"Find and be found" in the new Career Connections...


At long last, AWN has built a brand new Career Connections, complete with a new Talent Pool resume database with multiple search capabilities, and a new Job Posting database. Join the thousands of animation professionals who've used the Talent Pool to "find and be found." There is no quicker, more direct way to reach the animation community than through the Job Postings database in Career Connections. Thousands of qualified job seekers browse through the Job Postings database every week.

Over 400 schools at your fingertips...in the new AWN Animation School Database

Come have a sneak peek at the new 3D Studio Max 3.0 at Santa Monica, California based DH Institute of Media Arts...

Silicon Graphics, Inc., the 17-year-old high-tech company known for
breakthrough graphics in movies such as JURASSIC PARK, is changing its name
to SGI. The change is part of a major branding shift, which also includes a
new logo, national advertising and consolidation of hundreds of separate
product brands. SGI decided to change its name after a branding consultant
found that while the company's products were perceived as innovative and
visionary, the company was viewed as a niche-oriented, high-performance 3D

ASIFA-EAST 1999 Awards ceremony was held Monday, April 12th. The following
awards were handed out:


STUDENT FILMS


Second Honorable Mention

BETWEEN THE LINES by Jamie Maxfield


First Honorable Mention.

HEADQUARTERS by Jason Donati


Third Place

SMILE by Alex Hart


Second Place

A LETTER FROM THE WESTERN FRONT by Daniel Kanemoto


First Place

STRANGE REALITY by Jusuf Santoso


COMMERCIALS AND PROMOTIONAL FILMS


Excellence in Design

David McCall, creator of Schoohouse Rock, died April 18th in a car accident
near Kukes, Albania, along with his wife, Penny, and Refugees
International's European representative Yvette Pierpaoli and the car's
Albanian driver. The McCalls were en route from Tirana to Kukes, the
primary reception point for Kosovar refugees. They were on a mission for
Refugees International, the Washington, D.C.-based organization on whose
board Mr. and Mrs. McCall served. Part of the mission was to explore

On Monday, April 19, a judge ruled that
Viacom's claim to the rights to TV distribution of a film based on Marvel's
comic book character Spider-man is without contractual basis. This ruling,
unless it is appealed, should finally clear the way for a major Spider-Man
film. The Spider-man property had been tangled in court for many years
because several companies claimed to possess various controlling rights.
Sources close to the law suit say that the six companies involved in the

The families of Jessica James, Kayce Steger and Nicole Hadley, who were killed during a morning
prayer meeting at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, USA during a
shooting on Dec. 1, 1997 by Michael Carneal, a 14-year-old boy, filed a
$130 million damage suit against several entertainment companies on Monday,
saying they influenced his behavior. The suit claims that the boy was an
avid user of the computer, playing computer games such as "Doom," "Quake,"
and "Mortal Kombat," which it said are known for their graphic violence.

The Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will present two programs of films by Frank Tashlin and Ub Iwerks. On Friday, May 7, at 7:30 pm A Taste of Tashlin: Early Hollywood Cartoons will present the cartoons Frank Tashlin made before turning to live-action and going on to direct several of Jerry Lewis' best films.

Will Vinton Studios has promoted Zilpha Yost to executive producer, a new position in the advertising divsion which is headed by president David Altschul. Yost has been a senior producer at Vinton Studios since 1992, taking a leave of absence in 1995 to run the stop-motion studio in Los Angeles for Tim Burton's MARS ATTACKS. When Burton chose to complete the film in CGI, Yost returned to Vinton, bringing some of the creative artists who had been doing stop-motion animation on MARS ATTACKS with her. Yost will work very closely with Rich Durkin, executive producer in Vinton's New York office.

For the week ending April 18th, THE MATRIX, a special effects heavy action film, finished second in the US box office race and grossed an estimated $18.1 million to bring its cumulative gross to $99.1 million.

Bill LittleJohn will appear in person at the UCLA James Bridges theater Saturday, May 15, 7:30 p.m as part of a retrospective of his work. Bill Littlejohn is a freelance animator. If you watch animated films, chances are you've seen his work. He's worked on several John and Faith Hubley films, including OF MEN AND DEMONS and THE DOONESBURY SPECIAL; THE 2000 YEAR OLD MAN; several Peanuts TV specials; even GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE. At this time, UCLA is not sure which films will be shown. Call the Archive at (310) 206-8013 for a complete list of the titles to be screened.

MIP TV, the international television programme market, where sellers and buyers from all over the world exchange product, takes place April 12th to 17th in Cannes, France. This year’s MIP is expected to reflect a rebounding international TV market. More than 100 TV series from around the world we be offered at MIP, such as DARIA, FAMILY GUY, FUTURAMA, and NORMAN NORMAL. The calendar of events include the following animation related programmes:


MONDAY APRIL 12TH

Richard Shurtliff has been named Head Systems Administrator at Curious
Pictures, the bi-coastal, live-action, graphics, special effects and
animation studio, it was announced today by Executive Producer/Head of
Production Richard Winkler. In his new post, Shurtliff, 33, will work
directly with Boo Wong, who heads Curious' CGI Department, and will be
responsible for managing the company's network of 30 NT Workstations, 10
Macs and 10 SGIs running Maya and 3D Studio Max for 3D, and After Effects for 2D compositing.

Fox Broadcasting Co. has ordered another season (22 episodes) of Matt
Groening's animated series, Futurama, just four weeks after its premiere.
The show debuted on Sunday, March 28 then moved to Tuesday night on April 6
where it joined King of the Hill, The PJs, and The Simpsons repeats as
part of Fox's all-animation primetime Tuesday night line-up. Now, all of
these series have been renewed.

Masters of Visual Effects, LLC has released the first two series of Masters
of Visual Effects training videos. The series' offer an overview of visual
effect that artists, producers, and filmmakers, whether novice or
professional, will benefit from. The first series, entitled "Introduction
to Visual Effects," covers introductory concepts in visual effects such as
visual effects cues, film and video as digital images, commercial post
production basics, pre-visualization and offline editing. The second

The 3rd edition of Switzerland's largest Animation Film Festival
FANTOCHE will be held from August 31 to September 5 1999.
Deadline for the "International Competition" is June 15.


Registration forms will soon be available from the festival
office or directly from the website www.fantoche.ch. For further
information as well as details about the supporting members association and
oportunities for advertising and sponsoring, please contact the festival
office:


FANTOCHE

Ottikerstr. 53

CH - 8006 Zürich

The New York Animation Festival takes place May 13-15, 1999. It will
feature 150 animations from 15 countries, including Academy Award winner
Bunny, Sundance winner More, and New York Underground Film Festival winner
The Bats., plus new works by Bill Plympton, the Bolex Brothers and Aardman
Animations. For more information call 212-479-7742; or e-mail
nyafinfo@yahoo.com.



Also visit members.tripod.com/~nyafest/home.html.

Evelyn Lambart, filmmaker and close associate of Norman McLaren, died Saturday, April 3 at the age of 84.


Lambart studied commercial art at the Ontario College of Art.

The Cinema Guild has released the animation cult classic, VAMPIRES IN HAVANA! Juan Padron, best known in the US for his QUINOSCOPO shorts, directed the 1985 Cuban film which was released theatrically in the USA in 1987. VAMPIRES IN HAVANA! is a spoof of horror and gangster movies, presented in a style reminiscent of FRITZ THE CAT. It features Professor von Dracula, a vampire scientist who leaves Transylvania for Cuba where he invents "Vampisol," a potion that allows vampires to live in sunlight.