The Second Annual Ajijic Festival de Cine is inviting both students as well as professionals to submit their entries in the categories of animation, documentaries, independent and studio produced feature films, short subjects and screenplays. The event will be held in Ajijic, Mexico from Wednesday, November 8 to Sunday, November 12, 2000. "The emphasis of this festival as it was with our inaugural effort last year, will be the celebration, discovery and recognition of talent from around the world," said James E. Lloyd, Chairman of the Festival's Board of Directors.

The 10th Annual Sensual & Erotic Art Exhibition will happen July 13-15, 2000 in Reno, Nevada, USA. The show is open to all artists using animation as their primary medium in the category of erotic art. This year's exhibition will focus on challenging works by promising new talent in this medium. For applications and guidelines call or send a SASE to: The Lifestyles Organization, Attn.: Curator, 2641 W. La Palma Ave. Ste C, Anaheim, CA 92801, USA; tel.: (714) 821-1235; fax: (714) 821-9919; e-mail: xart@lifestyles.org.

Slaying the competition at the U.S. box office, DreamWorks' GLADIATOR easily finished in the top spot. The Roman action epic, with primary special effects by Mill Film Ltd., grossed a Goliath US$34.82 million, which is nearly the combined gross of the rest of the top ten films. GLADIATOR dethroned two-week box office champ U-571, which fell to second. The Universal World War II submarine story grossed another $7.77 million bringing its total theatre receipts to $49.59 million. Despite horrid reviews from about every source, THE FLINTSTONES VIVA ROCK VEGAS managed to finish in third place.

On Sunday, May 7, 2000 in Fredrikstad, Norway, the Nordic and Baltic Animation Festival Fredrikstad called to an end its five-day festival. The Oscar award nominated MY GRANDMOTHER IRONED THE KING'S SHIRTS took home two awards at the festival. The jury consisted of Marjut Rimminen (Finland/U.K.), Konstantin Bronzit (Russia), Sven Påhlsson (Norway), Richard R. Reeves (Canada) and Cory Wynne (U.S.A.). The festival’s focus is to promote the screening and better understanding of animation.

Disney has signed a new multiyear book licensing deal with Random House Inc. which sees the end to its 70-year relationship with Golden Books Family Entertainment. The golden spined children's books, which have graced the shelves of bookstores to grocery markets, will no longer feature Disney characters. The decision to sign with Random House came after the terms of their deal with Golden Books were not profitable. The financial terms of the five-year deal were not disclosed due to competitive reasons.

Nelvana Limited announced that it has filed with the Ontario Securities Commission to offer 3.75 million subordinate voting shares of the company in the U.S. and Canada. A portion of the money gained from the new offering will be used to repay loans for the purchase of Klutz Publishing, a leading U.S. children’s book publisher. The remainder of the funds will be used to pay off borrowings under the firm’s credit facilities. The producer of children favs BABAR and FRANKLIN is selling 3,684,032 shares and the remaining 65,968 shares are being sold by two unnamed shareholders.

* Thursday, May 11 – Friday, May 12, 2000. North Hollywood, Calfornia, U.S.A.





The California Institute of the Arts, School of Film/Video is holding Showcase 2000, a chance for students to screen their films and videos. Films in character animation will be shown on May 11 at 9pm and experimental animation films will be shown on May 12 at 8pm. The event will be held at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, 5230 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. For more information call Tel.: (661) 253-7818.

A Canadian Television Fund (CTF) commissioned report calls for stiffer conflict-of-interest rules for the distribution of their CA$200 million in funds. Two reports, one by consultants François Colbert and David Silcox for CTF and one by KPMG for the Heritage Ministry, pointed out several serious administrative problems in the way Canadian funds are handed out to production companies. Both reports recommend that Telefilm Canada, a second government agency that helps fund and produce Canadian productions, should get out of the funding business and concentrate on producing feature films.

* Saturday, July 1, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Independent film producers are calling foul over the amount of funds going to Quebec. French-language productions are guaranteed at least a third of the CA$200-million a year provided by the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) and Quebec-based film companies this year are receiving nearly 40% of the federal funds. Another sore point is that in years past Cinar Corp., the Montreal-based producer of children’s series, has received as much federal funding as the entire Alberta industry. Currently, Cinar is under investigation for using false Canadian names on scripts by U.S.

* Tuesday, May 30 - Sunday, June 4, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

* Monday, June 5 - Sunday, June 11, 2000. Toronto, Canada.

* Wednesday, June 7 - Sunday, June 11, 2000. Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.

* Tuesday, June 13 - Thursday, June 15, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.


The 20th annual L!censing trade show is dedicated to the multi-billion dollar worldwide business of consumer product licensing, marketing and merchandising. Last year's event had more than 16,000 in attendance. With more than 35 companies from outside the U.S., the exhibition is truly an international event. For more information contact Kim Farrell at: Tel.: (203) 882-1300 ext. 159 or Robin Kerr at Tel.: (212) 951-6650; Fax: (203) 882-1800; E-mail: lic@advanstar.com; or Web: www.licensingshow.com.

* Friday, June 2, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Harvey Entertainment Company announced that The Chase Manhattan Bank is arranging a US$25 million, five-year revolving credit facility and that Harvey has completed the acquisition of 100% of the capital stock of PM Entertainment Group Inc., an independent entertainment production and distribution company. The PM Entertainment Group purchase consisted of $6.5 million in cash and $1.45 million in Harvey Entertainment Common Stock paid at closing, as well as a $2.05 million subordinated note, payable over the next five quarterly periods.

Mexico City-based Ollin Studio has opened a new office in Toronto, Canada. The animation and post-production studio's new facility will offer computer animation, post-production, Internet and multimedia services. Ollin Studio is one of the top animation, post-production, Internet and multimedia houses in Mexico. Ollin has brought high quality animation/post-production to the Mexican market and hopes to do the same in North America. The company's international business representative in Canada is Jose Luis Monzon.

Currently, the National Film Board of Canada has four animation projects in production. LITTLE ARMADILLOS is based off a song by filmmaker John Forrest. The educational piece creates a world inside the body where the eardrum is a dance hall and the elbow is a playground. Animator Debra Dawson is bringing the story to life with Long John Baldry performing the title song for the film. Jill Haras is creating JOE. The film follows the true-life story of Vancouver personality Seraphim "Joe" Fortes. Born in Barbados, Fortes came to Vancouver in 1885 and taught the children of the city how to swim.

11,111 participants representing 2,776 companies from 100 countries

gathered in Cannes for the 37th edition of MIP TV which closed on

Friday April 14, 2000. The countries most represented in terms of

stands were: France (191), US (188), UK (177), Canada (85) and

Germany (76). In terms of participating companies the countries most

represented were: UK (443), France (422), US (372), Germany (173) and

Canada (139); more than 500 of them came from media and Internet

* Wednesday, April 26 - Sunday, April 30, 2000. Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A.