Every year since 1991, the organization CARTOON, with the support of the
MEDIA program of the European Union, selects one European short animated
film as the "Cartoon d'Or," or "best European animation film." This year's
winner, announced at the Cartoon Forum in Corboda, Spain (September 22-26),
is MIGRATIONS by Constantin Chamski (France). The 4-minute CGI film is
distributed by France-based Heure Exquise! where it was also produced. This
year's other nominees were L'ARME DU CROCODILE by Eric Blesin (Belgium), EL

MIPCOM: International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable, and
Satellite. Starting next week, thousands of producers, programmers and
broadcasters will converge on Cannes, France for the MIPCOM and MIP Junior
markets. From Reed-Midem, the organizers of MIP-TV, MIP Asia and MILIA,
MIPCOM is known as the place where international television deals happen.
Among the properties being offered are Sony Wonder's LION OF OZ AND THE
BADGE OF COURAGE, an animated musical prequel to THE WIZARD OF OZ;

The Museum of Television and Radio in New York and Los Angeles hosts a
retrospective of Hanna-Barbera's television series with a series of
60-minute screenings. The series includes SCOOBY-DOO, THE FANTASTIC FOUR,
SPACE GHOST, SUPERFRIENDS, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS, MAGILLA GORILLA, TOP
CAT, RICOCHET RABBIT, and YOGI BEAR. The new Spumco/Cartoon Network YOGI
BEAR shorts have sparked a debate among fans regarding the quality of
Hanna-Barbera's YOGI BEAR shorts in particular, and Hanna-Barbera's

Jeffrey Scott will speak at the Women In Animation Writers'
Seminar Series at Saban Entertainment. Jeffrey has written over 450
animation scripts and has won three Emmys and the Humanitas Prize. He
currently works on DRAGON TALES which can be seen on PBS. The event takes
place Thursday, October 14, 7:30 pm in Westwood, California, USA. This is
the last seminar in the series until January. For more information contact
Jean Wright at (818) 360-8321. RSVP required.

From September 22 to 26, the 1999 Cartoon Forum will be welcoming 620
participants, among which will be Animation World Network's own Ron
Diamond, in Cordoba, Spain. This record attendance shows that this event,
organized over the last 10 years with support from the European Union Media
program, has been established as an important industry event. This year
sixty-nine projects seeking partners will be offered to potential investors
and producers. Over 150 projects initiated at the Forum in previous years

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by
DreamQuest, finished third for the second consecutive weekend at the US
boxoffice, grossing an estimated $8.5 million over the weekend, for a total
of $221.8 million. No other animation related films finished in the top ten.

London, UK-based commercial production company PASSION PICTURES has signed
DAVID FEISS and EMMA CALDER as directors. Feiss, a long time veteran, is
best known as the creator of Cartoon Network's COW AND CHICKEN. Calder's
recent film, THE QUEEN'S MONASTERY, has won prizes at film festivals
throughout the world. . . PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS has hired ANN MATHER as
its executive vice president and chief financial officer. Mather has more
than eighteen years of financial operations experience, including seven

Seattle, Washington-based REALNETWORKS, a company specializing in Internet
media delivery, has promoted THOMAS FRANK to chief operating officer and
hired MARTIN PLAEHN as senior vice president of media systems. Frank, who
joined RealNetworks in January of this year, was previously senior vice
president of media programming and publishing. Plaehn joins RealNetworks
from Viewpoint Digital, Inc., a computer graphics company, where he was
President. . . UNIVERSAL PICTURES has promoted GREG SUCHERMAN to vice

Glendale, California-based Galaxy Digimation has created a thirty-minute
animated newscast for Universal Studios' The Amazing Adventures of
Spider-Man ride in Orlando, Florida. The Spider-Man ride integrates
roller-coaster thrills, realistic motion simulation, and stereographic 3D
computer-generated effects while immersing riders in a story that
transforms them into active photojournalists. Galaxy Digimation's newscast
plays on monitors while riders wait in line inside the newsroom of The

Studio City, California-based Phil Roman Entertainment Company has
announced that it is co-producing THE GAUDINS: A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL with
Barcelona, Spain-based ABCN Concept. S.L. The 22-minute animated special
will use designs inspired by early twentieth century Spanish architect
Antonio Gaudi. According to Phil Roman, the show will create a whimsical,
fantasy world for family audiences. The show will be available Christmas
2000, but has yet to be picked up. As previously reported, Phil Roman

Montreal, Canada-based Motion International has started production on
MARSUPILAMI, a 26 episode, half-hour animated television series based on a
comic strip by Belgium artist Andrè Franquin. French producer Marathon is
co-producing, and the series will be aired by Tele-Quebec, as well as
other, as yet undetermined, international broadcasters. Marsupilami is a
funny animal-type character with yellow fur, black spots and many talents.
He first appeared in 1952 in SPIROU MAGAZINE, a Belgian comic book. A

On October 29 and 30 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Wayne Gilbert, Kyle Clark,
and Mike Ford, who work as animators for feature film projects at
Industrial Light + Magic, will be giving seminars on classical and computer
animation principles. The three animators have started their own
corporation, Animation Foundation and Anamie, providing consulting,
training and seminars for corporate and academic clients. This event is
coordinated by The Florida Center for Electronic Communication, The Fort

Lucas Learning Ltd. has released STAR WARS: PIT DROIDS, a STAR WARS EPISODE
ONE-based puzzle game. Players must direct an endless row of pit droids
toward appropriate goals, and prevent them from falling off the edge of the
world. Players can play the puzzles at random, or work from location to
location to achieve a high score. There are eight game levels, six game
environments, and more than 300 puzzles. The game is compatible with both
PC and Mac, and has a retail price of US$29.99.

The third annual British Animation Awards is calling for entries from UK
animators. The awards will be announced on Thursday, March 9, 2000.
Deadline for entries is December 1, 1999. For more information Tel. 0171
383 4387; or Fax 0171 388 3782.

Antran Manoogian, President of the International Animated
Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, has announced the nominees for the 27th Annual Annie Awards...

Educators and School Administrators - don't miss out! If your school or educational program wasn't included in AWN's Winter 1999 directory, or if you want to update the information that did get published, production on AWN's Winter 2000 directory is now underway...

AWN is proud to host Ottawa's brand new web site. Festival Director, Chris Robinson comments, "We wanted to create a site that would be easier to navigate and one that would serve as an archive of sorts. Most festival websites are disposable. They serve their purpose and vanish into the Internet vacuum.

This week's AWN Animation Trivia Quiz features questions about masters of animation...

This week's comic is about the dangers of horseback riding...

Now available in the AWN Store is a rare collection of animation artwork from the 1930s....