All AWN Content

Director Hamid Sohrabi and a team of 23 animators at Tehran's Saba Art and Cultural Institute set out to break into the Guinness Book of World Records by animating an entire three and a half minute film in 16 hours and 45 minutes, reports IranMania.com. Titled INSTALLING HAJAR-UL-ASWAD AT THE HOUSE OF GOD, the film tells a story around Hajar-ul-Aswad, the black stone on Mecca's wall of Kaaba that pilgrims kiss.

Aug. 4, 2007, will be the launch date for Starz Media's MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION on ABC, announced Starz's John W. Hyde and Industry Ent.'s Keith Addis. Featuring stories from some of the most creative minds in science fiction literature and hosted by world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION is produced by Starz Media in association with Industry Ent. Exec producers are Hyde, Addis, Andrew Deane and Brad Mendelsohn.

ASIFA and Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced the launch of International Animation Contest for the Web. The contest is open until Sept. 24, 2007, and is calling for animated shorts that are two minutes or less based on the theme, "Global Warming."

A MIGHTY HEART turns the kidnapping of WALL STREET JOURNAL reporter Daniel Pearl into a powerful procedural. Director Michael Winterbottom (THE CLAIM) and star Angelina Jolie bring energy and emotion to the political and personal side of the story that gripped headlines across the world. The production honors the life of Daniel Pearl, the courage of his life Mariane and the passion of dedicated journalists.

Daniel (Dan Futterman, TV's JUDGING AMY) and pregnant Mariane Pearl (Jolie, GIRL, INTERRUPTED) moved to Karachi, Pakistan where he continues his investigation into a link between "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and extremist cleric Mubarisk Ali Gilani. They move into the house of colleague and long-time friend Asra Nomani (Archie Panjabi, THE CONSTANT GARDNER). Danny meets with Randall Bennett (Will Patton, REMEMBER THE TITANS) at the U.S. consulate about whether he should go through with a planned meeting with Gilani and Bennett advises him not to. But after getting assurances from a Pakistani government official that as long as they are in public he will be safe, Danny takes a taxi to meet Gilani, but never returns.