* 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.

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

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.

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.

* Friday, September 14 - Thursday, September 20, 2001. Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.


Entry Deadline: June 1, 2001.

* Thursday, September 27 - Tuesday, October 2, 2001. Lake Tahoe, California, U.S.A.


Entry Deadline: June 29, 2001

* Friday, June 15 – Sunday, June 17, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

* Thursday, April 19 - Sunday, May 20, 2001. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Lombard, Illinois' Big Idea Productions, a family media company, is
having an OPEN CALL for 3D ANIMATION DIRECTORS, 3D CHARACTER
ANIMATORS, ART DIRECTORS, ANIMATORS, CONCEPT ARTISTS and MODELERS. . .
Halifax, Canada's Collideascope Digital Productions, Inc., a new
media and convergence company, is looking for an ANIMATOR and 2D
ANIMATOR. . . Wiesbaden, Germany's Die Kolonie GbR, a talent and
recruiting agency, is looking for a TV-DESIGNER & ANIMATOR 2D & 3D. . .
Bregenz, Austria's KE Consult is looking for a FLASH SPECIALIST to