RING OF FIRE made the crippled walk in Nuveen & Co.'s Super Bowl spot.

Andrew Douglas of SATELLITE was brought in to direct the futuristic spot

where paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve walks to a podium to receive an

award. The super feet was done for Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ad agency

Fallon McElligott. Ring of Fire's founder, Jerry Spivack, served as

creative director and visual effects supervisor for the commercial. Ring of

Fire isn't new to creating outstanding Super Bowl spots, their 1999

Bill Plympton has updated his

appearances page.

In March, "Surprise Cinema"

will be appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, Canada,

Belgium, Germany and Australia. Bill will be appearing at the Zagreb World

Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia, June 12-25, 2000.

* Sunday, February 13, 2000 - Thursday, February 17, 2000. New York, New

York, U.S.A.



The American International Toy Fair, one of the world's leading toy trade

shows, features over 1,800 exhibitors and highlights the newest and most

exciting toys on the market. Toy Manufacturers of America, Inc., the

industry trade association, brings the 97th annual event to several

showrooms all across the Manhattan area. Three new showplaces have joined

* Friday, February 18, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.



Cinema Village, the city's venue for alternative animation, will be

presenting the U.S. theatrical premiere of KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS from

French filmmaker Michel Ocelot. Based on a West African legend, this film

follows a miraculous infant who singlehandedly saves his small village from

a sultry yet evil wizard. Featuring an original score by Senegalese music

artist Youssou N'Dour, KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS offers a unique spin: an

* Wednesday, March 1, 2000. Burbank, California, U.S.A.



Ideas, new properties and pitching will be the topic of discussion at this

month's Women In Animation Production Management Group Meeting (PMG). The

event will be held at Nickelodeon in Burbank at 7 pm. Monthly meetings will

be on the 1st Wednesday of each month at Nickelodeon. To attend please RSVP

to Kellie-Bea Cooper at (818) 623-0020 or E-mail:

kellie-bea@kellie-bea.com. For more information on WIA events please visit

*Saturday, March 4, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.



The School of Visual Arts will feature a workshop entitled "Art of

Directing 3D Computer Animation" taught by Isaac Victor Kerlow, director of

digital talent at Walt Disney. The SVA alumni will lead the one-day event

explaining the day-to-day processes of art directing 3D computer animation

productions. In addition, Kerlow will discuss the various markets for 3D

computer animation such as TV, interactive and the Web. The class will be

* Friday, March 10 - Friday, March 17, 2000. Santa Clarita, California, U.S.A.





The Santa Clarita International Film Festival is strictly dedicated to

family entertainment. It includes a film and screenplay competition,

student filmmaker award, as well as panel discussions. Co-sponsored by

FOCUS Institute of Film, the winning screenplay will be mentored and

developed for future production with a later-announced studio. For more

* Saturday, March 18, 2000. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

* Sunday, April 9 - Sunday, April 16, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.





Comic book fans can hobnob with the best in the business on a 7 day/7 night

cruise benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit

organization protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics community.

The "Making WAVES" cruise will stop at three Mexican ports -- Puerto

Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. The event will feature week-long

Montreal-based CineGroupe and Saban International Paris will co-produce a

new half-hour series entitled WUNSCHPUNCH. The show will be based on the

novel by Michael Ende, whose previous novel, THE NEVER ENDING STORY was

made into a live-action feature. Radio Canada will broadcast the series in

Canada and TF1 will air it in France. Hubert Gariepy and Bruno Bianchi will

produce the series and Philippe Amador will direct.

The BBC, CINAR and HALO Productions will team up to brighten the world with

the teenage angst of the new animated series TREASURE. The show follows the

teenage tribulations of Treasure, her ever-frantic mother and critical

grandmother. The series will air on BBC prime time sometime in late 2000,

early 2001. The show has also been sold to YTV in Canada. TREASURE is based

off a popular newspaper column by Michele Hanson.

Iowa State University's student television station is looking for animated

films of any kind under 7 minutes in length, for their animation

exposition. The winner will be broadcast locally in April of 2000 to an

audience of around 40-50,000 homes. In addition, animators that participate

will have their Web sites linked to from the station Web site. Submissions

can be on BetaSP, SVHS or VHS tapes. Since the animations will be broadcast

on TV, all submissions must meet FCC rules that include no nudity, graphic

* Friday, March 3 - Saturday, March 4, 2000. Glendale, California, U.S.A.





This year, ASIFA-Hollywood will host its 7th Annual Animation Expo. The

Expo is a two day animation industry trade show focusing on the exhibition

of animation related products and services and the recruitment of related

talent and personnel. In addition, the Expo offers industry seminars and

workshops, digital tutorials and a showcase of animation. Admission price

* Saturday, February 12, 2000. Ontario, Canada.





Cinematheque Ontario will present Lotte Reiniger's timeless silhouette

animation, THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (DIE ABENTEUER DES PRINZEN

ACHMED). The story is adapted from the "Tales of the Arabian Nights." The

film, that took Reiniger two years to make, captures fantasy, romance,

adventure, and humor. The screening will begin at 2 pm. The Jackman Hall

Box Office opens 30 minutes prior to the first screening of the day. Ticket

* Wednesday, February 16, 2000. Westwood, California, U.S.A.





For the tenth consecutive year Clifford Cohen's AnimAction will be

presenting the TEAM (Tobacco Education Awareness Message) Awards.

Twenty-seven middle schools have participated in AnimAction's filmmaking

program this year. Students work together in creating animated Public

Service Announcements (PSAs). The award winning PSAs will be aired on

network and cable TV. Previous PSAs have been distributed by UNICEF and

* Thursday, February 24 - Sunday, March 5, 2000. San Jose, California, U.S.A.





Cinequest San Jose Film Festival showcases features and short films (16mm &

35mm all genres) of artistic, social or stylistic merit. This year, the

festival is celebrating Maverick Films, Filmmakers and Technologies. For

more information contact Cinequest 2000 at: P.O Box 720040, San Jose, CA

95172-0040; Tel.: (408) 995-5033; Fax: (408) 995-5713; E-mail:

cineqst@wenet.net; or Web: http://www.cinequest.org.

Michael Webster, who established Walt Disney's television animation

division in 1984, passed away at the age 60 following a long battle with

multiple sclerosis. On Saturday, January 29, 2000, Mr. Webster succumbed to

complications from pneumonia at his home in Port Townsend, Washington,

U.S.A. During his 42 year tenure, Webster created the Walt Disney

Television Animation division and served as its senior VP until his

retirement in 1992. He oversaw production of the Emmy-winning NEW

Nickelodeon has recently closed the San Mateo branch of its on-line unit

announced Nick On-line Pres. Fred Seibert. The office had been doing

research and development for "Project Nozzle" -- a re-launch of Nick.com as

a children's Web portal. To help strengthen the re-launch Viacom, owners of

Nick, bought San Mateo-based Web development house Nvolve, which turned

into the now de-funked San Mateo branch of Nick.com. This decision comes on

the heals of the suspension of "Project Nozzle's" main component My

Funkmation Studios, an animation house providing services for film,

television, CD-Rom and the Web, has floated into a new home in Brooklyn's

Navy Yard. The animation house will share the new space with New York

Studios' film and television sound stage. Funkmation's credits include:

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH CD-Rom; storyboard and background design on

COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG; Flash animation on Partner Re's screen savers;

and a 2D animation pilot with C&C Films entitled MAXIMUM BLACK. The new

BERNARD STOLAR was named president of MATTEL INTERACTIVE, the division that

includes The Learning Company and other software and high-tech products.

Stolar joins Mattel from Sega where he helped engineer the launch of the

Sega Dreamcast video game console in the United States. At Mattel, he will

try to mend the ailing Learning Company division, whose unexpected $105

million loss in the third quarter shocked investors and diminished Mattel's