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.

Cinar Corporation and WGBH Boston have announced that Emmy award-winning ARTHUR, PBS' top-rated children's series, will return with 10 new programs and 65 encore broadcasts in its fourth season, premiering October 1999. This daily animated series is based on the award-winning children's books by author Marc Brown, who is also ARTHUR's creative producer. ARTHUR's fourth season begins with, not one, but two musical guest stars: classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman who "appear" as themselves in the season's opener MY MUSIC RULES.

* Tuesday, April 27. Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.A.


Roberto Kritzia will give a free slide-lecture to promote the Glenn Vilppu
sketching tour of Italy which will take place in June and July. (See the
Glenn Vilppu tours news item for more information about the tours.) The lecture
takes place at 7:30 pm at Travel Stop, 14011 Ventura Bl., West Bldg., Suite
221, Sherman Oaks, California. Seating is limited. RSVP (818) 994-2402.

* Wednesday, April 28 - Sunday, May 2. Oslo, Norway.


The 6th International Oslo Animation Festival invites both animators and
spectators to take part in five days of animated fun. The festival
presents: Nordic and Baltic films in competition, Nordic and Baltic
Panorama, International highlights, a Focus on British animation, Animation
as Music, a Celebration of Lotte Reiniger, Jury programs, Exhibitions and
even more. For further information contact: Oslo Animation Festival, P.O.

* Tuesday, June 8 - Thursday, June 10. New York, New York, USA.


The global deal marketplace for the $132 billion business of licensing
takes center stage in New York City, June 8-10, 1999, with LICENSING '99
INTERNATIONAL, the largest worldwide licensing event and the single most
consolidated presentation of properties in one place. Licensing '98
International drew a record 15,000 attendees from more than 60 countries.
The show featured nearly 400 exhibitors representing more than 3,700

Jean Vander Pyl, who was best known as the voice of Wilma Flinstone on
Hanna-Barbera's THE FLINTSTONES TV series, died Saturday, April 10 at her
home in Dana Point. She was 79.


Although born in Philadelphia, she moved to Los Angeles while still a
teenager and attended Beverly Hills High and UCLA. Her career began as a
radio performer for several radio series including AMOS AND ANDY, LUX RADIO
THEATRE, STUDIO ONE, and FATHER KNOWS BEST.


In the late 1950's, she began doing voice work for Hanna-Barbera, and

HARVEY ENTERTAINMENT, whose roster of animated properties include CASPER,
THE FRIENDLY GHOST, RICHIE RICH, LITTLE AUDREY, and BABY HUEY, has posted a
1998 fourth quarter net loss of $5,869,000, compared to a net income of
$627,000 for the fourth quarter in 1997, and a net loss of $11,238,000 for
the year ended December 31, 1998. Net operating revenues for the year-ended
1998 were a negative $1,569,000, compared to revenues of $15,404,000 in
1997. Meanwhile, the company announced that it has entered into a

Disney, the Burbank, California entertainment company, is considering ways
in which it could package its Disney Online assets together with the
company's 43% stake in Infoseek Corp., of Sunnyvale, California, for a
public offering, according to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Disney and Infoseek
jointly created and own the Go Network Internet portal launched earlier
this year. Disney Online operates the Disney.com Web site. Disney has
recently begun negotiations to take majority control of Infoseek sooner

C-3D Digital, Inc. has increased its content capabilities for its 24 hour
3D channel by executing a definitive agreement for the acquisition of
security interests in the technology and principle assets of Strata Inc., a
premier name in 3D computer graphics. "The acquisition of Strata assets and
technology has been selected for its strategic fit into the C-3D Digital
Inc.'s network of companies for the ability to add eye-popping 3D effects,
that Strata is famous for, to our growing content currently shown on the 3D

BOO WONG has been promoted to head the CGI Department 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. Wong, 33, succeeds Tammy Walters, who recently
left the company to pursue a career as a producer. In her new post, Wong
will be responsible for the overall operation of the CGI department
including scheduling, media flow, resource management, evaluation and

The president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Chuck Viane, has
promoted Manuel "Rod" Rodriguez to the post of senior vice president and
general sales manager for Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. In his new
role, Rodriguez will be responsible for handling sales and distribution
operations throughout the United States and Canada for all motion pictures
released under the Walt Disney, Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures banners.
Rodriguez, an industry veteran who has been based at Buena Vista's Atlanta

CINAR Corp. has announced that the company's options have been approved for
listing on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), the Chicago Board Options
Exchange (CBOE) and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX). CINAR options
began trading on all three exchanges under the symbol "CUF" on Wednesday,
April 7, 1999. CINAR Corporation is an integrated entertainment and
education company involved in the development, production, post-production
and worldwide distribution of non-violent, quality programming and

The Motion Factory, developer of the award-winning Motivate Intelligent
Digital Actor(TM) System, has announced the completion of a new round of
venture funding from BankAmerica Ventures, SofInnova, and Digital Media
Group. With the newly committed funds totaling $2 million, The Motion
Factory plans to accelerate the development of the Motivate system and will
invest in expanded customer support services. The company also recently
announced development is underway to support Sony PlayStation 2, Sega

THE MATRIX, the special effects driven science-fiction adventure, remained No. 1 at the US box office for the week ending April 11, with a weekend gross of $22.2 million, and a cumulative gross of $50 million. It slipped only 20% from last week.

In London on Sunday night, April 11, The British Academy of Film and Televsion Arts (BAFTA) presented THE CANTERBURY TALES with their 1999 award for Best Short Animated Film. The film is a 27 mininute long adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic poem about pilgrims telling tales while travelling to Canterbury. The film includes three of the travellers' tales, each one animated in a different style. The film was produced by Renat Zinnurov, Claire Jennings, and Les Mills. It was directed by Aida Zyablikova, Ashley Potter, Dave Antrobus, Mic Graves, Joanna Quinn, and Jonathan Myerson.

The deadline for The New York Festivals is June 1, 1999. The New York Festivals is a competition devolted to the recognition of excellence in Interactive Multimedia.

The animation students at The Royal College of Art will exhibit their work as part of The Royal College of Art Show 1999: Design, Communication & Humanities from Wednesday 23 June - Sunday 4 July, from10am - 6pm daily + one late night. The college is famous for the high quality of work done by its students. It is located in Kensington Gore, London W7. For further information, TEL: 0171 590 4444; or FAX: 0171 590 4500. Also visit www.rca.ac.uk for more information.