Durango Film Festival

Durango, Colorado, USA

Saturday, March 01 - Sunday, March 09, 2003

Entry Deadline: Wednesday, November 01, 2002

The 3rd Sundance Online Film Festival

World Wide Web and Park City, Utah, USA

Sunday, December 01, 2002 - Sunday, January 26, 2003

Entry Deadline: Friday, September 27, 2002

France Animation has signed a number of deals across its children's programming catalogue. Following the success of the first 26 episodes of animated series WHEEL SQUAD, Disney Channel Asia has made a commitment to the second season with a deal for a further 13 episodes. Radio Canada has also picked up all 39 episodes for broadcast beginning in September 2002. The series, which has also been sold to Disney Middle East and Fox Kids Latin America, is a co-production with Rai, M6, Praxinos and Colorland Animation.

How will Jar Jar look when he is 8 stories tall? This question will be answered on November 1, 2002, when a large-format version of STAR WARS: EPISODE II "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" debuts in IMAX theatres in the United States and Canada. The film will be digitally re-mastered using the proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology, which allows live-action motion pictures to be inexpensively converted into the 15/70 format for presentation on the giant IMAX screen, while maintaining and even enhancing the conventional image resolution.

Michael Dudok De Wit's short film FATHER AND DAUGHTER continued its winning streak at the 2002 edition of the Hiroshima Animation Festival. Winning both the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize, Dudok De Wit can now add Hiroshima to the slew of honors he has received for his film, including the 2001 Annecy Grand Prix, the 2000 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, Grand Prize at Zagreb 2002, the 2001 Cartoon D'or and many others. Below you will find a full list of winners:

Grand Prix

FATHER AND DAUGHTER by Michael Dudok De Wit (The Netherlands)

Barrie Usher, president and CEO of Canadian children's entertainment company Cinar, has submitted his resignation effective September 15, 2002. George Rossi, senior vice president and CFO, will replace him in the interim until a new president and CEO is appointed. Cinar is emerging from a series of financial scandals that began in 1999, stemming from illegally obtained Canadian tax credits, non-approved investments in offshore accounts and the misappropriation of funds by senior executives.

DIC Entertainment announced today that they have signed Nancy Bassett to head up all of their licensing and merchandising sales initiatives worldwide. Bassett comes to DIC from Viacom Consumer Products where she was the vice president of worldwide sales for Paramount Pictures' licensing division. During Bassett's tenure with Viacom she served as the general manager of Viacom Consumer Products Canada and as managing director of Hamilton Projects. Bassett also held executive positions at Alliance Atlantis Entertainment and Sega of Canada.

Video games are fast becoming the nation's number one source of entertainment, but, as with movies, the content of these games is often cited as the cause of violent behavior in young adults. Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dismissed all actions against Chicago-based Midway Games Inc., and other entertainment providers in the case arising out of a school shooting that took place at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky on December 1, 1997. High school student Michael Carneal killed three fellow students and wounded several others.

NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL

Newport Beach, California, USA

Thursday, April 03 - Friday, April 11, 2003

Entry Deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2003


The Newport Beach Film Festival, now in its fourth year, boasts the largest Shorts Program within a major festival. Categories of competition for short films include directing, story, animation, comedy and audience awards. Entrance Fees: $50 features; $40 shorts. For an entry form, visit the Website at www.newportbeachfilmfest.com

Women In Animation (WIA) is pleased to announce the official launch of its first Canadian chapter. Based in Vancouver, WIA Canada will hold its official launch party and membership drive on September 18, 2002 at HONEY, 455 Abbott Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. Beginning at 6:00 pm, WIA members will host this special event featuring guest speakers Marv Newland, Marlene Robinson-May and others, plus free appetizers, door prizes and a raffle. Both guys and girls are welcome, and wear your favorite goofy hat for a chance to win a prize!

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: LucasArts -- Developing The Game Star Wars Bounty Hunter: Wednesday, September 18, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . International Forum for Animation Technologies - Cartoon Master: Thursday, November 14 - Saturday, November 16, 2002, Angoulême, France . . . The Big 3D Contest: Sunday, December 01, 2002, World Wide Web, . . The 3rd Sundance Online Film Festival: Sunday, December 01, 2002 - Sunday, January 26, 2003 . . .

Hollywood-based producer and distributor C Cubed Entertainment has acquired distribution rights for ADVENTURES IN ODYSSEY, an animated series from Christian radio ministry Focus on the Family. C Cubed will distribute the made-for-video series, based on the radio program of the same name, to all non-religious television and home entertainment entities worldwide. Although this distribution agreement marks Focus' first entry into the mainstream entertainment arena, ADVENTURES IN ODYSSEY is one of the Christian broadcaster's most successful franchises.

Korean animation studio Sunwoo Entertainment has announced the establishment of Sunwoo USA, headquartered in Burbank, California. The U.S. headquarters will be the new business development, talent recruiting and international content development arm of Sunwoo Entertainment, which has produced hundreds of episodes of television series including RUGRATS for Nickelodeon, PEPPER ANN and RECESS for Disney and THE FAMILY GUY for Fox. Jae Moh, the executive vice president of Sunwoo Entertainment, will become the CEO and president of Sunwoo USA.

Brooklyn, New York is the home of a newly formed animation studio called Dancing Diablo. The studio set up shop in January 2002, and has already taken on some high profile projects, including work on Fox Kids' upcoming series TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. Founded by director / illustrator / motion designer Beatriz Helena Ramos, who at age 22 founded Caracas Comics Studio in her native Venezuela and has worked on such projects as MTV DOWNTOWN and John R.

UK-based production company Animatrix Ltd. plans to create an all new 26 part series based on the 1980s preschooler DR. SNUGGLES. Featuring Sir Peter Ustinov voicing the title character, a cuddly bow-tied inventor who strives to make the world a better place, the original DR. SNUGGLES was broadcast in more than 80 countries, and can still be seen in Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Ireland and Canada. Animation studio Telemagination has produced a 3 1/2-minute pilot of the newly revamped DR. SNUGGLES scheduled to screen this year at Cartoon Forum and Mipcom.

Toronto, Canada's 10plus1 Communications is looking for a STORYBOARD ASSISTANT . . . San Francisco, California's Academy of Art College is looking for a COMPUTER ARTS MANAGEMENT . . . Calgary, Alberta's Amtc Digital Animation is looking for a MAYA INSTRUCTOR . . . West Hollywood, California's ChunkyTUT Pictures is looking for an ANIMATION ILLUSTRATOR/DESIGNER . . . West Hollywood, California's Deep Magic, Limited is looking for an ASSOCIATE CHARACTER ANIMATOR and a SENIOR CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . San Francisco, California's Freak Show Films is looking for an AGENT . . .

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: 3ds max 5 Demo - Jacksonville: Thursday, August 29, 2002, Jacksonville, Florida USA. . . New Media Producer's Mixer: Wednesday, September 4, 2002, Hollywood, California . . . Women In Animation Writer's Roundtable: Thursday, September 05, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Pixar Animation Studios Gala Preview of Spirited Away With Special Guests: Sunday, September 15, 2002, Emeryville, California USA . . .

Egmont Imagination, the international animation arm of Danish production and distribution company Egmont Entertainment, will be closed, according to a report in VARIETY. The announcement comes on the heels of Egmont joining forces with Danish film and television producer Nordisk Film in mid-August 2002. The new company will now be known as Nordisk Film.

Game developer and publisher Midway Games Inc. has recently licensed BioGraphic Technologies recently released AI.implant SDK for an action-adventure game in production for next generation platforms. AI.implant is a powerful real-time interactive commercial artificial intelligence animation solution that enables digital content creators to create rich AI character interactions. "We are extremely pleased to have Midway as a partner," said Dr. Paul Kruszewski, president and founder of BioGraphic Technologies.

UK-based distributor HIT Entertainment has announced the opening of HIT Entertainment Canada, Inc. Officially launched on August 1, 2002, the Toronto-based office will function under the leadership of vice president Pam Westman, and is comprised of an entirely Canadian staff who are responsible for video, DVD and audio sales and distribution, as well as marketing, consumer products, licensing and broadcast sales for HIT's brands in Canada. "HIT recognizes the importance of having a corporate office in Canada," said Rob Lawes, CEO, HIT Entertainment.