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Headline News

Nick Urges UK Officials To Block BBC's Kid Networks

In a report commissioned by Nickelodeon U.K., BBC's plan to form two new children's networks could cause commercially funded networks up to £400 million (US$580 million) in funding over a five-year period by undermining the economics of the commercially funded stations. Therefore the other 14 children's networks in the U.K. would have to rely more on cheap imports and repeat programming to stay viable against the publicly funded BBC networks. The report was conducted by independent analysts at Arthur Andersen. Nick U.K.

Headline News

Popeye/Flintstones Animator Passes

Jack Ozark, animator and newspaper sports cartoonist, died on November 16, 2000. He was 82-years-old. In 1931, Ozark started his career at the Fleischer Studios, animating on POPEYE, BETTY BOOP and GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and afterward moved to Los Angeles to work on the early Hanna-Barbera shows YOGI BEAR, FLINTSTONES and TOP CAT. He specialized in animating Snagglepuss and Wally Gator. He finished out his career at Filmation on HE-MAN and SHE-RA until his retirement in 1987. He was awarded the L.A. Cartoonists' Union 839 Golden Award in 1992.

Headline News

Soviet Animator Kotenochkin Dies

Soviet animator Vyacheslav Kotenochkin, creator of the world-famous slapstick cartoon NU, POGODI, died on November 20, 2000 after a battle with a long illness. He was 74-years-old. NU, POGODI, which screened in theaters around the globe, chronicled the misadventures of a hungry, dimwitted wolf that constantly chased a wide-eye rabbit. The Roadrunner-esque cartoons always ended with the wolf shouting, "Nu, pogodi!

Company Headline News

Dotcomix In Negotiations With Buyer

Despite a report in the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER that the company is bankrupt, Internet animation producer and distributor Dotcomix is in discussions to be bought. AWN spoke with founder and chief creative officer Brad DeGraf and he said the company "just couldn't keep producing as it had in the past." DeGraf said the production staff has been laid off until the transition period is finished. However, president and CEO Damon Danielson has left the company to become the CEO of Video4I, a multi-platform video streaming company.

November Events

Nancy Cartwright Book Tour In Southern California

By Guest (not verified) | Monday, November 20, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: November 20, 2000

In support of her new book MY LIFE AS A 10-YEAR-OLD BOY, Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, will be making book signing appearances at various book stores around the Southern California area. On Monday, November 20, she will be at the Border's at 9301 Tampa Ave., Northridge at 7 pm. On Tuesday, November 21, she will be a Book Soup at 8818 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood at 7:30 pm. On Friday, November 24, she will be at the South Coast Plaza Border's in Costa Mesa at 2 pm. And on Wednesday, November 29, she will be at the Border's at 14651 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks at 7:30 pm.

International Events

27th International Emmy Awards

By Guest (not verified) | Monday, November 20, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: November 20, 2000

Organized by the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the International Emmy Awards acknowledge the special skills of the men and women who create and produce television programs outside of the United States. Awards are presented in seven categories of programming: Drama, Documentary, Arts Documentary, Performing Arts, Popular Arts, Children and Young People, and News Coverage.

Lights Headline News

TOPIX/Mad Dog Lights Up For Boots Lights Cigarettes

TOPIX/Mad Dog completed the 3D animation for a pair of 10-second spots for Boots Lights Cigarettes entitled "Striptease" and "Mirilla." In "Striptease," a crowd of lighters eagerly await the arrival of the main attraction - the new Boots Lights cigarette packaging. The old package shimmies out of its wrapper and the crowd goes wild when the new packaging makes its debut. In "Mirilla," cigarettes get restless in their old package and wrestle to be the first to get into their new packaging.

Spot Headline News

FilmCore & ILM Make News For Toyota

FilmCore's editor Michael Bartoli and ILM director Bill Werts have teamed on the new spot for Toyota's new Corolla S Model. The 30-second spot opens on a newspaper floating in the air above a suburban street. On the center of the front page is a large picture of a man who comes to life and tries to hail a ride from a passing car. Werts and the team at ILM shot a real newspaper against blue-screen, with the paper attached to monofilament to make it dance. The actor was shot separately then composited with the newspaper. Initial compositing was performed by Bartoli on Avid.

Animation Headline News

Holland Hands Out Its Awards

The Holland Animation Film Festival concluded its five-day festival with the presentation of its awards. This year's event was the first to hand out an award for independent animation films. With this competition, the festival sets out to promote the short, artistic animation film, and, as a result, encourage media attention toward independent animation. This year's student jury included: Joan Ashworth (animation filmmaker, England), Henk Beumers (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands) and Menno de Nooijer (animation filmmaker, the Netherlands).

Million Headline News

The Grinch Steals US Box Office Crown

At this weekend's box office, Universal's HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS thieved the U.S. crown with a multi-record breaking premiere. The GRINCH grossed US$55.08 million, making it the biggest debut for star Jim Carrey and director Ron Howard, best non-holiday debut in November, biggest opening for a non-sequel and the eighth biggest weekend gross of all time. Therefore, Paramount and Nickelodeon's THE RUGRATS IN PARIS had to settle for a second place premiere. The second feature based on the wildly popular RUGRATS TV series, with animation by Klasky Csupo, grossed $22.72 million.

Headline News

BOXX Technologies Finds New Chairman & VP

BOXX Technologies, a leading provider of digital content creation tools for the entertainment and digital film industries, announced that James H. Moore has joined the company as chairman. Moore recently served as president and COO at Crossroads Systems, a high-technology manufacturer of fibre channel storage routers for the computer networking industry. Prior to joining Crossroads Systems, Moore was vice president and general manager of Crystal Semiconductor and Cirrus Logic.

Film Events

IFP/Midwest Conference and Flyover Zone Short Film Festival

By Guest (not verified) | Friday, November 17, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: November 17, 2000

The Independent Film Project/Midwest is holding their ninth annual conference to highlight independent filmmaking in the Midwest region of the United States. On Saturday, the conference will hold E-Cinema Expo, which will be devoted to DV, HD and Internet-based filmmaking. On Saturday evening, The Flyover Zone Film Festival will showcase short subjects created by IFP/Midwest members or in the "Flyover Zone" (i.e. the Midwest). During the festival, the IFP/Midwest will announce the recipient of this year's Independent Production Fund grant.

Animation Headline News

The Acrobat Issue Of Animation World Magazine Is Now On-Line!

This month we are talking about everyone's pal - television. We are featuring a profile of veteran animation director and producer Eric Radomski. We are also taking a long hard look at primetime animation and trying to figure out what went wrong this year. In addition, we will showcase five shows that are extra special for many reasons. They include France's "Belphégor," Oxygen's "X-Chromosome," the U.K.'s "Butt-Ugly Martians," Tom Snyder Productions and Disney's "Teacher's Pet."

Animation Headline News

New Jobs: Animators, Digital Artists, Directors, Visual Artists And More...

Madrid, Spain's Animagic Studio, a traditional animation production company, is looking for a 2D ANIMATOR for a feature film. . . Morrisville, North Carolina's Random Games, a family-run video game company, is looking for 2D and 3D ARTISTS, an ART DIRECTOR and PROGRAMMERS. . . Edmonton, Alberta, Canada's Bioware Corp., award-winning game developer, is looking for a 3D MODELER/TEXTURER/SCENE MANAGEMENT and a CHARACTER ANIMATOR. . . Sucker Punch Productions, developers of character-based games, is looking for 3D MODELERS. . .

Headline News

Cinanima 2000 Names Its Award Winners

Cinanima 2000 finished its week of screenings with the presentation of its awards on Saturday, November 11, 2000. This year's grand prize winner was Michel Dudok Wit's "Father And Daughter," which also won the journalists' prize. In two categories the international juries awarded ties. Paul Driessen's "The Boy Who Saw The Iceberg" and Florence Miailhe's "Au Premier Dimanche D'Aout" both took the prize for best film between 7 and 21 minutes; Mark Van Der Maarel's "The Pinboard" and Vários' "Daddy And I" took home the best first film award.

Holiday Headline News

Store Specials: Holiday Cartoon Classics

The Holiday season has just about begun and what better way to enjoy the time than with a few of the season's cartoon classics. Here are a few jolly holiday titles available in the AWN Store. To find more of your favorite holiday toons, simply log on to the Store and type "Christmas" under Quick Find.

Animation Headline News

This Week's Web Animation Guide For Friday, November 17, 2000

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. This week's edition features funny installments of THIS MODERN WORLD, ABSOLUTE ZERO, SISTER RANDY and much, much more!

Get your Web Animation Guide here!

Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"

Read Rick's Pick For Friday, November 17, 2000!

Events

Virtual Reality Conference

By Guest (not verified) | Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 11:00am
Begins: November 16, 2000

The Virtual Reality Conference is geared to bring to light the advantages of virtual reality to a mass market. The conference will focus on the following: what are the uses of virtual reality?; what virtual reality products are currently being manufactured?; what are the key software and design issues within virtual reality?; how is virtual reality being deployed on the Internet?; what opportunities will digital TV offer deployment of virtual environments?; and what are the latest developments in virtual reality research?

Headline News

George Pal's Puppetoons Stop By On DVD

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 12:00am

On November 14, 2000, Image Entertainment released the anthology film THE PUPPETOON MOVIE on DVD. The compellation of Pal's best Puppetoons was put together by Arnold Leibovit in 1987. The DVD features trailers, bonus Puppetoons and a new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. In September, Image released the documentary THE FANTASY FILM WORLDS OF GEORGE PAL. The doc includes interviews with Pal and many of the filmmakers he influenced, behind-the-scenes footage from DESTINATION MOON, trailers, production stills, art and rare promotional excerpts from DOC SAVAGE: MAN OF BRONZE.

Series Headline News

Convergence Backwards: TV's Kung Fu Hits Net

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 12:00am

In convergence gone backwards, a TV property is moving to the Internet. On November 15, 2000, Time Warner-owned Entertaindom launched the 3D animated Webseries KUNG FU 3D, based on the classic TV series, KUNG FU, starring David Carradine. The series features Carradine voicing his character Kwai Chang Caine. Throughout this new Web serial, 30-year-old Caine lives by and upholds the spiritual beliefs that have driven him to condemn violence and force.

Headline News

Rochester Institute of Technology Is Screening Its MFA Theses

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, November 16, 2000 at 12:00am

* Friday, November 17, 2000. Friday, February 23, 2001. Tuesday, May 22, 2001. Rochester, New York, U.S.A.

The Rochester Institute of Technology will be screening its film and video MFA theses. The November screening will be held on campus at the newly revamped Webb Auditorium at 7 pm. The other two dates' times and locations are yet to be announced. For more information e-mail Marla Schweppe at mkspph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu.

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