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The eDIT 10th Filmmaker's Festival, which takes place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at CineStar Metropolis in Frankfurt, will offer presentations of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END, SPIDER-MAN 3 and TRANSFORMERS.

ILM: Past, Present and Future will be the subject of the Keynote. Marketing Director Miles Perkins dares to define the future prospects of the VFX industry on the basis of a retrospective of ILM's best works.

Montreal-based Atopia Distribution has announced its acquisition of all North American rights to Aron Gauder's acclaimed Hungarian animated comedy THE DISTRICT! (NYOCKER!). The edgy animated social and political satire musical had its North American bow at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at 59 fests across the world, including Karlovy Vary, Rotterdam International, Philadelphia Film Festival, Austin Fantasticfest, Mar Del Plata, Melbourne International and Sitges, winning awards at no less than 13 of them.

Paul Dini has been signed to collaborate on the screenplay for Imagi Animation Studios' upcoming CG-animated motion picture, GATCHAMAN.

"We are excited to have Paul on our talented GATCHAMAN team," said Francis Kao, Co-CEO/CCO. "His extensive background in animation and superhero comics will contribute greatly to this ambitious action movie."

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology Inc., today announced the availability of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5.

Both SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5 Essentials and Advanced software include more than 30 enhancements that were developed for key customers such as Lionhead Studios, Valve, EA, Animal Logic, Nerdcorps, Pandemic and NCSoft. Some of the new enhancements, which improve production efficiency and meet the specific workflow needs of the game development, visual effects and visualization industries, include:

* HDR (high dynamic range) rendermap support

Based on the award-winning THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN comic book series, this animated direct-to-DVD feature earns its PG-13 rating. It was produced and co-written by Bruce Timm, who brought BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES to TV. Like that superior series, this movie has a mature quality, but that's not to pigeonhole it into the "adult" animation category, which so often includes forced "edgy" content. The maturity of the material comes from its more emotional character driven side, as well as its violence. This quality is what made BATMAN a series that could attract children, who could grow up and return to the series not wondering what their younger selves were thinking.

The story begins with Superman (Adam Baldwin, SERENITY) in a relationship with Lois Lane (Anne Heche, 1998's PSYCHO) as Clark Kent is heading off to Afghanistan on assignment. Lex Luthor (James Marsters, TV's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) is running his LexCorp as corruptly as ever. During an illegal mining operation, his men dig up an alien spacecraft and inadvertently unleash Doomsday, a virtually indestructible killing machine. Superman races to confront the beast and, as a result of his unprecedented beating, dies.

In a statement in response to a Sept. 17th lawsuit filed by Valcom, POW! Ent. Inc. today announced their plans to counter-sue Valcom for more than $10 million. POW! described Valcom's description of its dealings with them as "inaccurate and misleading." The company plans to file its countersuit next week claiming failure to perform and fraud.

LucasArts revealed that STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED will come to the Wii next spring, giving owners the chance to live out their Jedi fantasies by wielding the Wii Remote as a lightsaber.