Cinanima International Animated Film Festival will happen from November
8-14, 1999, in Espinho, Portugal. This year, the retrospectives and special
programs include: a screening of Cinanima '98 winners; a compilation of
films from Portuguese studio Animanostra; a program of Irish films; a
retrospective of Dusan Vukotic's body of work (Croatia); video clips from
MTV; and a special program from the ASIFA archives, featuring such
prestigious animators as Norman McLaren, Yuri Norstein, Fedor Khitruk,

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) will host a two month
animation festival. These are the scheduled events.


Saturday, July 10, 5 pm. John Canemaker will show and talk about a century
of animation. The event is free.


Saturday, July 10, 8 pm. "The Birth of Walt Disney Pictures' DINOSAUR"
presents a behind the scenes look at the work-in-progress.


Thursday, July 15, 8 pm. "The Making of MONSTERS OF GRACE" with Jeff
Kleiser and Diana Walczak will explore the challenges of their

London-based BERMUDA SHORTS has completed "Rear Window," a spot for Natwest
bank. The spot explores the things you can do in the privacy of your home
once you own the property. The spot includes 2D animated people who sit by
a stream, feeding fish, as well as a stop-motion animated man working on
his car. Phil Dale did the stop-motion animation. Run Wrake directed the
spot for Agency TBWA.

Mumbai, India-based GRAPHITI MULTIMEDIA PVT. LTD. has completed a :20 spot
for ThumsUp soft drink, a Coca-Cola product. In the spot, a mosquito holds
a straw like a microphone and sings a 1970s Hindi love song until the
ThumsUp hero, played by a live model, squashes the insect. Graphiti used
Cambridge Animation Systems' Animo software to composite the three matte
layers -- a highlight layer, a mid-tone layer, and a body shadow layer --
making up the mosquito. The 3D environment was created with 3D Studio Max.
Sunil Shetty directed the spot.

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects by
DreamQuest, finished first at the US weekend boxoffice for the third
consecutive week, grossing an estimated $24.1 million, which is only
slightly below last week's $26.1 million, for a total of $106.7 million;
The Walt Disney Company's INSPECTOR GADGET, with digital effects by
DreamQuest, finished eighth, grossing an estimated $4.3 million for a total
of $83.1 million; and Warner Bros.' shark thriller, DEEP BLUE SEA, with

Santa Monica, California-based MIXIN PIXLS created the opening Warner Bros.
logo sequence for DEEP BLUE SEA. The computer animated sequence presents
the Warner shield flying through the sky. As the logo comes into full view,
the sky undulates and the logo goes underwater, and transforms in the logo
of Mirage Productions. Harri Paakkonen directed the animation using
Alias|Wavefront Composer and Sapphire Tools.

SIMON GOODCHILD, recently signed by London-based SHERBERT, has completed
his first commercial, "Colour Screams," a :40 spot for Procter and Gamble's
new washing powder, Vibrant. The agency was Grey Advertising. The spot,
which uses abstract shapes and pure color to create a mood of vibrant,
non-bleeding color, was designed with Truespace and Adobe Photoshop.

Boston, Massachusetts-based LOCONTE GOLDMAN has completed "Hearts on Fire"
which consists of three :30 spots, and one :60 spot, for Grant Marketing, a
Providence, Rhode Island-based diamond company. The promos are for a tape
that will be used in a direct mail campaign, as well as for walk-in
customers. Maria LoConte directed the spots, and New York City-based
KLEISER WALCZAK did the 3D animation.

West Los Angeles-based RHYTHM & HUES has completed "Father and Daughter," a
:30 spot for General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal. The spot features
an alien pre-teen and her alien father discussing the out-of-this world
taste and looks of the cereal. For the spot, real actors were videotaped as
references. This reference footage was then used as inspiration when
plotting the animation curves in Maya. The spot was made for Minneapolis,
Minnesota-based Agency Campbell Mithun Esty. Micheal Patterson directed for

The 1999 edition of SPIKE AND MIKE'S SICK AND TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION
includes NO NECK JOE III by DNA Productions, DIE HARD IN UNDER TWO MINUTES
by Konstantin Bronzit, TYSON: I AM NOT AN ANIMAL by David Lipson, BALLET
BLUES by Thomas Kung, BOWLIN' FER SOULS by SuperGenius, HORNED GRAMMA by
Dave Foss, LEGEND OF RAGGOT by Sean Scottm, GRIMM'S HUMPTY DUMPTY by Ryan
Montrucchio, SWING SLUTS by Brett Johnson, BILLY'S BALLOON by Don
Hertzfeldt, BEYOND GRANDPA II by Breehn John Burns, BODY PARTS by Jonas

Noble is responsible for the great backgrounds of the Road Runner cartoons,
DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2 CENTURY, DUCK AMUCK, WHAT'S OPERA, DOC?, etc.
(He is also credited as co-director with Chuck Jones on several late Warner
Bros. shorts, including the odd NOW HEAR THIS!) Between screenings of the
cartoons (the way they were meant to be seen...on the BIG SCREEN), Mr.
Noble will talk about his work and his approach to layout. The event takes
place Saturday, August 21 at The Grand Lake Theater at 3200 Grand Avenue in

Alias/Wavefront has announced Maya Paint Effects. Paint Effects is a tool
for the instantaneous creation and animation of organic and painterly
effects. Completely integrated inside of Maya, Paint Effects comes with a
myriad of editable pressure-sensitive preset brushes including: Effects
Brushes which can create complete environments with trees, grass, and
flowers, characters with realistic hair, eyebrows and beards, and special
effects such as lightning, clouds, rain, fire, fireworks, starfields and

Image Entertainment is releasing BOB CLAMPETT'S BEANY AND CECIL: THE
SPECIAL EDITION DVD on October 12, 1999 in the US. Created by Robert
Clampett, BEANY AND CECIL, about the adventures of a sea sick sea serpent
and his pal, Beany, began as a live broadcast puppet show, TIME FOR BEANY,
in the 1950s, before being re-done as an animated series in the early
1960s. There was also a brief revival for Saturday morning television in
the 1980s. The DVD will include a dozen of the original Beany and Cecil

John Libbey & Company Ltd. has published WALT DISNEY AND EUROPE by Robin
Allan. The work is a study of the way Europe and European culture
influenced Walt Disney and his artists in the making of the Disney animated
feature films from SNOW WHITE to THE JUNGLE BOOK. The book is 368 pages,
and lavishly illustrated in black and white and color with many
illustrations that have never been published. Paperback: ISBN
1-86462-041-2; £22.50; Hardback: ISBN 1-86462-040-4; £40.00. Robin Allan

The East Coast's largest film festival for young people seeks works for
ages 3-16. The festival takes place February 4-13, 2000 in New York City.
It accepts shorts, features, animation, documentary, narrative and
experimental film and video. To qualify, works must be completed no earlier
than July 1, 1997. Foreign language films must be dubbed or subtitled in
English. The festival is looking for passionate, creative, intelligent,
entertaining film and video for ages 3-16. The entry deadline is October 1,

Los Angeles' only resident Wayang Kulit shadow play ensemble
presents an episode of the Indian epic poem, THE MAHABARATA. The event is
free, and takes place Friday, August 20, 8 pm at Occidental College, Thorne
Hall Patio, 1600 Campus Road in Eagle Rock, California, USA. For more
information call (818) 768-7696.

(Colossal) Pictures will cease
operations on August 31, 1999 after 23 years in business. According to the
San Francisco-based production and design studio, the decision was made in
order to liquidate property and honor outstanding debts. (Colossal) has
filed for Chapter 11 protection before on May 30, 1996, and emerged from
bankruptcy on December 1, 1997. It enjoyed a successful year in 1998,
employing a lean work force. However, the beginning of this year saw a
downturn in revenue. Financially weakened by the bankruptcy, as (Colossal)

North Hollywood, California-based Film Roman has reported second quarter losses of $266,215, or 3 cents a share, which
is an improvement over the losses for the second quarter of 1998 of
$718,439, or 8 cents a share. Revenue for the first half of 1999 increased
by 58% to $27.5 million from last year's first half's $17.4 million. Film
Roman produces Fox's THE SIMPSONS and Warner Bros.' upcoming new series,
MISSION HILL (previously known as THE DOWNTOWNERS). In recent months, Film
Roman has been making significant strides to enter the original content

David Allen, one of a handful of truly great stop-motion animators, died of cancer on Monday, August 16. He
was 55. Allen's work in commercials includes animating the Swiss Miss and
early Pillsbury Doughboy in the 1960s, and his feature work includes
CAVEMAN (1981), Q-THE WINGED SERPENT (1982), WILLOW (1988) and FREAKED
(1993). For ten years he had been working on an independent project, a
feature called PRIMEVALS. (The film will be finished at Full Moon Studios
where the film was being animated before Allen's death.) Allen began his

John Kricfalusi, creator
of Nickelodeon's THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW, returns to television with two
long-awaited half-hour specials featuring Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, and their
nemesis, Ranger Smith. In BOO BOO RUNS WILD, Yogi's pal Boo Boo transforms
from a law-abiding cave dweller to Jellystone Park's greatest menace. Yogi
must save his buddy before Ranger Smith stops Boo Boo for good. A DAY IN
THE LIFE OF RANGER SMITH follows Ranger Smith on his daily routine as he
attempts to enforce ridiculous rules and regulations on Mother Nature.