Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. This month, his films will
be appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, UK, France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Taiwan. "I Married A Strange Person"
will have its U.S. cable premiere on Cinemax on October 22, 1999. Bill
will also be attending some of the events in the US, Italy and Germany.


Check out Bill's appearance schedule.

Raoul Servais' book & video, in honor of his gallery opening on AWN.


- Book: "Raoul Servais, A Painter-Filmmaker's Journey." Written by Philippe
Moins, this first monograph of Raoul Servais describes the making of his
films, his first activities as a painter and illustrator, his co-operation
with Magritte, his teaching years and his various artistic collaborations,
but it mainly presents a critical analysis of his work. It ends with a text
written by Jan Temmerman on the relationship between Servais and the city

One year ago, the Ottawa International Animation Festival awarded its grand
prize to the new Estonian film, "Night of the Carrots," by Priit Pärn.
Since making his first film, "Is the Earth Round" in 1977, animator,
illustrator, and artist Priit Pärn has evolved into one of the most
influential animation artists in the world. His films are routinely invited
to animation festivals where they have won several major awards. Priit
Pärn's countrymen, Rein Raamat, Rao Heidmats and Mati Kutt, among others,

This week's update to the Calendar of Events features 11 new events,
including the Tampere Short Film Festival in Finland, and a call for
entries for the Milia 2000 New Talent Competition (competition of
interactive projects) in France. The Calendar of Upcoming Events is a
constantly changing reference source for what's happening around the World
of Animation. Use it to stay abreast of animation related activities across
the globe. If you know of animation related events that we don't have

The 2nd Matita International Animation Film Festival was held September 23
- 26 in Guardiagrele, Italy. The jury consisted of Jury President Giulio
Cingoli (producer and director), Milan, Italy; Piotr Dumala (director,
animator, and teacher at the Film School of Lodz), Warsaw, Poland; Ruth
Lingford (director, animator, and teacher at the Royal College of Arts and
National Film & Television School of London), London, UK; Laura Ruggeri
(student at the International Academy of Image, Lanterna Magica), L'Aquila,

The Cinanima International Animated Film Festival (held November 8-14,
1999, in Espinho, Portugal), announced their '99 nominees. The selection
jury consisted of Menno De Nooijer (Netherlands), Manuel Matos Barbosa
(Portugal), Antonio Melo (Portugal), Rodolfo Pastor (Spain) and Pedro
Serrazina (Portugal). Discover this year's official competition program, as
well as the retrospectives, exhibitions, and more. All is included on the
Festival's official web site!

The "Cartoon d'Or" 1999 was announced at the Cartoon Forum this past
Sunday. The winning film is "Migrations" by Constantin Chamski (France), a
4-minute CGI film. The director received 25,000 ECU (approximately U.S.
$25,000) to spend on a new animation project. This year the forum welcomed
a record attendance of 620 participants, which included producers,
distributors and broadcasters. Sixty-nine projects seeking partners were
offered to potential investors and producers. Since its start ten years

Euro Disney has announced plans to open THE DISNEY STUDIOS, a second theme
park in 2002 near the existing Disneyland Paris theme park in
Marne-La-Vallee, east of Paris. The park will include attractions based on
cinema, animation and television, similar to the Disney-MGM Studios at Walt
Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Visitors to the park will be able to
observe animators working, special effects demonstrations and the filming
of TV programs. "The goal is that visitors pass through the movie screen

This year's SITGES Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya features
several animation related events including a short film competition, the
presentation of Hayao Miyasaki's PRINCESS MONONOKE, and tributes to Osamu
Tezuka and Will Vinton. The festival takes place Wednesday, October 6 -
Saturday, October 16 in Barcelona, Spain. For more information Tel. 34 93
419 3635, or visit www.sitges.com/cinema.

Milia 2000, the World's Interactive Content Marketplace, which takes place
from February 14 - 18, 2000 in Cannes, France, is calling for entries for
the Milia New Talent Competition. Since its creation five years ago, the
New Talent Competition has provided interactive entertainment and new media
professionals with the opportunity of discovering students' fresh creative
ideas, and offered a new forum for recruiting new talent. A jury composed
of international experts will meet in Paris in December in order to select

Animation-Books.com, in association with ANiMATO!, the animation magazine,
has announced the results of an internet poll of the best animation books
of all time, and THE ILLUSION OF LIFE: DISNEY ANIMATION by Frank Thomas and
Ollie Johnston tops the list. While the list may be biased toward more
recent, easily available English publications, few would argue that this,
for once, is a solid list, and every title belongs in one's animation
library. According to Animation-Books.com, "Polling for the

Every year since 1991, the organization CARTOON, with the support of the
MEDIA program of the European Union, selects one European short animated
film as the "Cartoon d'Or," or "best European animation film." This year's
winner, announced at the Cartoon Forum in Corboda, Spain (September 22-26),
is MIGRATIONS by Constantin Chamski (France). The 4-minute CGI film is
distributed by France-based Heure Exquise! where it was also produced. This
year's other nominees were L'ARME DU CROCODILE by Eric Blesin (Belgium), EL

MIPCOM: International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable, and
Satellite. Starting next week, thousands of producers, programmers and
broadcasters will converge on Cannes, France for the MIPCOM and MIP Junior
markets. From Reed-Midem, the organizers of MIP-TV, MIP Asia and MILIA,
MIPCOM is known as the place where international television deals happen.
Among the properties being offered are Sony Wonder's LION OF OZ AND THE
BADGE OF COURAGE, an animated musical prequel to THE WIZARD OF OZ;

From September 22 to 26, the 1999 Cartoon Forum will be welcoming 620
participants, among which will be Animation World Network's own Ron
Diamond, in Cordoba, Spain. This record attendance shows that this event,
organized over the last 10 years with support from the European Union Media
program, has been established as an important industry event. This year
sixty-nine projects seeking partners will be offered to potential investors
and producers. Over 150 projects initiated at the Forum in previous years

Montreal, Canada-based Motion International has started production on
MARSUPILAMI, a 26 episode, half-hour animated television series based on a
comic strip by Belgium artist Andrè Franquin. French producer Marathon is
co-producing, and the series will be aired by Tele-Quebec, as well as
other, as yet undetermined, international broadcasters. Marsupilami is a
funny animal-type character with yellow fur, black spots and many talents.
He first appeared in 1952 in SPIROU MAGAZINE, a Belgian comic book. A

The 16th EuropaCinema & TV Film Festival takes place November 27-December 3, 1999 in
Rome, Italy. The deadline for entries for the animated shorts competition
is October 10, 1999. For more information contact EuropaCinema & TV, Via XX
Settembre, 3 - 00187 Roma, Italy; or Tel. +39 06 42011184 or +39 06
42000211; Fax +39 06 42010599; or E-mail: europa.cinema@agora.stm.it. Also
visit //rg.unicri.it/europacinema/.

Toronto-based NELVANA LIMITED has promoted EMMANUELE PETRY to vice
president of Nelvana Europe International Limited. In her new position,
Petry will be responsible for supervising the company's London and Paris
offices. She will continue to investigate co-production and financing
opportunities in Europe, and she will also oversee the distribution of TV,
video, theatrical and merchandising rights in countries outside North
America.

INFOGRAMES, a global publisher of interactive entertainment software, has
appointed a new management team. STAN ROACH, formerly executive vice
president of marketing, will take on the role of COO overseeing sales,
marketing and product development. YVES LEGRIS, formerly with Infogrames'
headquarters in France, will become COO responsible for finance, business
development, legal affairs, studio operations, information technology and
human resources.

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSS
PLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is based
on the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, which
was used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSS
PLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and just
before the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, the
universe's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive

Animation World Network co-founder and president OF ACME FILMWORKS Ron
Diamond has begun curating "animation art" to be presented on Los Angeles'
Sunset View Plaza Electronic Video Billboard on the world famous Sunset
Strip. The video billboard provides all Sunset Boulevard west-bound
travelers an eyeful sampled from the world's most beautiful and evocative
animation. Premiere, featured animation filmmakers are Aleksandra Korejwo,
Poland; Raimund Krumme, Germany; Susan Loughlin, United Kingdom; Bill