With no staff and no senior management, it seems as though Vancouver-based Sextant Entertainment Group Inc., co-producers of THE MR. HELL SHOW!, is no longer in business. A press release issued by Sextant announced that the company has been put into receivership after it was unable to come to an arrangement with creditors pursuant to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) that Sextant had been granted in early June.
Internet animation provider Mondo Media has entered into a contentagreement with cable network Comedy Central for "Cartoon of the Day,"featuring the best of Mondo Mini Shows on comedycentral.com. Theshows will be culled from Mondo Media's library of over 3,000 minutesof original animation, including series such as THE GOD & DEVIL SHOW,HAPPY TREE FRIENDS and HEAVY METAL GUY. As part of the agreement,Mondo will also supply Comedy Central with the best material fromother third-party Internet animation creators, including several
LEGOMedia, the entertainment division of LEGO, has promoted Janice Rossto head of U.S. children's programming. In her new position, Rosswill oversee a variety of development, production and marketingactivities for LEGO Media and its growing slate of children'sprogramming, which includes the CGI-animated, direct-to-video featureBIONICLE: THE MASK OF LIGHT, based on the company's successfulBionicle characters and storyline. Previously, Ross was seniorlicensing manager for the company. She will continue to be based in
After it grossed $100M in only 10 days, it's nosurprise that Warner Bros. has announced plans for a secondSCOOBY-DOO feature, with the original starring cast returning underthe anticipated helm of SCOOBY-DOO director Raja Gosnell. Theannouncement was made by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, president ofworldwide production for Warner Bros. Pictures. The upcoming filmwill be produced by Mosaic Media Group's Charles Roven, and byRichard Suckle. Stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar,
Canadian animation house Studio Brecently unveiled a roster of new shows, including plans for anall-new preschool series based on the '50s live-action series LASSIE.Created for LASSIE rights-holder Classic Media and illustrated byRebecca Dart (WHAT ABOUT MIMI?), the new 2D animated series (52 x11-minutes) will maintain the spirit of the original series butfeature everyone's favorite collie in all new adventures as a puppy.Studio B is also lining up some wackier projects including Gerry
A Web-slinging superhero, fire-breathing dragons and bite-sized chocolate with a hard candy shell.What do these things have in common? They were all created usingHoudini 3D animation software. Side Effects Software, developer ofthe Houdini family of software, will be presenting visual effectsartists from Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPIDER-MAN), Walt DisneyFeature Animation (REIGN OF FIRE) and Rhinoceros Visual Effects(commercials for M&M's) at its annual Houdini meeting in San Antonio,
Regarding the Competition Film, video and digital works will be judged on an equal footing. This competition is about how well your ideas are communicated on the screen more so than how high the production value. We believe that the grittiest video can be conceptually well crafted and beat out the prettiest 35mm film which is conceptually vapid. The durations are divided at the 45 minute mark for "features" and "shorts." If your film is between 40 and 46 minutes, you decide which competition category is preferable.
BATMAN executive producer Michael Uslan will discuss how to build franchises, with an emphasis on branding, at the next installment of the Cornerstone Film Lecture Series program. The series kicked off in March 2002 with artist Bernie Wrightson and in May 2002, Cornerstone hosted RETURN OF THE JEDI and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK producer Howard Kazanjian. Uslan's lecture will take place Thursday, June 27, 2002 (7:00 pm - 8:30 pm), at Cornerstone Animation's offices at 815 East Colorado Blvd. in Glendale, California. The speech is free and open to the public, although
New this week: Jean Ann Wright begins a series of articles on writing for animation, R2D2 turns into a swash-buckling, damsel saving hero and more...
As the school year comes to an end, Pamela Kleibrink Thompson reminds us that being a good employee is elementary in its simplicity! Just follow these easy guidelines.
Belgium's A&A Computer Systems is looking for a 3D ANIMATOR . . . India's Animation Resources Academy is looking for a CARTOONIST . . . Tulsa, Oklahoma's areyoupissed.com is looking for a WEB DESIGNER (UNPAID) . . . Corsham, Wiltshire's Bazley Films is looking for a PRODUCER . . . Woodland Hills, California's Darrel Bowen Media Design Services is looking for a WRITER . . . El Segundo, California's Digital Artist Management, Inc. is looking for an ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST and a GAME PROGRAMMER . . .
Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Local 839 IATSE has posted the June issue of their newsletter, THE PEG-BOARD, on their Website...
Lucasfilm Ltd. has spun off itsTHX digital cinema division as an independent company, THX Ltd.Lucasfilm remains an investor in the newly formed, privately heldcompany, along with other corporate and private investors. Theformation of THX Ltd. will allow the company the opportunity toexpand into markets outside of Lucasfilm's core areas. THX Ltd. willreorganize its programs and services into five key areas: THXStudio, THX Cinema, THX Home, THX Mobile and THX Games. In the
Zagreb 2002 recently concluded its 15th World Festival of Animated Films with Michael Dudok de Wit's FATHER AND DAUGHTER winning the festival Grand Prize. The official competition jury, Oksana Cherkasova (Russia), Joanna Quinn (Great Britain), Linda Simensky (USA), Georges Lacroix (France) and Edo Lukman (Croatia), singled out FATHER AND DAUGHTER from the 85 films in competition. PA by Neil Goodridge was awarded Best Debut Film and Christopher Hinton's FLUX was presented with three special jury distinctions, including the Design Studies Jury Prize.
Twotitles based on Disney's latest animated feature LILO AND STITCH havebeen released by Sony Computer Entertainment America and DisneyInteractive, coinciding with the release of the film. DISNEY'S LILOAND STITCH is an interactive, action-platform game for thePlayStation game consoles and allows gamers to take on the role ofeither Lilo or Stitch and embark on an exciting Hawaiian journey,visiting many of the locations featured in the film. For thePlayStation 2, DISNEY'S STITCH: EXPERIMENT 626 is an action shooter
This week, hot forum discussions include Disney's latest feature LILO & STITCH and some recommended tools for beginning animators. In The Animator's Desktop, Tony White has posted lesson #8 in his "Making Things Move Well" series and more...
HP is once againproviding technology to another big animation studio. After recentlyannouncing a three-year, multi-million dollar technology strategicalliance with DreamWorks, designed to "revolutionize animationproduction," HP has announced that Walt Disney Feature Animation hasselected HP's Linux-based workstations and servers as components forits next-generation digital animation production pipeline. WaltDisney Feature Animation and HP have been working together for the
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:
Cornerstone Film Lecture Series Featuring Michael Uslan: Thursday, June 27, 2002, Glendale, California USA . . . dhima's Summer Courses: Monday, July 08 - Saturday, August 10, 2002, Santa Monica, California USA . . . EuropaCinema: Saturday, September 14 - Saturday, September 21, 2002, Viareggio, Tuscany Italy . . . Marco Island Film Festvial: Saturday, October 19 - Sunday, October 27, 2002, Marco Island, Florida USA.
3D and multimedia software company Electric Rain, Inc. hasannounced a software bundling program allowing people who purchaseits 3D-vector graphics tool, Swift 3D, to have the option ofreceiving a discount on Macromedia Flash MX. Electric Rain Swift 3Dis a 3D application for creating low-bandwidth vector animations foruse with Macromedia Flash. Using Electric Rain's proprietary RAViX IIvector rendering engine, Swift 3D files are exported in the SWF fileformat, which then import seamlessly into Macromedia Flash. "Swift 3D
This week, we're asking questions about CGI...
Leonard Maltin (nationally famous television film critic and the author of Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons) selected twelve classic animated shorts by one of the greatest animation directors and animators of our time, Chuck Jones (1912
If you are in the Los Angeles area, don't miss this Terrytoon Studio retrospective. On Wednesday, June 26 at 7:30 pm, animation historian Jerry Beck will give attendees a complete overview of the Terrytoon Studio from 1930 to 1969. The event will be held at ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Center 721 S. Victory Blvd. Burbank, California, and reservations not required. ASIFA members: $3.00 non-members: $6.00. The retrospective features rare film and video footage including Jim Tyer animation, CinemaScope cartoons, Farmer Al Falfa, Ralph Bakshi, The Terrytoon
DecodeEntertainment Inc. has appointed The Sharpe Company as theinternational licensing agent for its new 3D animated preschoolseries THE SAVE-UMS! The series is scheduled to debut in February2003 as part of Discovery Kids new "Ready, Set, Learn" programmingblock on TLC and Discovery Kids Channel in the U.S. and on CBCCanada. Sharpe, current licensing agent for properties such asHUMPHREY'S CORNER and THUNDERBIRDS, will license THE SAVE-UMS! in allterritories outside North America.
BATMAN executive producer Michael Uslan will discusshow to build franchises, with an emphasis on branding, at the nextinstallment of the Cornerstone Film Lecture Series program. Theseries kicked off in March 2002 with artist Bernie Wrightson and inMay 2002, Cornerstone hosted RETURN OF THE JEDI and RAIDERS OF THELOST ARK producer Howard Kazanjian. Uslan's lecture will take placeThursday, June 27, 2002 (7:00 pm - 8:30 pm), at CornerstoneAnimation's offices at 815 East Colorado Blvd. in Glendale,
Ankara International Film Festival
The 14th Ankara International Film Festival, Ankara, Turkey.
Thursday, November 21, 2002 - Sunday, December 1, 2002.
Entry Deadline: Tuesday, October 1, 2002.
The 14th Ankara International Film Festival is organized by the WorldMass Media Research Foundation and will take place in Ankara, Turkeybetween November 21 - December 1, 2002. The aim of this festival isto strengthen the cultural bonds between the people and filmmakers of
