The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong SAR Government have reached an
agreement for a proposed Hong Kong Disneyland, a theme park development to
be built as the anchor of a tourism center on Lantau Island. Overlooking
the water at Penny's Bay, and on a main transit route from the new Hong
Kong International Airport, the project will make Lantau Island a
world-class tourist destination and take advantage of the location's easy
access by rail, highway and ferry to attract guests to the Park. Currently

The Women In Animation Shorts Fest 2 is a showcase for short animated
films made by WIA members and other filmmakers from around the world. This
evening's program includes LIFE, the hilarious new animated jam session
from Mo Willems and 32 other animators from New York, including Tissa
David, George Griffin, Yvette Kaplan, Candy Kugel and Bill Plympton.
Admission is FREE and open to the public. The event takes place Friday,
November 12, 1999 at 7:00 pm at Santa Monica College, Academy of

The 1999 ASIFA-East animation art fund raiser auction takes place on
Friday, November 12, 1999. Films will be shown from Cartoon Network, Karen
Aqua, Nickelodeon's BLUE'S CLUES, Bill Plympton, J.J. Sedelmaier
Productions, Academy Award Winning Blue Sky Studios (BUNNY), and many
others. After the films are shown, artwork or items relating to the films
will be auctioned and all the money will go to benefit ASIFA-East, the East
Coast chapter of the international animation society. The auction takes

The annual Best Of Banff Television Festival is a traveling showcase
featuring highlights of the 20th Banff Television Festival, which took
place June 13 - 19 in Banff, Canada. The program will make its Ottawa,
Canada stop at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull on November 17,
1999. S4C/BBC's GOGS: GOGWANA, winner of this year's Banff's Best Animation
Program Award, and NFB of Canada/Channel Four's SNOW CAT, a nominee for
Best Animation Program at Banff, will be the featured animated programs.

The Savannah College of Art and Design will host animators Bill Plympton
and Larry Lauria during the week of November 8, 1999 at the Savannah Film
Festival in Savannah, Georgia. On Monday, November 8, Bill Plympton will
talk about "Life as an Independent Animator and Filmmaker" at 11:00 am in
the City Lights Theater. Plympton will discuss his work and show footage
from past and recent works. On Friday, November 12, Larry Lauria will give
a "Character Design Workshop" at 9:00 am in SCAD's Trustee Theater. Lauria,

The Moondance International Film Festival has announced the selection of
the quarter-finalists for its first competition, Moondance 2000. The
festival takes place in Boulder, Colorado, January 14-16, 2000 as part of
the Sundance Film Festival. Entries were welcome from women screenwriters
and film-makers from any country. For more information e-mail:
mermaid7cs@aol.com; or write: Moondance International Film Festival, 970
Ninth Street, Boulder, CO 80302, USA. The following films are
quarter-finalists in the animation film category:

The Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America, a group of
animation writers represented by The Writers Guild, presented its Second
Annual Animation Writing Award to Paul Dini at its annual meeting on
Wednesday, October 20. Dini is currently writing and producing BATMAN
BEY0ND for the Kids WB Network. "He's a very talented writer who has always
turned out interesting, exciting material," said Craig Miller, the Caucus
chair. "His work on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and BATMAN BEYOND has

An exhibition of New Animation from Germany consisting of models,
paintings, sketches and production shots from the works of eight young
German animators will be on display at Chapman University. The event takes
place Monday, November 1 - Wednesday, December 15, 1999 in Orange,
California, USA. For more information including a screening schedule call:
(714) 997-6729.

Toonz Animation India, a new animation production studio and full-service
facility, will host "A Week with the Masters," which will bring the top
names in international animation pre-production together to discuss the
importance of story boarding, character design, and story development.
Among the guests will be keynote speaker Rob Coleman, Industrial Light &
Magic's Animation Supervisor on STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE;
producer-director-writer Derek Lamb; Ian Diamond of Cartoon Network;

Women In Animation sponsors the Third Annual Career Day Event. Panel
discussions include "Animation: The Reality of the Business" and "Your
Marketing Tools: Resumes, Portfolios and Demo Reels." There will also be a
portfolio/demo reel review, and small group workshops for both computer and
traditional animation. The events takes place Saturday, November 6, 9 am -
3 pm in Burbank, California, USA. Space is limited, so RSVP is required.
Fees are $15 for WIA members, and $20 for non-members. Checks must be

The Goethe-Institut is presenting a program featuring nine new animated
short films from Germany. In conjunction with this screening Academy
Award-winning visual effects specialist, Volker Engel, will be speaking.
The German-born animator will comment on the film selections and discuss
animation and special effects in general. Engel's credits include visual
effects work on GODZILLA and INDEPENDENCE DAY, for which he won the Oscar.
Films from Thomas Meyer-Hermann, Heinrich Sabl, Thomas Stellmach, Tyron

The Ottawa International Student Animation Festival (SAFO) announced the grand prize winners in this year's
competition on Sunday, October 24, 1999. The festival stated that, "This
year's winners show the high quality of work coming out of schools, both
locally, nationally, and internationally."


The winners in the various competitions are as follows as reported by the
festival:


Grand Prix: Best Film In Competition -- GRACE, Lorelei Pepi, USA


Grand Prix: Best School In Competition -- Royal College of Art, England

MORE, the stop-motion animated short film in IMAX format that is nominated
for an ANNIE, is being shown for free as part of the BIG SHORTS FILM
FESTIVAL Tuesday night, October 26, at 8 pm. The event is presented by The
Splinter Group, and highlights include: MORE (Mark Osborne's Academy
Award-nominated stop-motion short, CASTRATE BOAR PIGS FOR BETTER SALES,
PRIMITI TOO TAA (an animated sound poem), FIRE, and more. Admission is
free, and the program will last about one hour. The event takes place at

Thursday, October 28 - Sunday, October 31. New York, New York, USA.


The Museum of Modern Art presents The National Film Board of Canada: 60th
Anniversary Program, a Retrospective. The Museum is located at 11 West 53
Street. For further information Tel. (212) 708-9500.

Saturday, November 6, 9 am - 3 pm. Burbank, California, USA.


Women In Animation sponsors the Third Annual Career Day Event. Panel
discussions include "Animation: The Reality of the Business" and "Your
Marketing Tools: Resumes, Portfolios and Demo Reels." There will also be a
portfolio/demo reel review, and small group workshops for both computer and
traditional animation. Space is limited, so RSVP is required. Fees are $15
for WIA members, and $20 for non-members. Checks must be received no later

FableVision Studios and The Film Studies Program at Boston College are
co-hosting the ASIFA-East Animation Festival for a one-night showing.
FableVision's award-winning animated shorts THE BLUE SHOE and LIVING
FOREVER will be part of a line-up, which also includes the Academy
Award-winner BUNNY and films by Karen Aqua. Admission is free. The event
takes place Wednesday, October 20, at 7:30 pm at Boston College, Devlin
Hall Room 08, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA.
For more information visit www.fablevision.com/asifa.

Russian animators Yuri Norstein and Nina Shorina are visiting the US.
ASIFA-Hollywood will host a reception for Yuri Norstein on Thursday,
October 21, 1999 from 7-9 p.m. at ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Center,
located at 721 South Victory Blvd., in Burbank.
There is no charge to attend this reception. However due to limited
space, reservations are required. To RSVP, please call the ASIFA-Hollywood
office at (818) 842-8330. Born in Moscow in 1941, Norstein is considered
one of the most remarkable animation directors to emerge from the current

Mary Kocol's MY FATHER'S STORY will be shown at several places in
Massachussetts during the next few weeks. October 22, 7 pm: Gallery NAGA at
67 Newbury Street, Boston. For more information Tel. (617) 267-9060.
November 7, 2 pm and November 10, 2 pm: Boston Jewish Film Festival at the
Coolidge Corner Theatre which is located at 90 Harvard Street, Brookline.
For more information Tel. (617) 734-2500. November 6, 5 pm: Northampton
Film Festival at the Academy of Music on Main Street, Northampton. For more

Gil Zimmerman speaks about Digital and Traditional Animation in TARZAN.
Zimmerman, currently Model Development Supervisor on TREASURE PLANET, was
hired by Disney to be the liaison between traditional animators and digital
artists on TARZAN. Cost: $10. To make reservations Tel. (323) 466-6663. The
event takes place at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd
on Thursday, October 14, 7 pm in Hollywood, California, USA.

TIM BURTON'S NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (its official title) plays at
Disney's El Capitan theater. El Capitan is located west of Highland on
Hollywood Blvd. The event takes place Friday, October 29 - Sunday, October
31 in Hollywood, California, USA. For more information Tel. (323) 467-7674.