Avanca Film Festival 2005Avanca, Portugal July 27-31, 2005Deadline: May 25, 2005
Avanca Film Festival presents a forum for the best in cinema, TV, video and multimedia. The event features screenings, surprises, workshops, exhibitions, meetings and discussions.
FIKE 2005 5th Évora International Short Film Festival Évora, PortugalNovember 18-26, 2005Deadline: August 15, 2005
FIKE 2005 is an independent film festival, organized by University of Évora Film Society and SOIR Joaquim Antonio de Aguiar, two non-profit cultural associations that promote cinema as an art form and a unique cultural expression. The event promotes social and cultural improvement and through culture the economical development of the town and region.
Next month, the WAR OF THE WORLDS graphic novel will debut in bookstores across the nation and it will be promoted with a 90-second trailer, not unlike the way movies are promoted.
"We're producing the trailer in Hollywood, and it will be complete with a soundtrack, special effects and voice talent," said Aron Kessler, vp of Best Sellers Illustrated (www.bestsellersillustrated.com), the book's publisher.
Bob Feldman joins DreamWorks Animation SKG in Glendale, California, as head of corporate communications. DreamWorks Animation was recently spun off as a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (DWA) from the private company DreamWorks SKG. Feldman reports to Jeffrey Katzenberg and Ann Daly, the company's chief executive and chief operating officers.
Nintendo of America Inc. introduces the first new color in the Western Hemisphere for its popular Nintendo DS portable video game system, Electric Blue, which debuts in June and will become a permanent color in the DS palette, joining the original silver-and-black model, named Titanium.
On April 19, 2005, Geneon Ent. released KYO KARA MAOH!GOD (?) SAVE OUR KING! VOLUME ONE on DVD. The series is based on the Japanese novels that have sold more than two million copies. Presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and featuring animation produced by Studio Deen (R.O.D. OVA, RANMA 1/2, RUROUNI KENSHIN OVA), the DVD features include textless opening animation and character data files. Each of the nine volumes will include a limited edition collectible animation cel. KYO KARAMAOH! GOD (?) SAVE OUR KING!
Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) has promoted four senior members of its sales teams in Europe. Carsten Fink, based in Munich, Damian Newton, in London and Francesca Tauriello, in Rome, have been promoted to vice president, sales & distribution, German-speaking Europe, vice president, sales, Pay TV/New Technologies and executive director, sales, Northern Mediterranean markets respectively. Tatjana Vucanovic has also been promoted, to executive director, sales, Central & Eastern Europe.
Buena Vista Games Inc. (BVG) announced the development of new videogame titles based on the highly anticipated feature film, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, scheduled for release in summer 2006. Building on the popularity of its successful portable games business, BVG will release games for the PSP and Nintendo DS in conjunction with the movie launch.
Aardman has selected McFarlane Toys as the master toy partner for the upcoming family feature film WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, coming to theaters in October 2005.
McFarlane Toys will launch a limited line of toys in fall 2005, with the full product line hitting retail shelves in 2006. Under the direction of Todd McFarlane, McFarlane Toys will capture the richness and spirit of the films characters through its relentless attention to detail with a new line of action figures, three-inch figure playsets and plush bean dolls.
OVER THE HEDGE co-director Karey Kirkpatrick has announced that Nick Nolte, Catherine O'Hara, William Shatner, Steve Carell, Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes and Avril Lavigne have joined the voice cast of the DreamWorks animated comedy, reports BlackFilm.com.
WIA International will be hosting a book signing and panel discussion regarding the evolution of Flash on April 19, 2005 at Cartoon Network Studios. This will also be members last chance to cast their vote for the board of directors and by-laws amendments.
The book signing will include Martha Sigall, Jean Wright and Clifford Parrot, signing their latest books. Additionally, ChromaColour is providing new "ChromaColour Pallets for Macromedia Flash" software as a door prize. Other door prizes include tickets to HYPEFEST Film Festival, WIA T-shirts and more.
Avid Technology Inc. announced that G4, the only 24/7 television network dedicated to videogames, is implementing Alienbrain Studio asset management software to streamline its in-house computer graphics production process. The Los Angeles-based network purchased 60 seats of the Alienbrain Studio Designer Client to enhance its workflow with integrated version control and approval processes. Running on both Windows and Mac workstations, G4s workflow includes 15 Avid Media Composer Adrenaline editing systems and an Avid Unity shared-storage network.
Turbo Squid announced the availability of the Male 3D Human Anatomy 2.0 collection from Zygote Media Group designed for professionals to use in medical animation and illustration.
Zygote, in collaboration with medical experts, has spent thousands of hours developing its 3D human anatomy collection to be the most extensive, anatomically correct product available. This collection is geared toward medical animation professionals and is delivered electronically in six major formats: 3D Studio MAX, Maya, C4D, HRC, LWO, OBJ, and XSI.
Artbeats unveiled two new military collections entitled ROAD TO BAGHDAD and TANKS at the 2005 National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB), booth SL1219. Featuring compelling footage of combat, tank firing, night vision firing and combat sequences, Artbeats new military collections capture reality of war in high definition (HD).
This week in the Theatrical Release Database, we have a dozen new pages, a half dozen date changes and some other interesting tidbits of info on upcoming effects flicks.
NewTek Inc. announced the launch of an online streaming channel, NewTekTV.com, as well as the release of TriCaster, a portable live production suite which provides a comprehensive toolset designed to appeal to corporate presenters, educators and media ministry users. NewTek is exhibiting April 18-21 at NAB, Booth #SL1949, Las Vegas Convention Center.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
This week in AWN's Forums, a new member has questions about getting art software for this new computer system.
Adobe Systems Inc. announced it will purchase Macromedia Inc. for around $3.4 billion in stock. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by both boards of directors, Macromedia stockholders will receive, at a fixed exchange ratio, 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange. Based on Adobes and Macromedias closing prices on April 15, 2005, this represents a price of $41.86 per share of Macromedia common stock.
Moviegoers were ready for a good scare as MGMs remake of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (with vfx from Asylum) debuted in first place with $23.5M for the weekend ended April 17, 2005. Paramounts actioner SAHARA (with vfx from Cinesite and Double Negative) dropped to second place, taking in $13.1M for a cume of $36.4M while Foxs romantic comedy, FEVER PITCH hung in at third place, earning $8.5M, giving it a total $23.6M in its second week of release. Robert Rodriguez SIN CITY collected another $6.7M for Dimension Films is it dropped to fourth place.
Orlando-based Raven Moon Entertainment Inc. announced today (April 18, 2005) that it is launching a new animation division targeted toward servicing and generating revenues from the entertainment, advertising and creative content producers market.
Sales for the Raven Moon Animation division will be handled by industry veterans Janice Hamlin (276-632-1772) located on the east coast and Chris Devine Dailey (310-374-1081) located in Los Angeles.
AMD and DreamWorks Animation SKG Announce Strategic Alliance
AMD will provide the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture for DreamWorks Animation's next-generation enterprise servers, workstations, render farm nodes, enterprise desktops and enterprise laptops. The new agreement also includes marketing opportunities for AMD to utilize characters from DreamWorks Animation motion pictures, as well as work with DreamWorks Animation to promote upcoming film and home video releases.
John Cohen has been promoted from director of development to vp of production at Twentieth Century Fox Animation and continues to report to Chris Meledandri, president of the Fox Animation unit.
Lucy Liu has signed on to star in Ghost House Pictures horror/thriller, RISE, reports VARIETY. Sebastian Gutierrez has written and will direct the film, which will start shooting this summer.
Liu will play a reporter who wakes up in a morgue to discover she is a vampire, spurring her to seek revenge on the vampires responsible.
Kingsgate Films Greg Shapiro (RULES OF ATTRACTION) and Carsten Lorenz (exec producer of THE GRUDGE) are producing. Ghost House will fully finance the flick. Sister firm Mandate Pictures will handle worldwide sales.
Universal has hired Stuart Beattie to rewrite the film adaptation of famed Midway videogame SPY-HUNTER, reports VARIETY. The film has been close to a production start for awhile now with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson starring and John Woo directing. Universal hopes to have the film ready in time for a big summer 2006 release.
Beatties credits include story on PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL and screenplay on COLLATERAL and the upcoming DERAILED, which stars Clive Owen.
