Episodes of BOB AND MARGARET and GARY & MIKE have been nominated for the prestigious Rose D’Or, an annual international television festival and competition held in Montreux, Switzerland, open to more than 2000 producers and broadcasters from around the world. This year’s festival will be held April 26 – May 1, 2001.

DIRECTV Latin America announced on Friday, April 6, 2001 the official debut of the Disney Channel to all DIRECTV subscribers in Brazil. The Disney Channel is a new, 24-hour Portuguese television network with entertainment for kids and families created specially for the Brazilian market. The Disney programming block includes exclusive and original productions, a two-hour live, daily show, movies, animated and live-action series, concerts and special events.

* Thursday, May 17 – Friday, May 18, 2001. Córdoba, Argentina.


Entry Deadline: April 30, 2001

George Port has joined Whamo as their new head of business development, the company recently reported. With the recent rapid expansion of Whamo, which includes the opening of an office in Spain as well as the establishment of partnerships with Canada's Cambium Entertainment and Australia's Burbank Animation Studios, company president Joseph Szew opted to bring in Port. According to Szew, "We need someone who will be able to help us manage the company's aggressive strategy and growth.

Sesame Workshop's TINY PLANETS is in final negotiations to be aired on Italy's largest commercial broadcaster Mediatrade's channels. TINY PLANETS is a CGI animated educational comic adventure series for 3 to 5 year olds. A co-production with Pepper's Ghost Productions, the show follows Bing and Bong as they explore the worlds of their solar system such as the planets of light and color, sound, technology, stuff, self and nature through a space aged couch.

Nickelodeon, one of the leading entertainment brands for kids worldwide, is expanding its reach into China as of May 1, 2001. After visiting Beijing for four days and meeting with China's president Jiang Zemin and other industry officials, Bill Roedy, president MTV Networks International, and Frank Brown, president MTV Networks Asia, made the announcement.

Spanish animation company BRB Internacional announced at MIP TV a new major financing deal, which will help them expand their operations. Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI), an Iberian bank, has acquired 25% of BRB International. BESI is a major player in Portugal and Brazil, and part of the NYSE listed Espirito Santo Group (NYSE:ESF). The move enables BRB Internacional to consolidate and increase its position in the international audio-visual market.

* Friday, April 20 - Saturday, April 21, 2001. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Warner Bros. Animation has announced that Jean MacCurdy has stepped down from her post as president and will be replaced by former Sony Family Entertainment Group president Sander Schwartz. MacCardy will become a creative consultant for the studio, working on developing animated and live-action children's productions. In 1979, she joined Warner Bros. Cartoons as director of animation programming and in 1982, was promoted to VP and general manager.

* Thursday, April 26 – Sunday, April 29 2001. Bristol, U.K.

Walt Disney Co. Latin America has hired Marcos Rosset as managing director, Brazil. He will head all of the company's businesses in the territory, including the Portuguese language Disney Channel that debuts on April 5, 2001. For the past 15 years, Rosset served as managing director of CIC Video, a co-venture between Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures. There he oversaw all retail businesses, including interactive consumer products and rental/sell-through video.

Norma Macmillan, the voice of UNDERDOG's Sweet Polly Purebread, has passed away. She suffered a heart attack and died Friday afternoon at her home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was 79. Macmillian also provided voices for Goo and other characters on THE GUMBY SHOW, Davey's sister Sally on DAVEY & GOLIATH and Kokette on MEAN MOE. During John F. Kennedy's presidency, Macmillan contributed voices to the popular Kennedy family parody album, THE FIRST FAMILY. She also appeared in such live-action features as HEAD OVER HEALS and BIG BULLY.

HANNIBAL held strong at the international box office with debuts of TRAFFIC topping charts in Australia and Italy. In France, however, HANNIBAL fended off the premiere of TRAFFIC, taking the top slot with a gross of US$3.17 million and raising its cume to $9.4 million. In second, TRAFFIC smuggled in $2.48 million. VERTICAL LIMIT climbed into the sixth spot, grossing $807,368, thus lifting its French total to $5.15 million. In the U.K., HANNIBAL hatched another $2.52 million in first, elevating its cume to $26.1 million.

* Tuesday, June 26 – Sunday, July 1, 2001. Melbourne, Australia.

Entry Deadline: April 30, 2001

Chicago, Illinois' Columbia College, film and video department, is looking for an experienced ANIMATION INSTRUCTOR, TENURE TRACK and/or an experienced INSTRUCTOR with an MFA/MA degree in art/design to teach and oversee storyboard and concept development classes and senior-level production studio classes. . . Hong Kong, China's Full Action Ltd, an animation services company, is looking for an ANIMATION SUPERVISOR. . . Brooklyn, New York's Loop Filmworks is looking for a STORYBOARD ARTIST/ILLUSTRATOR, preferably with an animation background. . .

Stephen X. Arthur's experimental animated short, "Vision Point," was chosen to go on tour in "The Best of the Northwest," a program of highlights from the 27th Northwest Film and Video Festival, Portland, Oregon. The tour will be running for the rest of the year, visiting various cities in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and other states. For a schedule, contact the festival coordinator, Thomas Phillipson, at thomas@nwfilm.org. You can discover Stephen's work in the Animation Showcase.

* Thursday, May 17 – Friday, May 18, 2001. Córdoba, Argentina.

Entry Deadline: April 30, 2001

German EM.TV has signed a co-production deal with Spain's Planeta 2010. Already EM.TV has signed deals on four series and negotiations are in progress on five additional shows including 13 new episodes of DRAGON TALES, which is co-produced with Children's TV Workshop and Columbia TriStar TV Group. The signed deals include: 26-episodes of kids' comedy MR. BABY; 13 episodes of PIGS NEXT DOOR, co-produced with Fox Kids Int. and Magma Films; THE WORLD OF TOSH based on a Swedish fable; and NICK AND PERRY, co-produced by Germany's WDR and France's Ellipse Animation and M6.

Simona Fabbri has joined Cartoon Network Italy in the newly created position of director of content. Fabbri will be responsible for the programming schedule and acquiring Italian shows, in addition to coordinating the network's and Website's content. She will also oversee the promos and on-air look of the channel. Previously, Simona worked at the Italian Disney channel where she started as acquisitions manager, moving to asset manager.

Gobbling up the competition, HANNIBAL dined atop the box office charts in a host of new countries. In France, the cannibalistic cavalcade collected an impressive US$6.23 million in its debut. VERTICAL LIMIT climbed into fifth with a gross of $1.46 million, lifting its French cume to $4.35 million. In sixth, 102 DALMATIANS collared another $1.38 million, raising its French cume to $13.51 million. In Mexico, HANNIBAL premiered in first with an amazing ticket-take of $2.71 million. At #5, RED PLANET dusted off $390,792, growing its Mexican cume to $1.04 million.