Recently, Europe has gotten a good old dose of American capitalism,

Japanese style. POKEMON has infested the European television market. The

children's mega-hit first debuted in the UK on Sky 1 in April and quickly

became the channel's #1 kids show. In October, the ITV Network and GMTV

secured UK terrestrial broadcast rights to the show. A month prior to the

ITV and GMTV deal, POKEMON started airing on Germany's RTL2, The

Netherlands' Fox Kids, Belgium's VT4 and RTL, Portugal's SIC and France's

A strike by union employees at Disneyland Paris may stop the park's rocking

New Year's Eve celebration. Disney played down the chance of a strike,

however local union leader Elena Stanciu warned, "The party'll be ruined,"

citing staff frustration over slow-moving pay talks and dissatisfaction

with a $115 New Year's Eve bonus as the main reasons for the latest threat

of a walk out. Stanciu said seasonal staff were being offered almost four

Next summer the third feature installment of the POKEMON trilogy will make
its way to Japanese theatres. POCKET MONSTER: THE LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWER
will introduce yet another of those little "pocket things" to kids and
merchandising execs around the world. Kunihiko Yuyama is set to direct the
film, which will feature a short tentatively titled POKEMON 2000. If in the
U.S. or Europe one may ask, whatever happened to POKEMON 2? Well, fear not
Charmander chums, the second POKEMON feature, which was released in Japan

Cinanima '99 finished its week-long run on November 14, 1999. The Espinho,
Portugal festival highlights the best in animation from around the globe.
This year, the International Jury gave their Grand Prize to Alexander
Petrov's film THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The Canadian and Japanese produced
film also won the RTP Prize, an award given by the Portuguese State
Channel's special jury, and the Best Soundtrack Prize. The
Canadian-produced film by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove entitled

The 24th International Festival of animated film will be held in Annecy,
France, June 5-10, 2000. The festival is now accepting entries for animated
short films, television series, commissioned films and student films. The
deadline to register your film for competition is January 15, 2000. Entry
forms are now available on the festival web site. The three selection
committees will gather in Annecy March 2-12, 2000 in order to choose the 5
features and 10 programs of shorts which will compose the official

These limited edition autographed prints from Yuri Norstein's "Tales of
Tales" and "Hedgehog in the Fog," made in Russia from the drawings Norstein
used to develop his characters, are hand signed by Norstein. Most of the
proceeds from sales will go to help finance the ongoing production of
"Overcoat," Yuri Norstein's famous work in progress, which he began after
completing "Tale of Tales" in 1978, and is based on a famous story by
Nikolai Gogol. This is a very limited offer, with the print value at

A year ago, French and other European animation professionals gathered at
the third "Crossroads of the Image of the Indian Ocean" to discuss European
cartoons. At this event, financing is always a hot topic of discussion.
France is the third largest producer of animation worldwide, after the U.S.
and Japan. Production itself has greatly developed in recent years with the
proliferation of television channels. In 1988 there weren't any 26
half-hour episode series being done in Europe, now there are dozens every

With the tremendous response of new schools, the publication of AWN's
Animation School Directory Winter 2000 edition has been extended to January
20, 2000. Educators and School Administrators, don't miss out! If you
haven't responded yet, you've got a few extra weeks to act. Every school
gets a free basic listing, plus a profile in AWN's on-line Animation School
Database, where students and future students can search through the most
comprehensively indexed and categorized list of animation schools on the

December 19-20, 1999, ASIFA Italia, with the help of the Ministry of
Cultural Affairs, the Regione Piemonte and the Comune di Torino, together
with the support of Young Artists Circle and the British Council and
Pro-Helvetia, is organizing a meeting and a series of films on the subject
of "Art & Animation" in Turin, Italy. The meeting aims to heighten
awareness of animation as an art form with a particular stress on
independent research, experimental and artistic short films. The event is

For the first time on video!! The best of Zagreb Film, plus Rembrandt
Films' greatest hits, the Best of Bulgaria, and a second volume of Trnka
Shorts.



THE BEST OF ZAGREB FILM IN FIVE ONE-HOUR VOLUMES: In four decades Zagreb
Film produced 600 animated films that won more than 400 international
awards. The studio quickly became famous for a unique animation style that
became known as the Zagreb school. One of the studio's pioneering
distinctions was that its filmmakers wrote, designed, and directed their

As part of the International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad, India
on November 17 - 18, 1999, 45 children ages 5 - 15 years old came together
to create a wildly imaginative, 5 minute animated short titled TOONED IN 2
DAYS. The feat was done at a 2 day workshop on animation conducted by Dr.
Neeraj's Animation Studios, the digital animation production facility of
Sriven Multi-Tech Limited. Twenty of the studio's top animators, led by
Dhimant Vyas and Rajsekhar took on the responsibility of guiding the

The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has announced the members of their
international jury for the 2nd European Television Producer Award. Guy
Fournier, the Canadian writer/producer, will preside over the seven member
jury. Guy Fournier has written some 2000 hours of television drama for
French and Canadian productions, over 150 hours of films and series for
television, plays for the theater, feature length films (FANTASTICA, UNE
AMIE D'ENFANCE) and has also published a number of books. Other jury

The Imagina computer conference and festival is often referred to as the
European equivalent to SIGGRAPH. For its 19th edition, in keeping with
tradition, the event will start in Monaco, January 31-February 2, 2000, but
will then continue in Paris February 2-4, 2000 with the exhibition of new
industrial developments and technologies. The events in Monaco include the
"Prix Pixel-INA" awards competition, the Innovation Space, and various
conferences and panel discussions such as "2D/3D Animation," a discussion

The 7th World Animation Celebration (WAC) arrives in L.A. on Tuesday, May
30, 2000 - Sunday, June 4, 2000 for its festival and international
competition. WAC will showcase more than 800 films, including the best in
both classic and contemporary animation. As the main attraction, WAC will
present awards to the best new animated works from around the world. The
World Animation Celebration will present a trade show, an international
business conferenece, world and American film premieres, seminars,

Six films from Czech puppet master, Jiri Trnka, will be available on a new
compilation DVD available February 29, 2000. Included on the release will
be the feature-length classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE based on the Hans
Christian Anderson fairy tale and narrated by legendary-Hollywood actor
Boris Karloff. The five featured shorts will include Trnka's world famous
THE HAND, along with STORY OF THE BASS CELLO, A MERRY CIRCUS, A DROP TOO
MUCH, and THE SONG OF THE PRAIRIE. Not to sound too much like a late-night

EuropaCinema & TV, held in Viareggio, Italy, announced their two animation
short winners. FOREVER AND EVER, by Michaela Pavlatova and Pavel Koutecky
(Czech Republic) and SUBURBANITES by Stefan Vermeulen (Belgium) took home
the prize. The international jury of Enzo D'Alo, Georges Wolinski, Marjut
Rimminen, Rastko Ciric and Sergio Staino said FOREVER AND EVER is "a film
that gives us an unconventional interpretation of love, dramatic and at the
same time ironically surrealistic. A film that also reveals a remarkable

KIM MCQUILKEN has been promoted to executive vice president of CARTOON
NETWORK sales and marketing. Based in Atlanta, his new responsibilities
will include sales and marketing for Cartoon Network.com. Formerly senior
vice president and general sales manager for the unit, McQuilken joined
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., in 1992 as director of marketing for
special projects for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.
After the Games, he served as vice president, sports and brand licensing

The Florida-based AARGH! ANIMATION, Inc. has hired JASON TEATE as color
designer and associate producer. Jason completed color design for AARGH!'s
recent series of national spots for Cold-Eeze cold medicine, which are now
airing.

April 6-9, 2000, The Brisbane International Animation Festival will
represent Australia in the international animation festival alliance with
Ottawa, Holland, Fantoche and Anima Mundi animation festivals. It is
Australia's only festival dedicated exclusively to animation in all of its
forms. Playing host to national and international guests who will gather in
Brisbane, Australia, to experience the best of world class animation, the
festival provides a local, national and international forum for the

After 6 years, the organizers of the Oslo Animation Festival have moved
operations to Fredrikstad, Norway. Complete with a new name, the Nordic and
Baltic Animation Festival invites both animators and spectators on May 3-5,
2000 to take part in an event dedicated to promoting the screening and
better understanding of animation. This year's festival presents: Nordic
and Baltic films in competition, Nordic and Baltic Panorama, International
highlights, a Focus on British animation, Animation as Music, a Celebration