FUNimation Productions Ltd. announced its new DRAGON BALL TV series will debut June 25, 2001 on the Cartoon Network, airing Monday through Friday at 5:30 pm ET. DRAGON BALL is the prequel to the DRAGON BALL Z series, #1 on the Cartoon Network's Toonami Block and #1 on the Internet, according to Lycos. Gen Fukunaga, President of FUNimation, also announced that new episodes of DRAGON BALL Z will begin airing on the Cartoon Network beginning September 3, 2001. Like DRAGON BALL Z, the new DRAGON BALL series was a smash hit in Japan before being produced for the U.S. and other countries.

* Wednesday, May 16, 2001, Los Angeles, California, USA

* Saturday, May 19 - Sunday, May 20, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

We've started compiling information about new short films for our AWN readers, appropriately titled "Where's My Shorts?" Lest we get too jovial, each week, we'll provide a brief compilation of new short films premiering during that week, either at a festival, exhibition, screening or online. They could be gems, they could be industrial effluent, we hazard no guess. However, we can tell you that the works are supposedly "new," which gives us hope that someone, somewhere is doing something besides lying around their den, eating Cheetos and cleaning their ears with a pencil.

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Outer Limits Film And Video Series, April 11 - May 9, 2001, New York, New York U.S.A.; Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design Graduation Show, May 4 - 10, 2001, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Internationales Bochumer Videofestival, May 17 - 19, 2001, Bochum, Germany; HDFEST 2001-L.A.

* Saturday, April 28 – Sunday, May 13, 2001. Mexico City, Mexico.

The 2001 Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children, held April 20-29, 2001 in Toronto, Canada, has announced its winners. Canada’s MAURICE SENDAK’S LITTLE BEAR: THE LITTLE BEAR MOVIE took home the Toronto Sun Animation Award, an audience award given to the favorite animated feature or short film. Directed by Raymond Jafelice, MAURICE SENDAK'S LITTLE BEAR: THE LITTLE BEAR MOVIE follows Little Bear as he meets a new friend named Cub, who has become separated from his parents.

* Thursday, May 10, 2001. Toronto, Canada

* Friday, May 4 – Saturday, May 12, 2001. Seattle, U.S.A.

May 30, 2001. San Francisco, California USA

May 19, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

May 26 - 31, 2001. Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.A.

April 2002. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Entry Deadline: December 1, 2000

April 11 – May 9, 2001. New York, New York, U.S.A.

May 25 - 26, 2001. North Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

May 4 - 10, 2001. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The anime classic AKIRA, fresh from a $1 million restoration, has been released on the big screen in a few select theatres in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. With digital projection, this is the cleanest, crispest print ever seen to date. AWN was invited to a special pre-release screening and was very impressed by the quality of the print and restoration. First released theatrically in Japan in 1988, AKIRA has garnered legions of fans around the world and is still considered a masterpiece of cel animation.

Creating what is arguably both the biggest project and greatest success in its eight years of operation, New York's The Diecks Group recently delivered a complete redesign of Discovery Kids Network, a three-hour block of programming aired on weekends on the Discovery Channel. Creative director Brian Diecks and The Diecks Group team were the exclusive creators of 122 on-air design elements, including block opens, next-ons, bumpers, interstitials and promo elements. The project required extensive live-action, 3D animation, effects compositing and 2D graphics.

This year, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival (June 4-9, 2001) will pay tribute to Great Britain, with a profile of Aardman Animations, along with screenings of classic British shorts, THE YELLOW SUBMARINE, the Bolex Brothers' THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF TOM THUMB, and more. For its 2001 edition Annecy received 1,070 films (1,092 in 2000). 242 of them, representing 26 countries, have been selected for official competition with 193 in competition and 49 in panorama. Confirmed jury members are: AWN's Ron Diamond (producer and publisher, USA), John R.

* Friday, August 3 – Sunday, August 12, 2001. Minnesota, U.S.A.



Entry Deadline: June 1, 2001.