Columbia TriStar Home Video is releasing Ray Harryhausen's first color and
independently produced feature, 1958's THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, on DVD in
the US on November 30, 1999. Extras include a documentary called THE RAY
HARRYHAUSEN CHRONICLES; THIS IS DYNAMATION, a documentary about Ray
Harryhausen's animation techniques; A LOOK BEHIND THE VOYAGE and JASON AND
THE ARGONAUTS, two interviews; and textual supplements on the cast and
crew, including Harryhausen, director Nathan Juran, Kerwin Matthews

Studio B Productions has moved to a custom designed studio at 190 Alexander
Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The three-floor, 27,000 sq. ft.
facility is home to Studio B's animation studio and production house as
well as Mercury Filmworks, a fully equipped digital animation facility, and
Dick and Roger's, a fully equipped sound studio which means that the
facility now has the ability to produce an animated show or series in its
entirety from script to post-production. The move to larger, custom

Paris, France-based Salsa Distribution has acquired the Latin American
television distribution rights to the half-hour television special GOGWANA.
Produced by London-based AARGH! Animation Ltd. for S4C, and directed by
Deiniol Morris, GOGWANA is based on THE GOGS, the Stone Age family depicted
in the claymation television series. In the special, after an earthquake
destroys the Gogs' cave, the family goes in search of a new home, and,
along the way, encounters pygmies, dinosaur air-balloons, and pygmy-piloted

Animation-Books.com, in association with ANiMATO!, the animation magazine,
has announced the results of an internet poll of the best animation books
of all time, and THE ILLUSION OF LIFE: DISNEY ANIMATION by Frank Thomas and
Ollie Johnston tops the list. While the list may be biased toward more
recent, easily available English publications, few would argue that this,
for once, is a solid list, and every title belongs in one's animation
library. According to Animation-Books.com, "Polling for the

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSS
PLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is based
on the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, which
was used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSS
PLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and just
before the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, the
universe's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive

SONY PICTURES FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP has appointed five key development
executives. BOB HIGGINS has been promoted to Senior Vice President of
Creative Affairs; STACEY ATTANASIO has been named Senior Vice President of
Production; JOE D'AMBROSIA has been named Executive Director of Creative
Affairs; TARA POLACIK has been promoted to Director of Creative Affairs and
GRACE BENN has been named Creative Executive. Prior to his new appointment,
BOB HIGGINS served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for Columbia

Sony Pictures Entertainment
has formalized the name of its newest business unit, Sony Pictures Family
Entertainment Group (SPFE), and appointed Gary Hirsch as senior vice
president and general manager of the division. Reporting to Sander
Schwartz, president of the relatively new division, Hirsch will oversee new
business development opportunities for the division and its day-to-day
operations, including business affairs, human resources, studio operations,
production and marketing. Hirsch comes to Sony's SPFE from Columbia

Columbia Records will celebrate the 20th anniversary of
the release of PINK FLOYD's album THE WALL with the release of the film on
DVD in October. The film includes animation designed and directed by Gerald Scarfe, who went on
to design Disney's HERCULES. The DVD features a new transfer of the
original widescreen film, as well as unreleased footage, a remastered 5.1
Dolby Digital soundtrack, the 25-minute "making of" documentary THE OTHER
SIDE OF THE WALL, and the new 45-minute documentary RETROSPECTIVE, with

One of the fastest growing areas of the booming entertainment technology industry is special effects, and with standards being raised daily by innovative uses in TV, film, and computer games the need for qualified effects artists increases. The Center for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS), a private technical arts college celebrating 20 years in operation in British Columbia, has jumped on the opportunity.

Gold Coast, Australia-based EA Australia, a subsidiary of Redwood City,
California-based Electronic Arts, has hired Steve Dauterman to head a new
development studio located in Australia. Dauterman, formerly Director of
Development for LucasArts, had been with the Lucas group for ten years,
initially as Financial Analyst for Lucasfilm before moving across to
LucasArts in 1992. Since working at LucasArts he has overseen the
development of such worldwide interactive titles as "Rebel Assault," "Dark

The fifth annual Anima Mundi festival has had its run July 9-18 in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil. At this festival the audience is the jury, and they have
chosen:


Best Brazilian Film - DE JANELA PARA O CINEMA (RAINBOW'S END) by Quiá
Rodrigues.


Best Film of the Official Selection - GOGWANA by Deiniol Morris, UK.


Second Best Film of the Official Selection - AU BOUT DU MONDE (AT THE ENDS
OF THE EARTH) by Konstantin Bronzit, France.


Third Best Film of the Official Selection - RECI, RECI, RECI (WORDS, WORDS,

Clare Kitson, the person behind Channel 4 television's remarkable animation
programming, is leaving the animation industry. Clare did an exceptional
job, and deserves to leave her post with gratitude and appreciation from
those she has worked with for the last twelve years. Therefore, Animation
World Network is publishing a tribute to Clare in the September '99 issue
of Animation World Magazine, which will focus on television. Our tribute to
Clare will be presented in tandem with a historical article on animation at

The Annual Society for Animation Studies (SAS) Conference will be hosted by
Griffith University and will feature papers by Maureen Furniss on motion
capture, Chris Robinson on Estonian animation, Richard Leskosky on
animating between the lines, Jean-Paul Goergen on hand-drawn sound in
Germany in the 1930s, Suzanne R. Williams on the aesthetics of computer
games, Marilyn Carney on Australian women animators, Bryan Barker on the
impact of CinemaScope on animation production, Cathyrn Vasseleu on "Time

Los Angeles-based DNA Studio has named David Badagliacca as its Head of
Sales, Marketing & New Business Development, and Jane Greenstein, as a
full-time producer. Previously, Badagliacca supervised the launch of
Maverick Records' Clio Award-winning Web site while at the label. He also
oversaw efforts for other popular, unconventional sites, including a new
site for recording artist Alanis Morissette and a music video made
exclusively for the Web. Jane Greenstein will produce original content for

SOFTIMAGE will be showcasing the latest release of Toonz, the leading 2D cel animation solution at SIGGRAPH '99 in Los Angeles. Toonz version 4.3 features a more interactive exposure sheet, larger palettes, "3D" textures, and new special FX. SOFTIMAGE will also be introducing for the first time the Toonz Linetester. Also shown, will be the Toonz plug-in for SOFTIMAGE®|3D which will minimize your tracking nightmares when combining all those external materials.

Once again, Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. This month, "I Married a Strange Person" will be appearing in various festivals and other events in Canada, Germany, Finland and Ukraine. "Mondo Plympton" will be screened in the US, Brazil and Germany. Bill will also be attending the events in Canada, Brazil and Germany.


www.awn.com/plympton/appearances.html

Affiliated with the World Science Fiction Convention, the North American
Science Fiction Convention which takes place in Anaheim, California, August
26 - 29, 1999, is held whenever the WSFC is outside of North America (as it
is this year in Australia). The convention includes hundreds of authors,
artists, and filmmakers as speakers; an art show; a dealers room; films;
costume competition; dances; parties and more. The film competition accepts
entries in 16mm and VHS (NTSC only), to be judged by a panel of working TV

The ABC network, which is owned by The Walt Disney Co., has ordered a
six-hour miniseries based on the first two installments of James Gurney's
fantasy book series, DINOTOPIA which is about a world in which humans and
highly-evolved dinosaurs live together in harmony. With the exception of
Stephen King projects THE SHINING and STORM OF THE CENTURY, DINOTOPIA marks
ABC's biggest miniseries time commitment since 1988's 30-hour WAR AND
REMEMBRANCE which starred Robert Mitchum. Some sources estimate the cost at

The Walt Disney Company has named four executives to new positions. ETIENNE DE VILLIERS has been named president and managing director, Walt Disney International Europe; MICHAEL O. JOHNSON has been named president and managing director, Walt Disney International Asia; DIEGO LERNER has been named president and managing director, Walt Disney International Latin America; and PAUL SALEH has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer, Walt Disney International.

The inaugural Vancouver Effects & Animation Festival (VEAF) will exhibit
animation and effects works created by people from around the world and
will present awards in 22 categories. The festival takes place Monday, July
13-18 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For more information call
(604) 874-5590; or visit www.veaf.com.