominated actor Sean Astin as the voice of Oso, an endearing, bumbling teddy bear who enlists the help of viewers at home to complete his missions.

This week in AWN's Forums, a wannabe animation writer needs some advice. There's a thread collecting members' favorite children's book artists. RATATOUILLE is still a hot topic on the forums. A member needs some Flash vectoring help. Another member wonders if it is possible to teach themselves 2D. A senior member has started a thread to talk about the forthcoming animated SPACEBALLS TV series. Moderator Larry L wants to know if members would be interested in workshops conducted in the forums.

Studio Arts has announced it will be offering a full suite of training classes using Toon Boom Animation's Digital Pro and Storyboard Pro software. The intent of the beginning-to-advanced training courses is to provide 2D animators and other artists a thorough grounding in Toon Boom's "paperless" animation system. Toon Boom courses are due to start Oct. 6, 2007 and, along with CSATTF and ETP funding, there will be "scholarship seats" for each class that are fully-funded by Studio Arts.

This week in AWN's Forums, members are chatting about TAK AND THE POWER OF JUJU and KIM POSSIBLE. The thread grows on how to make Flash look like cel animation. The book THE ILLUSION OF LIFE spurs debate. Another continues to discuss Blu-ray versus HDDVD. A popular thread asks -- Did you think you led a good life? As well as, tools for teaching animation, the business of animation and, as always, brand new stuff to check out in show and tell!

This week in AWN's Forums, members have entered the Bu-ray versus HDDVD debate. A junior member is looking for good script writing resources. There's a hot thread on making Flash look like cel animation. Lots of people are posting the places they go for inspiration. Others are debating the school rankings in 3D WORLD. Others need help with Maya modeling and Cintiq. As well as, tools for teaching animation, the business of animation and, as always, brand new stuff to check out in show and tell!

This week in AWN's Forums, senior member ponders how short life is with the recently deaths of Mike Weiringo and Paul Boyd. Another member needs some Maya modeling help. A junior member begins a discussion about Disney Life Drawing. There's a member who is looking for inspiration for title sequence they are working on. Another thread talks about making Flash look like cel animation. As well as, tools for teaching animation, the business of animation and, as always, brand new stuff to check out in show and tell!

The winner of the 2007 Webby People's Voice Award for Animation, 18-year-old Alan Becker, presents the ANIMATOR VS. ANIMATION GAME, exclusively available at AtomFilms. In this Flash game, a player can choose the role of "Animator" to impose his or her will and make the "Animation" a helpless victim, or play "Animator" to defend against and attack the ruthless aggressor.

Bejuba! Ent. has licensed the award-winning animated series THE AMAZING ADRENALINI BROTHERS to Voom's HDTV Networks in the U.S. THE AMAZING ADRENALINI BROTHERS is a Pesky/StudioB co-production in association with Bejuba! Ent.