AWN Headline News

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include:

It looks as though audiences will finally get to see the animation Todd McFarlane created for the Jodie Foster-produced film THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS. The film was completed in 2000 and set to debut at Sundance 2001, but the premiere was delayed because the animated sequences were not finished. The film will now debut on January 18 at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Peter Care directed this Southern Gothic drama set in the 70s, which centers on the efforts of Catholic schoolboys to retrieve an obscene comic book they've drawn.

Animated pre-schooler WHY? has been awarded a production loan by the Irish Film Board, who is co-financing the series with Monster Distributes and Brown Bag Films. The new series goes into production in January 2002 and will be presented at NATPE. Monster Distributes will also be introducing new animated Christmas specials, THE LEGEND OF THE CANDY CANE and THE LEGEND OF THE THREE TREES, as well as selling its 13 x 30 award-winning series STORYKEEPERS, directed by Jimmy Murakami. STORYKEEPERS presents stories from the life of Jesus within an adventure story context.

Benita Raphan has joined creative agency Blah! Blah! Blah! as a sales representative. Until recently, Benita Raphan was an Inferno artist at New York-based visual effects company Quiet Man. Also a filmmaker, her most recent short film 2+2, co-directed with Clayton Hemmert of New York-based editing house Crew Cuts, will screen at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. Her award-winning animation work is also being featured in an episode of the Independent Film Channel Canada's INDIE NATION. Previously, Raphan was an agency creative specializing in animation, special FX and design. Blah! Blah!

Independent animation studio Wild Brain, Inc. has signed a co-production and development deal with Denmark's Egmont Imagination. The first co-production between the two companies is a 26 x 30' CG-animated series VANILLA PUDDING. The series will feature a quirky little girl who imagines herself as a superhero to handle the trials and tribulations of growing up. VANILLA PUDDING was created by in-house Wild Brain director Nicholas Weigel, with the pilot script penned by Emmy Award winner Sherri Stoner (TINY TOONS, ANIMANIACS, CASPER).

As part of Cinars restructuring program and in an effort to regain shareholder confidence, the company has appointed Louis Fournier as head of distribution. Cinar had previously employed Fournier for a period of eight years as vice president, sales & co-productions before he joined TVA-International in March 2000 as president of the youth and animation unit. Fournier will assume his new position on January 14, 2002. Fournier brings with him over eighteen years of expertise in the field of children's entertainment in the television and movie industry.

SHREK continued its award winning streak this weekend by picking up the Peoples Choice Award for favorite motion picture and a Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice Award for best animated feature. In the pre-Oscar animated feature race, SHREK has been the recipient of the majority of critics kudos, however WAKING LIFE did manage to grab the nod from the New York Film Critics Circle. The next major awards presented are the Golden Globes, where SHREK is the lone animated film in competition for Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy.

Discreets combustion 2, the latest version of its award-winning paint, animation and 3D-compositing software is now available. Unveiled at SIGGRAPH 2001, the combustion 2 software features were designed to provide artists with new capabilities and improved performance, all within an efficient workflow environment designed to make complex visual effects creation faster and simpler. combustion 2 provides new multi-format project capabilities for film and video, including 64-bit image-processing, advanced film grain tools and color Look-Up Table (LUT) management.

Egmont Imagination will bring its interactive mystery series, SOLVE THE MYSTERY WITH INSPECTOR MCCLUE, to NATPE 2002. This 2D Flash animated family series is a television and Internet based crime-puzzle where the viewer watches a mystery unfold on television, and must then try and solve the mystery themselves by going online and using the clues provided. Created by Werner Wejp-Olsen, SOLVE THE MYSTERY WITH INSPECTOR MCCLUE combines interactivity with engaging stories.

Film Roman Commercials has created a youth-targeted animated television public service announcement for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA). The 30-second spot was produced in-house by Film Roman Digital who utilized a combination of Adobe software, including Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects. The spot, titled "The Works" creatively illustrates how drugs can break down ones body. Targeting 6 to 8 year-olds, it will begin running in pro-bono media in January 2002.

Nelvana has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to produce a television series, made-for-video programs, theatrical motion pictures, and individual programs including made-for-television specials and movies, based on THE BERENSTAIN BEARS. Nelvana has already secured a relationship with Columbia Tristar to distribute THE BERENSTAIN BEARS videos in the United States; the first release is slated for 2003. In addition, Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. granted Nelvana worldwide merchandising and licensing rights.