The 19th Annual Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF) handed out its awards for this year’s festival on Sunday, November 3, 2002. Awards were presented by two juries, the Adult Jury, whose members include media professionals from the film and video, animation, television, radio and print industries, and the Children’s Jury, comprised of children ages 7-13.

Mainframe Entertainment has established a global sales division and has named Joy Tashjian as vice president, worldwide sales and marketing. Tashjian will oversee the new division as the company expands its presence in the U.S. and strengthens its position in the global marketplace. She will also oversee the international distribution and will supervise the domestic sales for Mainframe's properties including TONY HAWK'S FEASTERS, DOT'S BOTS, BETTY BOOP, WUBBIES and SCARY GODMOTHER among others.

DC Independent Film Festival

Washington D.C., USA

Thursday, February 27 - Thursday, March 06, 2003

Entry Deadline: Sunday, December 15, 2002

Sunwoo Entertainment USA plans to turn BOOKASHKIS, Mikhail Aldashin's award-winning short film about insects, into a series. At MIPCOM 2002, the Korean-based studio finalized an agreement with Aldashin and producer Chuck Swenson to develop and create a 52 x 11-minute animated series featuring the trio of bugs. Sasha, Simmons and Shmutz are the BOOKASHKIS, tiny insects living in the big city. They have their work cut out for them trying to stay alive in an apartment inhabited by a rotating set of human beings, all of whom seem hell-bent on the bugs' ultimate destruction.

Corus Entertainment's Nelvana put the wrap on MIPCOM 2002 with a number of new sales and renewals for its kids' brands and programs. BEYBLADE continued to be a popular property for the company and was snapped up by the UK's terrestrial broadcaster Five TV (formerly Channel 5), which licensed 51 episodes of the series for debut in November 2002. BEYBLADE currently airs in the UK on Cartoon Network UK. Nelvana also completed video and DVD deals for BEYBLADE and MEDABOTS in the UK with Contender Entertainment Group, which set the titles for a release date of December 2, 2002.

Brown & Williamson’s KOOL cigarettes campaign has found a new outlet for display, thanks to a 30-second spot produced by The Studio Upstairs via agency BatesUSA. Entitled "Pulse," the spot is designed to be viewed on bathroom walls in nightclubs across the U.S. via a broadcast medium known as narrowcasting. Narrowcasting is a narrowly focused mix of media created for a specific viewer. The medium is viewed in a public place, usually at a relevant point of contact with the consumer.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include Santa vs. the Snowman 3D In IMAX Theaters Worldwide: Friday, November 01, 2002 - Wednesday, January 01, 2003, various IMAX theaters, USA . . . Free Gigantor Screening: Saturday, November 02, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . From Another Planet: Kenny & Bob: Tuesday, November 05, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Animators Doing Comic Books: Wednesday, November 06, 2002, Glendale, California USA . . .

Latin American distribution specialist Salsa Entertainment returned from MIPCOM 2002 with a slate of program sales for the Latin American region. The Salsa Entertainment catalogue features award-winning products from well known international producers and distributors including TV-Loonland, Scholastic Entertainment, Decode Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company.

Some festival favorites took home awards at this year's I Castelli Animati Festival, in Genzano di Roma, Italy. Concluding on October 27, 2002, the festival honored Christopher Hinton's FLUX with the International Grand Prize, while Robert Bradbrook's HOME ROAD MOVIES picked up the award for Best European Film. Special Jury Prizes were awarded to STROJENIE INSTRUMENTOW (TUNING INSTRUMENTS) by Jerzy Kucia and THE INVASION by Phil Mulloy.

Arizona International Film Festival 2003

Tucson, Arizona USA

Thursday, April 03 - Sunday, April 13, 2003

Entry Deadline: Friday, February 07, 2003

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Animation Workout: Tuesday, October 22, 2002, Glendale, California USA . . . Montage - dhima's Student Digital Animation Festival: Friday, October 25, 2002, Santa Monica, California USA . . . Don Bluth's ToonUp 2002 Animation Seminar: Friday, November 15, 2002, Mesa, Arizona USA . . . The 3rd International Animation Festival of Tehran: Sunday, February 23 - Thursday, February 27, 2003, Tehran, Iran . . . MIP TV: Monday, March 24 - Friday, March 28, 2003, Cannes, France . . .

Now you can experience some of the world's greatest roller coasters without ever leaving your home. Global Star Software, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive will soon be releasing a new roller coaster simulator for the PC platform, WORLD'S GREATEST COASTERS. This exciting new 3D simulation will feature five of the greatest roller coasters on the planet, as well as a virtual coaster workshop in which players can build and experience their very own thrill rides and challenge themselves in the scenario-based game mode.

Heading home from MIPCOM, Illuminated Films' half-hour animated special WAR GAME is boasting sales in a number of territories. Deals concluded in Cannes included Teletoon in Canada, Television Suisse Romande in Switzerland and NHK/Mico for Japan. The short has already sold to FR3 in France, SVT in Sweden, YLE in Finland and Channel Four in the UK. Most of these countries intend to screen WAR GAME on their national remembrance holidays. Based on the book by Michael Foreman, WAR GAME is the story of three English boys who are members of the same football (soccer) team.

Canadian computer animation company Mainframe Entertainment has announced that company president Brett Gannon is temporarily stepping down from his post and will be taking an extended medical leave due to an undisclosed illness. Gannon's responsibilities will be taken over by CFO George Lawton, who is based in Canada, and Los Angeles-based Mark Fleischer, president Mainframe USA. According to Mainframe, Gannon intends to return to the company once fully recovered.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Thursday, October 17, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . IPEX - Independent Publishing Experience: Saturday, October 26, 2002, Los Angeles, California USA . . . Tricky Women: Friday, March 07 - Thursday, March 13, 2003, Vienna, Austria.

6th Brooklyn International Film Festival

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Monday, April 28 – Sunday, May 4, 2003

Entry Deadline: Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Teletoon, Canada’s 24-hour animation station, has announced the twelve Canadian students who have won this year's Teletoon Animation Scholarship Award. The award is one of the few for arts students and the only formal national contest for students of animation. Since the launch of the scholarship program five years ago, Teletoon has awarded more than CAD $160,000 to students studying animation. This year’s group of winners represents a wide range of applicants from major animation schools to smaller, rural high schools.

At MIPCOM, EM.TV & Merchandising AG concluded a comprehensive deal with the children’s channel KI.KA that sees the German public broadcaster acquiring at least 300 half-hours of children's and youth programming from EM.TV, for broadcast on the jointly owned ARD-ZDF channel. Under the terms of the deal, KI.KA will receive the first free-TV broadcasting rights for all new shows, which will include POOCHINI, MOMO and WHAT ABOUT MIMI?

South Africa-based stop-motion animation company Triggerfish Animation has been awarded the animation contract for the second and third season of TAKALANI SESAME, the South African version of SESAME STREET. Triggerfish began working on TAKALANI SESAME two years ago as part of a joint venture, producing half of the animation for the first season.

5f Chennai, India came out of MIPCOM with two co-production deals for new animated series. MUV has teamed with Comet Entertainment of Toronto, Canada and Lasal of the Canary Islands, Spain to co-produce and provide animation for the CG series TINGUARO, THE SUN LIZARDS. Set in a futuristic world where peace-loving lizards struggle against war-mongering scorpions, TINGUARO is a 13-episode action/adventure series, which is also the first and only series to be supported and funded by the Spanish government, according to Carmen Llanos Acero, Comet COO.